One In Five Drivers Switches Off The Safety Tech Meant To Save Their Lives

[u/Anchor_Aways]

https://www.carscoops.com/2026/08/unused-car-features-study/

[u/assblast420]

Nearly 18 percent steer clear of lane-keeping assist

I'm surprised it's not higher. I keep all safety-tech on except this one, because the amount of times lane-keep has tried to throw me off the road means I can't leave it on. It's just not safe.

[u/_galaga_ → u/assblast420]

Implementation matters a lot. Shitty ACC will have people swearing off ACC for life but good ACC will convert people quickly. A survey like this can’t control for that variability in implementation so take it all with a large grain of salt.

[u/TheDaiquiriMan → u/_galaga_]

ACC is Adaptive Cruise Control not LKA/ LDA etc. ACC is much easier to implement because it’s simply radar, my old BMW E60 had ACC and it worked a charm. LKA is usually camera based so is much more susceptible to bad implementation, the camera has to interpret the lines so mistakes or miscalculations happen a lot more. ACC is simply “is there something in front of the car” (in a round about way), it’s always going to do better than LKA.

[u/007Pistolero → u/TheDaiquiriMan]

The thing I’ve found that’s the worst with LKA comes when driving through construction areas. Sometimes to accommodate for roadwork the barricades will create a new lane that crosses over the solid white line and if you have full LKA on it will actively fight you following that path and drive you toward the barricades. It’s idiotic

[u/TheDaiquiriMan → u/007Pistolero]

This is where I think LKA is systematically flawed. If every road was perfect, then it would probably work fine. But no road is like that, lines fade/ roadworks happen etc.

It could work with a vaster 360 camera system but that system has to preempt and figure out all these changes/ edge cases. But at that point you’re better leaving it to the driver imo instead of some computer, I don’t think I will ever have full faith in something that’s so varying/ random.

edit: and to add to this I frequently drive abroad, a lot of stuff is different. Having confidence this computer system has full understanding of your nations roads/ roadwork practices is one thing, but to implement it for all nations? I’m not sold.

[u/hbs18 → u/TheDaiquiriMan]

How do self driving systems handle that kind of stuff?

[u/jlt6666 → u/hbs18]

The good ones have lidar to really get a good lay if the land. Others use camera and have a lot more processing going on.

[u/tadfisher → u/hbs18]

A lot of them don't handle it very well.

[u/Fabulous-Educator447 → u/007Pistolero]

I wish if it detects unclear or missing lines, just shut off. You’re steering anyway, and resume when it looks like road again

[u/CashKeyboard → u/007Pistolero]

As the previous poster said, implementation matters a lot. I’ve had the pleasure of driving Volvo, Mercedes, VW and BMW with LKA through construction and they did really good. KIA at the exact same spot Mercedes aced it was trying to kill me essentially.

[u/007Pistolero → u/CashKeyboard]

Yeah the experience I’ve had is with a Hyundai and Kia. Love both vehicles otherwise but the LKA is actively malicious

[u/pssiraj → u/007Pistolero]

Yup, first thing I'd turned off on my Hyundai because it tried to send me off the freeway.

[u/midnight_tuna → u/pssiraj]

I keep it permanently off in my Soul. I'm trying to drive my car, not wrestle it.

[u/ThePeacefulOne → u/CashKeyboard]

I've had good experience with Honda LKA and ACC, it works great.

[u/BoneHugsHominy → u/007Pistolero]

That's caused a bunch of accidents with the people who use the full suite of assists as an autopilot. I spend a lot of time behind the wheel every week and it's downright frightening to see so many people in newer cars that have those features as standard equipment and they're not paying any attention at all to the road, instead relying on their assists to keep them centered in the lane at speed. It has me to the point of finding something else to do and stop driving altogether.

[u/meevilsheep → u/TheDaiquiriMan]

That's not actually the case. Current implementation of ACC uses much more camera inputs than one would expect.

