Forward Collision Alert saved my *** this weekend

[callmehere]

Fellow enthusiasts.... we often come to these forums and discuss the features we don't have yet. This post makes me appreciate a feature we do have.

What I am about to tell you is an accident averted because forward collision alert actually worked and saved what would have been my own driver error. This weekend en-route to the beach (about a 3 hour drive) was a mix of 65-70 mph driving, at times, and bumper to bumper traffic, at other times, and everything in between. This typically would have been a stressful drive, but auto-pilot is amazing as long as the driver is attentive.

However, because of the nature of the drive, construction along the way, or other factors, sometimes I had auto-pilot engaged, and other times not. About half way through the trip, I encountered moderate stop and go traffic. Auto-pilot was not engaged and I was following a car in front of me at about 35 mph. There were about 5 - 7 car lengths between us. I reached over to grab something and took my eyes off the road for what would have, in my mind, been a split second, but in reality was probably 3 seconds - tough to know exactly. What I do know is that while my eyes were off the road, I heard the "BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP" and quickly looked forward and saw the red brake lights of the car in front of me RAPIDLY approaching my 35 mph moving vehicle. The car in front was almost stopped at that point. I was able to brake hard and make a very rapid controlled emergency stop as my heart sank into my feet. Luckily the car behind me stopped on time as well. Crash averted.

My wife said to me (as she was oblivious to what just happened) "I hate those various beeps and sounds your car makes" and I was just sitting at a stop with my jaw hung open with the knowledge that, absent those beeps, I likely would have hit that car. The fact she was oblivious to what happened shows my technical skill at executing an abrupt emergency stop

It only takes one of those incidents to remind me that distracted driving is no joke. I consider it a strong warning to me that I better not take my eyes off the road again auto-pilot or not - not even for a split second. It really can happen that fast. The car in front must have started to brake the instant I lost eye contact with the road.

So, thank you Tesla engineers because despite the rare false alarms I have received via the forward collision alert, this time is saved my ***.

I took the time to post this in the hope that other can learn from my own close call. Be safe out there!!!

So it sounds like you had to manually brake hard once you heard the beeping warning sounds. If you had not manually pressed on the brake, would the car automatically have stopped? I thought it was supposed to? I know Mercedes and Subaru have automatic braking, thought Tesla's have it too?

 

[chillaban]

So it sounds like you had to manually brake hard once you heard the beeping warning sounds. If you had not manually pressed on the brake, would the car automatically have stopped? I thought it was supposed to? I know Mercedes and Subaru have automatic braking, thought Tesla's have it too?

Note that false automatic braking is the worst experience ever. I had it falsely activate in my Audi A6, and my ears rang, my eyes saw stars / blacked out… It took what felt like an eternity for me to regain enough senses to figure out what was going on.

So yes, Tesla does also have AEB but it usually kicks in too late to completely avoid accidents (it's more designed to lessen the severity of an inevitable impact when the system is absolutely confident that it's going to happen)

Most other carmakers also err in that direction.

 

[KerryOH]

Thank goodness! Do you still see the cars/trucks on the road around you in the IC?

Yes, in front is great. Side traffic is somewhat lagging. Don;t always see passing vehicle on display until it;s been visible to the eye. Also, trucks show as cars regardless of size.

 

[Peteski]

I have mine set to moderate and it did go off once this weekend and I was thankful that it did as it helped me ensure I stopped in time. The noise is pretty annoying though, so I'm a little hesitant to set it on early if it's going to go off a lot. Great feature!

Try it on "early" and see how it goes. I get the odd unecessary warning (usually when approaching a parked car and not moving out until quite late) but maybe only once or twice a week at most. The noise might be annoying, but much nicer than the sound of crunching metal!

 

[spectrum]

Also, trucks show as cars regardless of size.

Interesting. Is this due to latest software updates or only because you don't have EAP?

 

[mxnym]

Interesting. Is this due to latest software updates or only because you don't have EAP?

This is because AP2.x (the hardware behind EAP) doesn't yet show trucks and motorcycles, regardless of whether EAP and/or FSD have been paid for. This is one of a couple minute points that people use to argue that AP2.x isn't at AP1.0 parity even though there are much bigger and better reasons that go unmentioned IMO.

 

[skraid]

So it sounds like you had to manually brake hard once you heard the beeping warning sounds. If you had not manually pressed on the brake, would the car automatically have stopped? I thought it was supposed to? I know Mercedes and Subaru have automatic braking, thought Tesla's have it too?

Emergency braking operates like so "If driving 29 mph (46 km/h) or faster, the brakes are released after Automatic Emergency Braking has reduced your driving speed by 25 mph (40 km/h). For example, if Automatic Emergency Braking applies braking when driving 56 mph (90 km/h), it releases the brakes when your speed has been reduced to 31 mph (50 km/h)."