Lane Assist is downright dangerous

[andrewtc]

I am sure if you are on the Autobahn Lane Assist works fine but on a typical poorly maintained country road it is "off" 80% of the time and then suddenly thinks it has found a lane, switches on and nudges your steering. But there are no white lines, the "lane" it finds is the edge of some old road repair or some bit of worn road and so it randomly nudges you either in to pot holes on the side of the road or in to oncoming, fast moving traffic (given that roads with no central line still have a 60mph speed limit). It takes time to disable Lane Assist each journey (my trip to work is 20 miles of Suffolk country lanes) and it is apparently impossible to remove permanently. This situation is negligent by VW and it can only be a matter of time before they cause an accident and get taken to court.

[ItshardtobuyId3]

Completely agree. It’s the most dangerous safety feature ever invented but is the result of badly conceived EU legislation.

Like you say, it would probably be fine on well maintained roads with clear road markings but on anything other than motorways it’s downright dangerous.

[G43FAN]

Never had an issue with it in 18 months. 60mph limit or not, driving to the conditions might make a difference.

[ItshardtobuyId3]

Never had an issue with it in 18 months. 60mph limit or not, driving to the conditions might make a difference.

Then you live somewhere with wonderful roads. It’s got nothing to do with driving to the conditions. It’s to do with road markings not being clear. The car yanking you from left to right at 70 mph on a motorway because the car is confused or being yanked towards a bridge because the car gets confused by puddles combined with poor road marking is dangerous. It it works for you then good for you. It doesn’t where I live.

If I turn it off I don’t have a problem, if it’s on it’s a menace. My driving is fine thanks for the tip. It’s the car that has the problem.

[ashmcmac]

I absolutely 100 % agree……never had a car try to drag me into the hedge or bollards in the middle of the road and even kerbs . One of the main reasons I got rid .

[Newfie]

I agree with G43FAN. 12 months and 19000 miles and never had a problem and I travel on many country lanes with no road markings.

[monkeyhanger]

It's a solution to a problem that doesn't exist, unless you're really not paying attention to the road

It's there to mitigate the risk of driving and texting/applying make up etc.

It's also poorly executed. Even ignoring standing water and poor lane markings, if you're driving wide to avoid all those parked cars on the side of that 40mph road on matchday, it'll pull you towards them (really not practical to have your indicators on for half a mile to stop it happening).

If you're sat on a road that's narrowed with cones for roadworks, and have adjusted your placing to suit, it'll pull you back in towards the cones. The system isn't bright enough to place you in the middle of an unrestricted gap within your lane. It'll put you between the lines and ignore obstacles you're trying to avoid. It's completely crap.

[sidehaas]

Lane assist...
...is very useful on the motorway
... would be better if it only activated at 55mph rather than 40mph
...but isn't that much of a problem really
....and only takes 1 button and 1 screen press to turn on/off mid-drive if you put the assist menu in to list mode before you set off.

P.S. I'm a big fan of decent rural B roads but anyone driving at 60mph on a single track section has a screw loose. There are very few single track roads where it's safe to drive over 40, below which lane assist doesn't activate. So that's a tiny niche use case in the OP.

[OB1CCFC]

Not sure why anyone would doubt the integrity of the OP and their experiences, especially as these systems have been widely criticised for years.
I certainly had a few uncomfortable incidents where I felt the system was potentially dangerous. It certainly needs some work (by all manufacturers) which probably tells you it isn’t ready to be a mandatory safety system.

[Mikec2829]

Totally agree with G43FAN. No issue on country roads, but it does take a bit of getting used to. Definitely not a safety issue, but sometimes a bit of a nuisance. Generally a very good feature.

[ItshardtobuyId3]

So we have a combination of “no problems whatsoever” and “it’s definitely dangerous”.

Under 30 mph, “cyclist exterminator” doesn’t do anything and over that it depends entirely on where you drive. If you drive under 30 all the time it doesn’t even activate. It might make out like it’s seeing the boundaries but it won’t do anything. I love tech but this tech is beyond useless where I drive.

[ItshardtobuyId3]

Not sure why anyone would doubt the integrity of the OP and their experiences, especially as these systems have been widely criticised for years.
I certainly had a few uncomfortable incidents where I felt the system was potentially dangerous. It certainly needs some work (by all manufacturers) which probably tells you it isn’t ready to be a mandatory safety system.

Yep, I love my car but I don’t see the benefit in promoting things that are clearly terrible.

[ItshardtobuyId3]

Lane assist...
...is very useful on the motorway
... would be better if it only activated at 55mph rather than 40mph
...but isn't that much of a problem really
....and only takes 1 button and 1 screen press to turn on/off mid-drive if you put the assist menu in to list mode before you set off.