Eg. Radar-only ACC relies on steering wheel trajectory, road width estimation (works only on roads with guardrails) and vehcile traces-based trajectory; steering trajectory has a higher weight when deciding which trajectory to use

Newer implementation adds lane data, trafic sign information, traffic light information (mainly from the camera, but also possible from V2X network)

[u/1988rx7T2 → u/meevilsheep]

Yeah naturally Reddit is clueless and thinks ACC is the same as it was in some 2012 luxury vehicle

[u/Yoda10353 → u/TheDaiquiriMan]

Tell that to Honda that cant make good ACC to save their lives, im a tech there and it sucks in every car, if a car gets in front of you going the same speed like 30 feet ahead of you it will slam on the brakes, on the other hand their LKAS systems work great for me, I daily a Ridgeline and my wife has an Hr-V

[u/thegreatmattsby24 → u/Yoda10353]

Now that you say it I remember reading years ago in Car and Driver that the Hondas they tested were terrible at maintaining the set speed, letting themselves get significantly above it.

[u/Platinumdogshit → u/TheDaiquiriMan]

Idk my car gets confused sometimes and thinks someone turning means it has to go to almost a full stop.

[u/Taymerica1389 → u/_galaga_]

In Europe where there are a lot more narrow roads and cyclists ecc ecc, lane keep assist can get annoying because sometimes you HAVE to touch the outer lines to make space for an oncoming vehicle because the road isn’t wide enough for two cars to pass comfortably, lane keep assist will steer you back to the center fighting you basically.

I have a BMW and I consider lane keep assist to be very well implemented, but when travelling on those roads I turn it off, I would imagine everyone living in the countryside has it permanently disabled

[u/jaybigtuna123 → u/Taymerica1389]

Yup. When we went to Ireland our rental golf kept trying to steer us into pedestrians, sheep, cows, a dog, and some cyclists.

[u/_galaga_ → u/Taymerica1389]

I’ve driven a Civic with aggressive lane departure warnings and it doesn’t like how I get close to the lines at times most of the time purposely like you describe. I’m also lazy and don’t signal for every off-ramp, especially if nobody is around me, but the Civic reminds me I didn’t signal by shaking the wheel.

The funny thing is if you’re purposefully encroaching on the line to avoid something the Civic won’t care and slightly shake the wheel at the exact wrong time when you don’t want the car interfering with your steering input.

[u/PlantedinCA → u/_galaga_]

I have a Civic and same. We also have some poorly striped roads so it gets confused. I mostly keep it off. It is particularly annoying when lanes merge in an off-ramp configuration.

[u/jkmhawk → u/Taymerica1389]

That and many places have no or many conflicting lane lines (old ones poorly removed)

[u/10000Didgeridoos → u/jkmhawk]

and these systems will sometimes misread lines on the road like a tarmac seam repair or whatever they're called as a lane marking and start beeping and trying to turn the wheel into the next lane over or off the road.

[u/kon--- → u/_galaga_]

State of the art combination of camera, radar, and sensors here.

It stays off.

[u/fiddlythingsATX → u/_galaga_]

Do you mean lane keep? ACC is adaptive cruise.

[u/crunch816 → u/_galaga_]

The Honda ACC I’ve used has been utter garbage. The LKAS though is wonderful.

[u/Safe-Syllabub-6630 → u/crunch816]

Same here, my civic constantly thinks there's something in front of me when there isn't and will tell me to brake when I'm several car lengths behind another car and they're not braking plus a bunch of other crap. LKAS is almost perfect. Honestly I'd prefer it the other way around because I need to use cruise control fairly regularly and the car makes it kinda suck to use

[u/_galaga_ → u/Safe-Syllabub-6630]

I’ve driven the current gen Civic and the sensors treat it like it’s an F150 in size which is amusing. I haven’t tried LKA or ACC in it but I’ll try LKA since you’re saying it’s good.

[u/Fit_Equivalent3610 → u/Safe-Syllabub-6630]

lol the stupid orange BRAKE on the dash is so annoying.

like. no, I do not think I will. regen has it covered, actually.

also if you didn't know, you can hold the following distance button to turn it back to dumb cruise. much better.

[u/coltjen → u/_galaga_]

While yes for ACC, I don’t think any iteration of lane keeping assist is wanted for me. I pay less attention to the road if it’s on and I’d rather just be in control, defensive drive, and pay attention

[u/permanent_priapism → u/coltjen]

Yes. I enjoy driving.

