Technical Autonomous braking system

[TommyTipo]

Hi

This afternoon I drove home for my lunch after 10 minutes of driving an amber warning light came on which it turns out to be the autonomous emergency braking system. I got home turned off the engine and when I went to return to work, again it came on after 10 minutes or so.
I have now driven it home again, exactly the same route and the light hasn't come on...is this something to worry about? To be fair, I didn't even know my car had this system fitted to it!

 

[portland_bill]

When there's nothing on the telly, it may be time to have a look in the handbook. This system will normally only operate between two parameters, so not when going slower than a set speed, or faster than around 25-30mph. It may be possible that the system thinks you are stopping too close to stuff, but below the threshold speed, so it can't cope.

 

[portland_bill]

Rather strange when it works, and difficult to set up to test, as you need something to drive towards, that will not do any damage if you hit it. An old sheet between two posts is ideal, if you can manage that. The car will bleep and brake, quite violently, stalling the engine. It will not intervene too early, so braking is left unitl last moment, so is a full stop. (Followed a moment later by being thumped by the following car, perhaps.)

 

[tipojp]

I haven't activated the autonomous braking feature on my Tipo and on a recent drive, it gave me a beep sound warning as though I had come close to a car in front and then the brakes seem to have applied themselves - despite there not being a car in front and me not activating this feature in the car.

I was a bit worried, as it may be some kind of glitch.

Would be very thankful to hear if anyone has experienced any issues with autonomous braking? My car is still under warranty, thankfully.

Please let me know if anyone has had any similar problems.

Thanks in advance

 

[chris3234]

I've had mine beep a time or two but never got the the point of applying brakes

 

[Amboyo]

I was driving to work one morning when the car ahead went to turn right into a junction. I went for the gap opening up on the nearside and suddenly the car bleeped and the brakes came on. It was quite violent as well. Ive got the sensitivity turned down low on mine so I was shocked it came on. The gap was more than big enough as well.

 

[tipojp]

But what concerns me is that the system was inactive on my car - no warning beeps or any of the other features were switched on.

Furthermore, there wasn't a car or any object in front of me at the time.

Any advice very welcome - Thank You

 

[Tipotwo]

I managed to activate the braking system a few days ago.

http://origin-www.fiat.com/news/fiat-tipo-safety-stability-control

"The ESC system includes a number of devices including Panic Brake Assist (PBA), which intervenes in case of emergency braking by increasing the braking force..."

and

"An important driver assistance system is Full Brake Control, which automatically brakes the car to avoid accidents if the driver takes no action: it is an active system because it intervenes directly, rather than simply warning the driver of an imminent hazard."

I would go with the former activated as I was already braking hard, as the car in front of me slammed on the brakes as it slowed hard and suddenly to make a turn. I never felt like I was going to hit the car in front, but the car decided that it wanted to brake harder than I was. I felt the brake pedal move down away from the sole of my foot and then it slammed back onto my sole. There were three of us in the car and we all felt it jerk as it braked harder. The beep noise also went off.

The car in front did not come to a halt and neither did we. It turned off the road and we just continued on. As I say, I do not think it helped prevent an accident as I am sure even if it had not activated, I would not have hit the car in front. But it is good to know it is there and it works.

 

[JTD_Liam]

I often set off the AEB Alert on my Tipo, but have never felt it brake for me. It seems to fire the warning most often when someone is turning into a side road and I move over slightly to go round them but the system thinks I've not slowed down enough, or the system thinks i've not moved over enough.

Other times it's gone off have been when a car in front brakes but I've not used the brakes as hard and the car thinks the gap is getting too close. I think you can adjust the sensitivity though, so your car might be set to apply the brakes sooner than mine.

I'm very light on the brakes so I think I keep the system on its toes a bit!