P.S. I'm a big fan of decent rural B roads but anyone driving at 60mph on a single track section has a screw loose. There are very few single track roads where it's safe to drive over 40, below which lane assist doesn't activate. So that's a tiny niche use case in the OP.

There is a section of road I use 4 days a week that ‘cyclist exterminator’ decides that crashing me into a bridge seems like a good choice. It’s repeatable too. It doesn’t happen unless it’s rained a lot. When it has, the car will try to plow into the nearby bridge, every single time. I’ve never had a car without ‘lane assist’ try to kill me!

[TimF]

I try to remember to turn it off, but since a lot of my mileage is on 30mph local roads this isn't something which has become a habit. One poster mentions single-track roads - surely Lane Assist doesn't attempt to operate in those conditions, as that would encourage the car to stay driving head-on at anything approaching? Or do Lane Assist and Front Assist get into an argument at that point?

Some rural roads near me have areas of relatively bare earth at the sides. Near the tarmac the road dirt spread by traffic onto the earth keeps it dark, further away it is plentifully scattered with chalk stones. Lane Assist thinks these are lane markers, so tries to pull the car into and beyond the edge of the tarmac. Some local 40mph roads have houses and small businesses along them, which are served by the usual collection of bin lorries and delivery vans. It's not unusual to need to pull towards the nearside to give clearance for bin men/women etc, but Lane Assist objects to this.

IMO, the root problem is that the lane-detection element of the image processing software is nowhere near "intelligent" enough to make assessments of lane edges, and incapable of merging lane-detection with other aspects of the road situation which could then be genuinely useful as an Assist.

[monkeyhanger]

If anyone's in or near the North Tyneside area, I can use my OBD11 to turn it off (or make it selectable so that it remembers to stay off if you turn it off)

[ItshardtobuyId3]

If anyone's in or near the North Tyneside area, I can use my OBD11 to turn it off (or make it selectable so that it remembers to stay off if you turn it off)

If ever I’m up that way I’ll take you up on that offer thanks.

Another point I’d like to add to this topic is there is absolutely nothing wrong with crossing lanes without indicating in some circumstances. If the white line is dotted it means you can cross it. If you do advance driver training in the U.K. you will be taught to cross it! There is absolutely no point sticking to a lane on an ‘A’ road if there isn’t anything coming the other way. I’m not trying to make out I’m an advanced driver, but I’ve had some advanced training and know if the British police were driving MEB platform cars, they’d turn lane assist off immediately, and probably due to a risk assessment!!!!

[Scratch]

If anyone's in or near the North Tyneside area, I can use my OBD11 to turn it off (or make it selectable so that it remembers to stay off if you turn it off)

If ever I’m up that way I’ll take you up on that offer thanks.

Another point I’d like to add to this topic is there is absolutely nothing wrong with crossing lanes without indicating in some circumstances. If the white line is dotted it means you can cross it. If you do advance driver training in the U.K. you will be taught to cross it! There is absolutely no point sticking to a lane on an ‘A’ road if there isn’t anything coming the other way. I’m not trying to make out I’m an advanced driver, but I’ve had some advanced training and know if the British police were driving MEB platform cars, they’d turn lane assist off immediately, and probably due to a risk assessment!!!!

That is how the Police teach motorcycle riders - use the whole road, when it's safe to do so.

[TimF]

If anyone's in or near the North Tyneside area, I can use my OBD11 to turn it off (or make it selectable so that it remembers to stay off if you turn it off)

Does that count as making a change to manufacturer specification, which is supposed to be notified to the insurer?

[VengefulSeal]

I agree that in certain locations the lane assist is really dangerous - I've had it try to send me into cars coming in the opposite direction in some country lanes many times. Not that narrow and plenty wide enough for 2 cars, but the system decides I should be in the middle of that bit of road and forget about the oncoming cars!

It is great on properly marked roads and motorways, but I have also had it try and move me when I'm accelerating onto a dual carriageway or motorway where it decides that a strip of newer (therefore darker) tarmac is actually a lane marking and I shouldn't be crossing it!

It isn't unique to the VW though, the boss has a Hyundai and that is the same, but not as bad. At least on hers there is a physical button on the steering wheel that you can hold to disable it and not take your eyes off the road and a couple of different screens to disable it. But it gets re-enabled every time you start the car as per the dumb EU legislation

[andrewtc]

Never had an issue with it in 18 months. 60mph limit or not, driving to the conditions might make a difference.

So exactly how does "driving to the conditions" affect the speed of oncoming traffic? Cars coming past the other way at 60mph when there are no white lines and a tight fit means its phantom recognition of worn road surface as white lines is seriously dangerous.