Lane Change Assist

[Mistertoad]

I am wondering how efficient the Porsche system is. The lane change assist on my A8 sometimes fails to register a vehicle overtaking with a high closing speed on the autobahn. I know mark one eyeballs/mirrors are more reliable, but I would appreciate help, especially when driving long distances on the continent.Mistertoad2014-07-14 17:18:44

[Nosmo]

I drove back through the continent very recently. I was behind a couple of Mercs with this feature. My eye was drawn to a flashing red light on the right hand side within the right wing mirror. It took me a little while to puzzle out that this was the overtaking warning (I didn't spot it on the left mirror following these cars in the outside lane). It would personally drive me nuts if in dense motorway traffic this light comes on every couple of seconds. It was reasonably accurate although certainly not to the extend that I would trust it blindly.

[Mistertoad]

Thanks, I think it is a bit of a gimmick. In fact I ended up waiting for the warning lights to come on when I saw an overtaking vehicle approaching. I switch it off in the UK because the traffic is too heavy, so I don't think I will spec it when it comes to lock down. The adaptive cruise control in the A8 is brilliant, I will definitely specify that.

[Giz9]

Surely the light only comes on when you are indicating in the appropriate direction?

[Ger]

Just an opinion, but I am not sure about things like lane change assist etc. I am all for things that can improve safety, but my concerns with things like this is whether people become too reliant on it, and stop the essential basics of mirror signal manoeuvre, quick glance over your shoulder, and therefor decrease their overall skill needed to drive, which in the long term, cannot be good. Not a fan of park assist for the same reason. (Not parking sensors - the one where the car steers into the space for you). Just a thought, I am sure many people who have it, or have ordered it, will disagree. Ger2014-07-15 11:52:09

[Its]

I just love it. It is an extra safety reminding me of a possible danger I may not be seeing.

[Beausoleil]

Just an opinion, but I am not sure about things like lane change assist etc. I am all for things that can improve safety, but my concerns with things like this is whether people become too reliant on it, and stop the essential basics of mirror signal manoeuvre, quick glance over your shoulder, and therefor decrease their overall skill needed to drive, which in the long term, cannot be good. Not a fan of park assist for the same reason. (Not parking sensors - the one where the car steers into the space for you). Just a thought, I am sure many people who have it, or have ordered it, will disagree.

Absolutely. I have nothing against the new raft of safety and assistance
systems coming on stream but I do worry that they may start to be regarded as
something other than the emergency back-up they are intended to be. I guess
it's human nature to put things like Active Cruise Control and Lane Keeping
Assist to the test during the novelty period having paid a lot of money for
them; but surely the ideal is that none of these aids actually does anything
for the driver because he's done it for himself already. To defer to these gadgets
is akin to marrying a heart surgeon and deciding that now you can load up on
cholesterol and start smoking 80 a day because your other half can save you.
Well, not quite but you take my point.

Referring to Lane Keeping Assist, someone asserted on
another forum that he would not specify it because no Porsche should ever steer
for him. Well it never would if he does the job as well as he clearly believes
he can. If Formula 1 cars delivered an electric shock to the gonads of any
driver who missed an apex, their self-assurance wouldn't let them complain -
they'd just get on with the job of racing . . . accurately.

An argument for these systems is that they make the job of
driving more relaxing, but I'm not sure how relaxed I want my fellow road users
to be. I was once left wondering why my car's Hill Hold Assist was letting me
roll backwards towards the vehicle behind, and then remembered I wasn't driving
my car! No, these aids should be for that odd occasion when you don't react
quickly enough, lose concentration or fall victim to another road user. We can
argue that they are sometimes either too alarmist or not reactive enough but
they will get better. At the moment we can choose not to have them but that
situation won't last. Lane Change Assist warnings blinking will become
something either we have to get used to or manufacturers will have to refine,
but turning the warnings off won't be an option sooner than we think. Power
steering, auto transmissions, ABS and even seat belts all met with resistance
from people who considered them an affront. Now even the most hairy-chested
drivers take them for granted. The latter two are even mandated by law.

My understanding of Lane Change Assist is that it will blink
whenever it picks up another vehicle in a driver's blind spot and sound an
audible warning if, despite this, the driver signals in the direction of that
vehicle. Naturally, since vehicles are frequently in one's blind spot it is
forever blinking; leading some users to defeat the system because it annoys
them, while others presumably begin to almost take the blinking for granted to
the extent that it no longer serves as a warning.

I think what is needed is a setting that only performs the
second function (ie. warns you if you signal towards a vehicle in your blind
spot). Perhaps it could also warn you if you start to steer towards a vehicle
in your blind spot without having signalled. I just think more drivers would
find LCA acceptable if it didn't blink for every single approaching vehicle. My
'in-between' setting would ignore those that are irrelevant and encourage
drivers to go back to looking over that shoulder.

I'm all for safety innovations; funds permitting, I would
have them all. I certainly don't think I need them but let me put it like this;
my motorcycle addict son emerged from his 'phase' without incident, so he didn't
really need that really expensive helmet I paid for.

[Miopyk]

I've always thought that the greatest tool a driver has is the power of observation and while I do believe that these safety systems are designed to help us see dangers more quickly I do wonder if they make some people lazy and more reliant on these new devices rather than their own eyes.

[Ferdie]

I just wanted to bump this thread to see to what the current
consensus was on lane change assist.

For context my understanding is that if I indicate lane
change left or right then I will get indication in the appropriate mirror that
there is something approaching, if fast then farther back but if slowly then only
if quite close in (including the blind spot on that side).

My concerns/thoughts on this are:

1. By
the time I indicate then I should know that it is clear to pull over - however I
am fallible and the blind spot can catch me out on a bad day on the busy motorway
or a motor bike overtaking the tractor and 10 other cars in the queue at 90mph
(sorry bikers here I know it is not you)

2. If
it flashes a warning then, yes there is a car that side (is that for sure?) which
I hope 9 out of 10 times I have seen and intend either change lane safely or as
minimum check they are able and willing to allow me to move over

So I would definitely not use it instead of due diligence
but in the two cases above is it truly helpful or is it just something that is flashing
annoyingly under most conditions almost defeating its benefits or even worst
actually misses the cases listed in (1)?

Can any users plese comment on how they find it now?

[Col Lamb]

The best safety feature you canput in a Macan costs ..... £149

Plus a few hours of your time plus most of all a commitment

Its joining the IAM and undertaking one of their training courses.

Sorry but its time to be controversal, if the average joe public on the road thinks they are a great driver then on a scale of 0 - 100 they are probably abot 33.

So how do you guys think you are on the scale?

So forget these expensive extras and invest in yourself.

Anyone who is a also biker will be better than those who are not,why is that, simple because some moron in a car is hell bent on killing them so a biker learns to observe far more than someone who is not

OK off soapbox now