Dangerous: Autopilot is nagging every 15 seconds. Why?

[Brandon332]

Hi all,

I love our X, but over the past several days something weird has been happening when in Autopilot. The "Hold steering wheel" alert is coming up exactly every 15 seconds without stop, regardless of any other factors. I use it on the way to work and home so it's the same route I've been using for months, clear skies, average speed, no obstructions to the camera, different lanes used etc, so it's nothing unusual external to the car. About 75% of the time it comes on every 15 seconds, the other 25% is normal.

It's dangerous because I have to look down at the screen rather than on the road, I almost crashed once! So I put my hands on the wheel all the time, but you all know that we need to tug the wheel to silence the alert, so it still appears every 15 seconds. So I haven't been using autopilot anymore. Does anyone know why this happens and how to prevent it? Thanks so much!

 

[X Fan]

Hi all,

I love our X, but over the past several days something weird has been happening when in Autopilot. The "Hold steering wheel" alert is coming up exactly every 15 seconds without stop, regardless of any other factors. I use it on the way to work and home so it's the same route I've been using for months, clear skies, average speed, no obstructions to the camera, different lanes used etc, so it's nothing unusual external to the car. About 75% of the time it comes on every 15 seconds, the other 25% is normal.

It's dangerous because I have to look down at the screen rather than on the road, I almost crashed once! So I put my hands on the wheel all the time, but you all know that we need to tug the wheel to silence the alert, so it still appears every 15 seconds. So I haven't been using autopilot anymore. Does anyone know why this happens and how to prevent it? Thanks so much!

Used AP for almost 9K miles but haven’t seen that...it would be helpful to know your OS version and what type of road you are using it on.

btw: have you rebooted the system with similar effect?

 

[BigMskiman]

Not having that behavior on my X. It would distract me as well.

 

[RDoc]

"Hold" means actually grip the wheel, not just put your hand on it. There's no need to tug at the wheel, just grip it comfortably and let the wheel's motion move your hand and arm. I grip the wheel at the bottom touching the bottom spoke and never get a nag.

If you are doing that and still getting nags, talk to service.

 

[kort677]

why do you need to look down? just keep a finger on the steering wheel, that said this is not normal and should get checked by a SvC

 

[cgiGuy]

It's dangerous because I have to look down at the screen rather than on the road, I almost crashed once!

Wow. I'm somehow not surprised by how many people are crashing their cars on AP with statements like this.

At least you weren't petting your dog and cleaning the interior of the car around a curve while on AP.

 

[Brandon332]

OS version 7.1, and the roads were main interstates. I've used the interstates every week since I got the car in July with no issues. I'll clarify, when I hold the wheel, 50% of he time the car doesn't recognize and it still gives the warning, 25% of the time it recognizes and lets me go for another 15 seconds, and 25% of the time I accidentally disengage autopilot. There's a very fine line between getting the car to notice you're holding it and disengaging it.

 

[30seconds]

sounds like some sort of sensor issue

 

[davidc18]

"Hold" means actually grip the wheel, not just put your hand on it. There's no need to tug at the wheel, just grip it comfortably and let the wheel's motion move your hand and arm. I grip the wheel at the bottom touching the bottom spoke and never get a nag.

If you are doing that and still getting nags, talk to service.

There are no sensors in the wheel. It senses torque, not pressure. You have to apply slight torque to remove the nag.

set up a service appt. that behavior is not normal.

 

[Electroman]

You can hold the wheel as tightly as you want till your fingers turn blue. It will do nothing.

You need to gently torque (turn) the wheel ever so slightly, just enough for the car to know you are alive and watching. If you turn too much AP will assume you want to take control and disable and give the control to you. It's easy, you will quickly learn how much to turn.

 

[vandacca]

This is totally subjective, but it appears to me that AP will nag more when conditions are not ideal. I find that when I'm driving on a large, straight road with new asphalt and lines, I rarely get nagged. In a high-traffic area with faded lines, I appear to get nagged more often. Maybe your route is deemed not ideal?

Note: this is not a scientific observation

 

[RDoc]

There are no sensors in the wheel. It senses torque, not pressure. You have to apply slight torque to remove the nag.

set up a service appt. that behavior is not normal.

Who said anything about sensors in the wheel?

The torque the system senses from the inertia of your hand and arm plus the natural resistance of you arm to motion is more than enough to silence nags. There's no need to tug on the wheel.

What won't work is lightly laying your hand on the wheel and letting it slip under your fingers. That will generate nags.

 

[X Fan]

This is totally subjective, but it appears to me that AP will nag more when conditions are not ideal. I find that when I'm driving on a large, straight road with new asphalt and lines, I rarely get nagged. In a high-traffic area with faded lines, I appear to get nagged more often. Maybe your route is deemed not ideal?

Note: this is not a scientific observation

agreed....btw: OP, Q was which specific rev. level of 7.1? I have 2.32.100. In any event, SC call make sense.

 

[Blastphemy]

it appears to me that AP will nag more when conditions are not ideal. I find that when I'm driving on a large, straight road with new asphalt and lines, I rarely get nagged. In a high-traffic area with faded lines, I appear to get nagged more often.

Same here.

 

[davidc18]

Who said anything about sensors in the wheel?

The torque the system senses from the inertia of your hand and arm plus the natural resistance of you arm to motion is more than enough to silence nags. There's no need to tug on the wheel.

What won't work is lightly laying your hand on the wheel and letting it slip under your fingers. That will generate nags.

so we are saying the same thing differently

 

[systemcrashed]

Hi all,

I love our X, but over the past several days something weird has been happening when in Autopilot. The "Hold steering wheel" alert is coming up exactly every 15 seconds without stop, regardless of any other factors. I use it on the way to work and home so it's the same route I've been using for months, clear skies, average speed, no obstructions to the camera, different lanes used etc, so it's nothing unusual external to the car. About 75% of the time it comes on every 15 seconds, the other 25% is normal.

It's dangerous because I have to look down at the screen rather than on the road, I almost crashed once! So I put my hands on the wheel all the time, but you all know that we need to tug the wheel to silence the alert, so it still appears every 15 seconds. So I haven't been using autopilot anymore. Does anyone know why this happens and how to prevent it? Thanks so much!

Give tech support a call and as them to push the last update to your car again. Good practice to reboot after firmware update. Check your windshield and make sure the glass is clean in front of the camera.

 

[Trnsl8r]

My car is too old for AP so I don't have the experience here, but wouldn't it make more sense to have a different function to let the car know you're awake than yanking the wheel? Could you have an alert show up on the screen or something that you have to tap to show the same?

 

[EV Family]

This is totally subjective, but it appears to me that AP will nag more when conditions are not ideal. I find that when I'm driving on a large, straight road with new asphalt and lines, I rarely get nagged. In a high-traffic area with faded lines, I appear to get nagged more often. Maybe your route is deemed not ideal?

Note: this is not a scientific observation

I've had the same observation.

 

[systemcrashed]

I've had the same observation.

Same here. Traffic volume change, and road conditions/contrast also triggers it for me.

 

[Electroman]

True. I have had days when it will nag just once or twice in my 40 mile commute. Typically that would be when I am driving very early in the mornings or later at nights or weekends when there is less traffic, or on the other extreme when the traffic is just stop and go and crawling.

It nags a bit more when there is dense traffic zipping at high speeds and folks are cutting you off in and out, traffic slowing abruptly. When the system is a bit more stressed.

It all makes perfect sense.