A number of other owners of vehicles have shared their experiences of AEB in this topic. It may be of some benefit to also consider their thoughts and the discussion generated.
Whether the fault is a “fault” of all Audi’s with a similar system it’s great to raise that concern here. It’s also likely a question that should be put to the State based Motoring organisations. With their members interests a priority they have the knowledge and expertise to respond more fully.
Whether the fault is a “major fault”, AEB braking systems are not mandatory safety systems. ANCAP has the key technical responsibility in this area. Perhaps they might be able to provide a more informed response or opinion.
The AEB system contributes towards the Safety Rating (Stars) of the Q3. Does the extent of the fault observed give cause for concern that the vehicle safety rating is not being achieved? Being able to provide a well founded opinion on that aspect of your purchase may be beneficial if you choose to seek further remedy under consumer law.
Michael, aside from my incident with an MG, I have had many examples of this occurring with the new Isuzu vehicles. We have two new Isuzu Utes at work. One of our staff refuses to drive in it after the AEB system activated, at 40 kph, with a full load, for no reason.
He said it was extremely painful and that he could not trust the car, and so won’t drive it.
He experienced the same sort of attitude from the manufacturer, them saying the system is working within a safe operating range.
I was under the impression that if any refund was to be offered, a car under 12 months of age, with a malfunction, a full refund is what (under consumer law) is legal.
Thanks to all who provided advice and examples of similar experiences of AEB systems suddenly activating without warning and without obvious obstructions. The systems are definitely not perfect nor fit for purpose. Given their known limitations there is an equal chance you could be injured by their false activation than saved from an accident. There are cases world wide and there are no National standards.
I have written to The National Depart of Infrastructure etc to lodge a safety complaint, cc to Consumer Affairs Victoria, ANCAP to object to their giving my car a five star rating, VCAT to commence a Civil Claim and of course to the Dealer and Manufacturer. Here are the limitations advised in writing about my car’s AEB. A bird or leaf or rail crossing may result in a false activation. …”it is inevitable that ‘pre sense’ (front braking system) will be confused by certain driving situations, especially in Melbourne around tram/rail crossings on MQB based models however it can be overridden by the customer pressing the accelerator or brake. Here are more limitations listed in the Audi Q2 handbook. They include: unexpected warnings or braking, false activation, failure to react to: oncoming traffic in the same lane, stationary or stopped persons, pedestrians crossing the road at an angle, groups of people animals or objects that are hard to detect. Limited detection ability when vehicles in front are: too close, travelling out of line, or moving into your lane. Vehicles that are clearly not discernible are often identified late or are not detected at all: a motorcycle or cyclist travelling in front of you, vehicles with high ground clearance or a protruding load. The handbook also says: pre sense front will not react if it is not in a position to detect the danger – why then would my vehicle stop at a rail crossing – either a major defect/failure or pre sense is nonsense.
No one should have to modify their driving methods to accommodate faults/defects or idiosyncrasies associated with a car.
Thanks again and best wishes,
Cheers,
Michael
Reading Subaru had a related recall last year, caused by a sensor problem I was reminded of this topic.
It may be too soon to ask, but any update?
I am firmly behind your opinion cars should not be that complex or idiosyncratic, yet they are clearly moving in that direction in the name of ‘being protective of the driver/occupants’.
Vehicles become more complex and idiosyncratic while we have fairly low bars for being able to drive one. It could be the case someday where licensing/driving resembles a pilot certification (including checkouts with specific models of aircraft because of their flight characteristics and systems management requirements). Perhaps X hours of make and model specific dual instruction prior to getting endorsed before ‘soloing’. ← not a serious suggestion, but may someday become reality?
Hi PhilT,
I have a hearing date in June with VCAT re warranty and guarantees to try and get back my purchase price.
I sold my car back to the dealer ( at 57% of pp, was 18 mth old, had done 5,000) as we didn’t want to drive it and I couldn’t bring myself to selling it privately.
In meantime neither National Dept of Infrastructure ( who do car recalls), nor Consumer Affairs Vic (product safety) will tell me if they are or are not going to investigate my safety concerns. Both say they don’t advocate on behalf of individual consumers. Not very useful!
ACCC said go to the respective Fed and State ombudsman.
A bit frustrating as I believe my (ex) car has a safety fault and all cars with the same AEB system may also.
Hard to get anyone to either investigate or tell me why I should stop pursuing the matter.
Cheers,
M
I have a Mercedes AMG A45S hot hatch. It’s the MY20 with the massive power output. It has all the electronics under the sun and “Nanny” is very strong in this vehicle. Hard to get rid of the old girl.
A very irritating thing that the AEB regularly does is brake coz it thinks you’re going too fast into a corner. A case in point is the long sweeping curve off the northern end of the Camden by pass which is an easy curve to take at the posted limit, 100Kph. It also loses the plot, and GPS signal, in the Northconnex tunnel under Normanhurst. On cruise control using GPS in Cruise mode it keeps trying to guess where it is and regularly applies brake so you can make a fictitious turn onto a surface road with predictable results for following traffic and me. No, magic words do not help!! The words that do help are “Hey Mercedes cancel guidance” and GPS nav is off. Why the twin cameras used for front end collision prevention can’t over ride it I do not know.
Backing into my driveway it also gets excited by pedestrians who are closer than about 2 Metres and brakes hard.
Given that this is in fact a sports car - described as a “Super Hatch” - and made to be driven in a “spirited” way this AEB needs to be toned down.
When you turn it all off for a track day you realise that these driver aids definitely have a place in extremely high performance cars but they need to be tuned for this car, not the bread and butter run abouts.
Rant over! I still love the car!!
Is the real problem with the system is that it is not on an Autobahn and expects to be mostly travelling in the far left hand lane. Apparently lane discipline comes naturally to the locals.
