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Is there any vehicle that uses it's sensors to make a gentle suggestion about following distance? It's probably the best single thing anyone can do to improve

Is there any vehicle that uses it's sensors to make a gentle suggestion about following distance? It's probably the best single thing anyone can do to improve safety. It also reduces wear-and-tear on your car, and increases your fuel economy as a side benefit. Why hasn't gamification of safe driving habits been built directly into the car itself before now?

SoftTalker 8mo ago
A lot of them do. My wife's VW beeps an alert if you're too close to the car ahead of you. It might be that it only activates above a certain speed. I think it will also back down the cruise control (if set) if it detects that you are gaining on the car ahead. That might be MILs Toyota though. I learned the "two second rule" in Driver's Education 45 years ago and generally follow that. Nothing more annoying than having the car behind you riding your bumper.
ARandomerDude 8mo ago
> Why hasn't gamification of safe driving habits been built directly into the car itself before now? I am so glad it hasn't. Data point of one, but gamification now has the opposite effect on me: it's such a well-worn pattern that it just annoys me. It was great when it was novel. I wonder how many others feel the same but without sampling it's hard to know.
- yial 8mo ago
  I concur with you regarding gamification. When I am aware of the gamification it fills me with exhaustion to annoyance to extreme frustration. This is especially true of things that I want to use for one purpose. I also think some of the car sensors (Subaru especially) that are trying to make you safer are notoriously bad. I also find the random “coffee break” notice on Subarus frustrating. My personal examples: “eyes on the road” - triggered frequently by one pair of sunglasses I have, looking left to check blind spot, checking mirrors, etc. “Hands on the steering wheel” - triggered occasionally on long drives when I have been giving input, but very light input.
  - ErroneousBosh 8mo ago
    I drove one of our Kia Niro EVs that we have at work recently, and it started warning me to take a break about fifteen minutes into the drive. I'd barely left the yard, certainly hadn't made it across town. It went off when I actually did stop for a coffee, but went on again 15 minutes after I left the car park. I have to say its various combinations of bings and bongs and beeps were about the most distracting thing I've ever experienced in a vehicle.
dietr1ch 8mo ago
One of the few things I really don't like about my Subbie is that it tries to help braking. I'm all in for traction control and to some extent ABS, but braking hard and upsetting the car's balance when you don't need it is dangerous.
- rconti 8mo ago
  Is it one of those cars that alters the brake boost depending on circumstances? That drives me nuts. When you put x amount of force into the brake pedal, you should know you're going to get y amount of deceleration. Don't double the brake boost just because you decided it's an emergency due to some opaque criteria.
  - dietr1ch 8mo ago
    > Is it one of those cars that alters the brake boost depending on circumstances? No, it's just breaking a bit too hard for you while the panel beeps and has scary red lights pop (that you'll have a hard time reading).
    - Klaus23 8mo ago
      If you are referring to the alert stage of the emergency braking system, triggering it should be rare if you drive reasonably well. It is also most likely a situation in which you could benefit from a little more braking force. If you decide to swerve, the additional weight at the front will help you to initiate the turn, and good systems will then reduce the braking force at the right moment to give you the most traction when cornering.
      - rconti 8mo ago
        Yeah, most AEB systems I've used work quite well. I've had a couple false alarms (just at the warning stage) where I can at least understand why they happened from a system perspective, even if there was no risk. I did find "normal" mode on the Model 3 was way too sensitive, but I set it to "late" and it's been fine ever since.
vablings 8mo ago
My wife's VW will show the following distance and if you are too close a small icon is displayed on the dash. I believe its warning you that if there is emergency breaking required for the car it will not be able to stop in time. It also shows how close you are to the car Infront in "car length" units with a nice big indicator and the adaptive cruse control will follow that distance mostly on its own between 30-100mph
girvo 8mo ago
My Cupra Born does this; it has a little line that it draws on a "road" with the car in front, and you have to put the car in front of the line to be safe. Its quite a fun little system haha, works well on me!
loeg 8mo ago
Pretty sure my EV9 will actually initiate emergency braking. Though it is pretty conservative (no nudge to follow at a safe distance).
_carbyau_ 8mo ago
My car beeps at me far too much now. I am responsible, not my car so I want less distractions. Instead of pretending to shift responsibility to the car, how about people do training every so often instead? Maybe every ten years for an hour or two. The amount of work a young person has to do here to be able to obtain a "full license" takes literal years and multiple tests. But then nothing for the rest of their life despite advances in technology (in and out of the car) and changed traffic conditions...
pjc50 8mo ago
Euro NCAP actually mandates that a following distance should be part of adaptive cruise control. A lot of manufacturers have turned this into a distance meter on the dash, in addition to the automatic braking. When I test-drove a Renault 5. I could see a little bar graph measuring how close I was to what the car thought was safe. Which turned out to be a lot closer than I would be comfortable driving! That is, the car would have allowed me to get much closer before it would have activated any automatic braking. (the irony of looking at a meter on the dash to duplicate a piece of information I should be very clearly seeing out of the windscreen was not lost on me, though)
- ninalanyon 8mo ago
  Automatic braking is a last resort to prevent serious injury to the occupants. That's not the same as safe following distance with adaptive cruise control. The closest my Tesla will go at 60 kph is about 15 m (three car lengths for my Model S) I think. I'm not sure because I normally keep it at maximum separation, about three seconds (50 m at 60 kph).

