Pre-collision alert went off, nothing there

[wynand32]

So, I was driving through my neighborhood today and my pre-collision alert went off. There was nothing in front of me, and it kind of freaked me out for a second and made me look for something that wasn't there.

Anyway, has anybody else had a phantom alert like this? There was a car parked on the side but I'm pretty certain I didn't come anywhere near it.

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[sirben711]

YEP.

Happened to me many many times...UNTIL the camera failed on me

Sometimes it would happen on the highway, other times wile driving through my twisty neighborhood with parked cars (which, to be fair, is more understandable). But that warning is obnoxious and gives me a heart attack. I am not a fan.

As for why its happening? It could be poor software coding. Or, it could be a precursor to the sensor failing - but that is only a guess based on my experience.

 

[Onewolf]

It happened multiple times in my Audi A4. It will get your attention!

 

[wynand32]

Alrighty, thanks. I suppose I'll just keep an eye on it, so to speak. If it starts happening regularly then it'll be a trip to the dealer.

 

[AvalancheSVT]

i played with enough facial recognition stuff to know there's a LOT going on to get that little alert.
basically, its looking for shapes, looking at what your car is doing, running that through some prediction logic, and deciding to throw the fast and the furious alert at you.

I keep it on just cause it might save my bacon someday.

 

[Mike Pfeifer]

i played with enough facial recognition stuff to know there's a LOT going on to get that little alert.
basically, its looking for shapes, looking at what your car is doing, running that through some prediction logic, and deciding to throw the fast and the furious alert at you.

I keep it on just cause it might save my bacon someday.

The thing to remember with these types of driver assist systems is that they are not a person and do not have a brain. They will never ever work like the opposite is true. There is no reasoning or logic or situational awareness to take into account like a person would do before making a decision. Like was said above, it’s simply looking for shapes (of which there can be more than you would think) and brightness and other criteria, like calculated closing speed, and making real-time decisions on sending an alert. Other factors can also cause bad info for the system, like low sun angles (blinding), reflections, and fog / rain / snow, or even oddly shaped vehicles and lighting elements. Obviously, with this type of system, a false positive (annoyance) is better than a false negative (crash). So that’s how they are programmed. Understanding these functional limitations might help with the enjoyment of the vehicle.

 

[wynand32]

The thing to remember with these types of driver assist systems is that they are not a person and do not have a brain. They will never ever work like the opposite is true. There is no reasoning or logic or situational awareness to take into account like a person would do before making a decision. Like was said above, it’s simply looking for shapes (of which there can be more than you would think) and brightness and other criteria, like calculated closing speed, and making real-time decisions on sending an alert. Other factors can also cause bad info for the system, like low sun angles (blinding), reflections, and fog / rain / snow, or even oddly shaped vehicles and lighting elements. Obviously, with this type of system, a false positive (annoyance) is better than a false negative (crash). So that’s how they are programmed. Understanding these functional limitations might help with the enjoyment of the vehicle.

Makes perfect sense, and my ONLY concern is if there's a fault that would cause it not to work when it should.

 

[RagmopInKona]

It tis fall, and a leaf in the wind in it's view will do it.

 

[Mike Pfeifer]

Makes perfect sense, and my ONLY concern is if there's a fault that would cause it not to work when it should.

Agreed, that would concern me as well. I would say that the false alarms, while not necessarily a failure, could lead to someone not trusting it at all. This is understandable human nature. It will take some time for people to get used to this type of rapidly advancing technology. Eventually it will be as common as seatbelts, airbags and third brake lights. But at the end of the day, they are still ‘driver assistance’ and not ‘driver replacements’. It’s great to have them as they might bail you out someday, but don’t rely on it to do your job for you as the driver.

 

[wynand32]

Agreed, that would concern me as well. I would say that the false alarms, while not necessarily a failure, could lead to someone not trusting it at all. This is understandable human nature. It will take some time for people to get used to this type of rapidly advancing technology. Eventually it will be as common as seatbelts, airbags and third brake lights. But at the end of the day, they are still ‘driver assistance’ and not ‘driver replacements’. It’s great to have them as they might bail you out someday, but don’t rely on it to do your job for you as the driver.

Sure. I'm very much in the camp that driver assistance for last-ditch emergency situations is a good thing -- better to have that slim chance that the car will brake if we're just not fast enough than to plow into someone at full speed. But I think we're extremely far away from anything resembling reliable "self-driving" cars (if it's possible at all) and I certainly don't perceive any of this technology as a replacement for my own responsibility.

And on that note, I despise Elon Musk for pushing the Tesla fraud. Many people will die because he's positioning technology precisely the way we're saying it shouldn't be.

But, yeah, if it were to continue to happen, then I'll have it checked out to be sure. It's something I paid for, and I want it to function correctly just based on the principle alone.

 

[Vlad Soare]

Happened to me countless times in my Mondeo. When I got the Mustang I was determined that the first time it braked by itself for no reason I would deactivate it. And sure enough, barely two weeks had passed before it did it. So I killed it for good with ForScan and now I'm happy.
I hate this crap.

 

[wynand32]

Happened to me countless times in my Mondeo. When I got the Mustang I was determined that the first time it braked by itself for no reason I would deactivate it. And sure enough, barely two weeks had passed before it did it. So I killed it for good with ForScan and now I'm happy.
I hate this crap.

Just to be clear, mine didn't brake by itself, it just threw up the proximity alert.

 

[Vlad Soare]

Just to be clear, mine didn't brake by itself, it just threw up the proximity alert.

Give it time. It will. And when it does, you'll be surprised to find out how long you can swear without repeating yourself.
But anyway, the alert alone is maddening in and of itself. It's like you had your mother-in-law sitting in the passenger's seat, screaming at you: "WATCH OUT, YOU IDIOT!!!!!!!!"

 

[paulm1]

So, I was driving through my neighborhood today and my pre-collision alert went off. There was nothing in front of me, and it kind of freaked me out for a second and made me look for something that wasn't there.

Anyway, has anybody else had a phantom alert like this? There was a car parked on the side but I'm pretty certain I didn't come anywhere near it.

yup, got my new '21 in march, happens a lot more than I would like.

 

[Gregs24]

Happened to me countless times in my Mondeo. When I got the Mustang I was determined that the first time it braked by itself for no reason I would deactivate it. And sure enough, barely two weeks had passed before it did it. So I killed it for good with ForScan and now I'm happy.
I hate this crap.

In the Mustang you can change the sensitivity, as well as turning off the automatic braking (so you just get a warning)

Driving Aids - Pre-Collision Assist (fordservicecontent.com)

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