My Scooby is fitted with "Eyesight" , a suite of electronic driver's aids considered to be class leading and certainly giving a low insurance grouping. . I believe JLR fit a similar twin camera system to the new Disco Sport and later Evoques.

I've used the adaptive cruise extensively on motorways and am impressed with the system, but I've never had the full blown braking system cut in ... until yesterday . I was driving through Addingham , a village where one side of the road always has parked cars and drivers using that side are always giving way to the oncoming traffic.

An oncoming big Toyota pickup stopped in his Lane about 30 yards ahead of me as I had priority. As he did a Sunday afternoon "Team Sky wanabee " hurtled past him slap inot the middle of my Lane head down arse up peddling full tilt.

Before I could even move my foot to the brake pedal the system beat me to it , dashboard clocks all flashed red , the car stopped dead from 20mph with ABS cutting in . The cyclist barely slowed and managed to slip between my offside and the parked cars . I reckon that split second gave him just enough time to avoid a full head on.

I don't think I'll ever buy another vehicle without such a system . 2009 GS Auto Zermatt Silver - Sold June 21 after 10 years of ownership

2016 Subaru Outback SE 2.0 diesel SE Premium Lineartronic Sold 2024 after 8 years and 80k miles . Best Car I ever owned !

2023 Toyota Hilux invincible X 2.8 Auto .

Last edited by MartynB on 18th Sep 2017 6:49 pm. Edited 1 time in total

Glad you're ok. Scary sounding incident and we know who'll come off worse. Glad the system worked. My DS has the emergency braking system, but I don't want to try it.

A few years ago I was driving an FL1 up the M6 in the centre lane doing about 65mph on a dry road when the traffic ahead started to slow down. A mini came speeding up the outside lane and obviously braked too hard as he lost control and spun round ending up stationary in my lane facing me. I have never braked so hard in my life and felt the ABS going and smell of burning rubber. I can still picture the horror in the young guy's face in the mini as I bore down on him, luckily for him I managed to stop about 6 feet away.
I believe that the technical term is "a brown trousers job" and yes I would hope that my next car has autonomous braking. 3 x FL1 2 manual + 1 auto
5 x FL2 4 manual + 1 auto
Now Discovery Sport P250 MHEV SE

but we all know that sometimes the electronics fail.... and by that time the driver is already reliant on all manner of driving 'aids' so it wont be the drivers fault he has driven over a psycho cyclist, it will be the cars fault.

Id like to see that stand up in court !

Personally I don't like or trust the majority of driver aids,
a) I don't trust the reliability of them
b) it detracts from the actual skill required to drive on modern roads
c) if I run over a cyclist and its proven to be my fault then I will take full responsibility and consequences and not blame it on someone or something else.

b) it detracts from the actual skill required to drive on modern roads

Sadly that skill is missing in so many "drivers" today.

J

because they rely on driver aids too much.... and the lessons/theory test/practical test are just total rubbish now.

While I was volunteering with the Army Cadets, being one of the older generation with grandfather rights on my license so I could drive mini-bus with trailer and 7.5T trucks, I had to do a matrix theory test every 3 years. Questions such as 'you are riding your horse down a country lane.... ' were just pathetic as I cant ride a horse and never want to.

RogB wrote:

but we all know that sometimes the electronics fail.... and by that time the driver is already reliant on all manner of driving 'aids' so it wont be the drivers fault he has driven over a psycho cyclist, it will be the cars fault.

Id like to see that stand up in court !

Personally I don't like or trust the majority of driver aids,
a) I don't trust the reliability of them
b) it detracts from the actual skill required to drive on modern roads
c) if I run over a cyclist and its proven to be my fault then I will take full responsibility and consequences and not blame it on someone or something else.

I disagree totally ,

1) we rely on all manner of electronics in our cars anyway, I'll bet you wouldn't turn of your car's stability programme and ABS, and anyone who says that they can drive better without, or have the skill to beat those sytems is either a WRC champion or deluded. I routinely use LRs Terrain Response system and HDC without worrying about it " failing " So anything that gives me an edge I'll happily take it. On Sunday I'd already started to move my foot but the car system beat me to it . Perhaps if you sure your skill levels are optimum you may be happier without .

2) I don't see anything skilfull about driving it's just a mundane task that some people are better at than others . Ask me how I rate myself as a driver and I'll say "average " despite getting defensive driving courses every two years from he age of 50 to 60 when I retired and handed the company car back .. I'll never say good or better than average that would be silly as what is the datum ? The person who does not make a mistake has not been born . I've also got to realise that at 62 my reactions are not as fast as a an 18 year old. If a car's systems can stop me hitting someone , absolutely great, I'd rather have that in reserve than take the consequence of putting someone in a box in a no fault b me accident.

If a car can tell me I'm drifting in a lane great. car systems are passive, they do not over ride your actions they compliment them.
If you don't like them on the Subaru , you can switch them off , so for example off road you might want to do that .don't know if you can on the DS and Ewok.

3) I think that youngsters today get a far better level of training for the road than the older generation ever did . Don't believe me ? Try to get an unrestricted motorbike licence . When I was a kid it was ... there you go ride round the block on that bike while we watch you , answer two questions and look at a sign from the flip book.. there you go , Norton Commando son ? -10 bob a week , would you like the optional funeral plan ? . I passed my car test at a time when the test was a joke, it was very common to pass in 10 or 12 lessons and then tear of in some old junker with a dodgy MoT . The current test in all aspects is harder. The young drivers of today will embrace automotive technology, its second nature to them , 2009 GS Auto Zermatt Silver - Sold June 21 after 10 years of ownership

2016 Subaru Outback SE 2.0 diesel SE Premium Lineartronic Sold 2024 after 8 years and 80k miles . Best Car I ever owned !

2023 Toyota Hilux invincible X 2.8 Auto .

well I did say the majority of driver aids, not all

things like ABS, DSC etc then yes, they are definitely a compliment

but things like traffic sign recognition, lane departure, blind spot warning, autonomous braking.............. I really don't see the point of them.

I like toys in a car as much as the next petrol head but some just go a bit far. Just because they had self driving Audi's in a Will Smith film or hover cars in another film... doesn't mean they have be in the real world or are even plausible in the real world

I for one am dreading the self driving lorries or cars they are now lauding in the media.

Some of the best passive driver aids are fast disappearing from cars. Ever shrinking glass real estate! Procrastination, mankind's greatest labour saving device!

Acoustic insulation ARB TPMS 3xARB air compressors After cooler Air tank On-board OCD pressure air/water cleaning Additional 50L fuel Carpet in doors ABE 2x1kg Waeco 28L modified fridge Battery 4x26ah Solar 120w Victron MPPT 100/20 DC-DC 18amps 175amp jumper plug Awning 6x255/60R18