SoftTalker 8mo ago

A lot of them do. My wife's VW beeps an alert if you're too close to the car ahead of you. It might be that it only activates above a certain speed. I think it will also back down the cruise control (if set) if it detects that you are gaining on the car ahead. That might be MILs Toyota though. I learned the "two second rule" in Driver's Education 45 years ago and generally follow that. Nothing more annoying than having the car behind you riding your bumper.

ARandomerDude 8mo ago

> Why hasn't gamification of safe driving habits been built directly into the car itself before now? I am so glad it hasn't. Data point of one, but gamification now has the opposite effect on me: it's such a well-worn pattern that it just annoys me. It was great when it was novel. I wonder how many others feel the same but without sampling it's hard to know.

yial 8mo ago
I concur with you regarding gamification. When I am aware of the gamification it fills me with exhaustion to annoyance to extreme frustration. This is especially true of things that I want to use for one purpose. I also think some of the car sensors (Subaru especially) that are trying to make you safer are notoriously bad. I also find the random “coffee break” notice on Subarus frustrating. My personal examples: “eyes on the road” - triggered frequently by one pair of sunglasses I have, looking left to check blind spot, checking mirrors, etc. “Hands on the steering wheel” - triggered occasionally on long drives when I have been giving input, but very light input.
- ErroneousBosh 8mo ago
  I drove one of our Kia Niro EVs that we have at work recently, and it started warning me to take a break about fifteen minutes into the drive. I'd barely left the yard, certainly hadn't made it across town. It went off when I actually did stop for a coffee, but went on again 15 minutes after I left the car park. I have to say its various combinations of bings and bongs and beeps were about the most distracting thing I've ever experienced in a vehicle.

dietr1ch 8mo ago

One of the few things I really don't like about my Subbie is that it tries to help braking. I'm all in for traction control and to some extent ABS, but braking hard and upsetting the car's balance when you don't need it is dangerous.

rconti 8mo ago
Is it one of those cars that alters the brake boost depending on circumstances? That drives me nuts. When you put x amount of force into the brake pedal, you should know you're going to get y amount of deceleration. Don't double the brake boost just because you decided it's an emergency due to some opaque criteria.
- dietr1ch 8mo ago
  > Is it one of those cars that alters the brake boost depending on circumstances? No, it's just breaking a bit too hard for you while the panel beeps and has scary red lights pop (that you'll have a hard time reading).
  - Klaus23 8mo ago
    If you are referring to the alert stage of the emergency braking system, triggering it should be rare if you drive reasonably well. It is also most likely a situation in which you could benefit from a little more braking force. If you decide to swerve, the additional weight at the front will help you to initiate the turn, and good systems will then reduce the braking force at the right moment to give you the most traction when cornering.
    - rconti 8mo ago
      Yeah, most AEB systems I've used work quite well. I've had a couple false alarms (just at the warning stage) where I can at least understand why they happened from a system perspective, even if there was no risk. I did find "normal" mode on the Model 3 was way too sensitive, but I set it to "late" and it's been fine ever since.

vablings 8mo ago

My wife's VW will show the following distance and if you are too close a small icon is displayed on the dash. I believe its warning you that if there is emergency breaking required for the car it will not be able to stop in time. It also shows how close you are to the car Infront in "car length" units with a nice big indicator and the adaptive cruse control will follow that distance mostly on its own between 30-100mph

girvo 8mo ago

My Cupra Born does this; it has a little line that it draws on a "road" with the car in front, and you have to put the car in front of the line to be safe. Its quite a fun little system haha, works well on me!

loeg 8mo ago

Pretty sure my EV9 will actually initiate emergency braking. Though it is pretty conservative (no nudge to follow at a safe distance).

_carbyau_ 8mo ago

My car beeps at me far too much now. I am responsible, not my car so I want less distractions. Instead of pretending to shift responsibility to the car, how about people do training every so often instead? Maybe every ten years for an hour or two. The amount of work a young person has to do here to be able to obtain a "full license" takes literal years and multiple tests. But then nothing for the rest of their life despite advances in technology (in and out of the car) and changed traffic conditions...

pjc50 8mo ago

Euro NCAP actually mandates that a following distance should be part of adaptive cruise control. A lot of manufacturers have turned this into a distance meter on the dash, in addition to the automatic braking. When I test-drove a Renault 5. I could see a little bar graph measuring how close I was to what the car thought was safe. Which turned out to be a lot closer than I would be comfortable driving! That is, the car would have allowed me to get much closer before it would have activated any automatic braking. (the irony of looking at a meter on the dash to duplicate a piece of information I should be very clearly seeing out of the windscreen was not lost on me, though)

ninalanyon 8mo ago
Automatic braking is a last resort to prevent serious injury to the occupants. That's not the same as safe following distance with adaptive cruise control. The closest my Tesla will go at 60 kph is about 15 m (three car lengths for my Model S) I think. I'm not sure because I normally keep it at maximum separation, about three seconds (50 m at 60 kph).