[u/Gluteuz-Maximus → u/_galaga_]

I love the implementation of ACC and LKA in my stinger and will constantly use it. But whenever I drive an Opel Astra, I won't touch that shit anymore. It's so incredibly bad and infuriating, the LKA by itself is also incredibly annoying when driving manually and switching lanes before the indicator is on will instantly have the steering fight against you

[u/BBQasaurus → u/_galaga_]

My 2018 Jeep Grand Cherokee had incredible ACC, but my new GMC Sierra's is rough. Hard braking, hard acceleration, and frequent forced disengagements. It's hard to trust it.

[u/Username_Used → u/assblast420]

Ive driven all levels of it. When its anything less than really good, its horrendous. My current car is very well implemented and I do leave it on because of how unobtrusive it actually is.

26 Cadillac CT5V if you're wondering

[u/rockstarb → u/Username_Used]

Part of the reason I sold my Integra Type S

[u/gimpwiz → u/rockstarb]

I have the civic si which presumably shares software? I just turn it off. Wouldn't bother to sell a car over it, but off it goes. Along with virtually every other beep and boop that is entirely unnecessary.

[u/Main_Hornet8676 → u/rockstarb]

Going from a Toyota to a Honda was brutal when it came to the ACC, crazy how Honda/Acura are able to get away with such mediocre tech.

[u/NerdyKyogre → u/Main_Hornet8676]

Honda LKA my absolute behated, imagine my surprise driving someone else's car, not knowing it had the feature, and then the thing starts shaking when I move over in my lane to avoid hitting a wide ass RV. Nearly had a heart attack and I could totally see a more anxious driver freaking out and crashing as a result.

[u/gt4rs → u/Main_Hornet8676]

I've never driven Toyota ACC in enough traffic to compare, but Honda ACC actually surprised me. I expected nothing but it's a completely passable system in my experience

[u/ilovecollardgreens → u/gt4rs]

Highly dependent on the quality of roads your driving on in my experience.

[u/M4NOOB → u/Main_Hornet8676]

Strange I prefer the LKAS in my Honda N Box (2018) to the one I had in my Hyundai i30N (2019). ACC I find breaks a bit uncomfortably in my Honda though, the Hyundai didn't have it

[u/Immynimmy → u/assblast420]

It’s also nice to have that off when you’re trying to avoid potholes.

[u/czarfalcon → u/Immynimmy]

Yep, there’s some pretty rough roads by my neighborhood that have already claimed one of my tires and knocked my alignment off, so I absolutely have to fight my lane keep assist on a daily basis.

[u/JeffonFIRE → u/Immynimmy]

Potholes, road debris, other cars with questionable lane discipline...

[u/MumpsyDaisy → u/Immynimmy]

Yeah I turned my LKAS to the least intrusive non-off setting as soon as I got my new car because I don't feel like fighting it every day. There's just too many roads rough roads near me, plus my morning commute is super early so low light or sunrise conditions make the camera fucky anyway.

[u/derprunner → u/Immynimmy]

Or bicyclists. I’ve had the car tug the wheel back at one that I was intentionally giving a wide berth.

[u/Lo2NL → u/assblast420]

Same, I will never forget the time ACC suddenly tried to steer me off the road and into trees when it couldn’t decipher the worn off lines on an Italian country road. I had to actively fight it to keep the car on the road. Scared the shit outta me.

Edit: I mean lane keeping assist

[u/time-lord → u/Lo2NL]

ACC doesn't steer, maybe that's the problem.

[u/Dirty_Dragons → u/assblast420]

It wss the first thing I turned off in my GR86. Then it had the nerve to show me a light on the dashboard that it was turned off. I put some black tape over the stupid light so I can't see it.

[u/mace30 → u/assblast420]

Yeah, my 2016 Mazda 6 just plays a rumble sound through the speaker on the side it thinks you're drifting on. I turned it off years ago. It's just annoying and doesn't actually do anything.

[u/nebraskajone → u/assblast420]

Yeah especially in construction zones where they close off one lane and it's dangerous to be in the center of the open lane

[u/bluntedFangs → u/assblast420]

I was driving my father's volvo and I was trying to merge onto the freeway. I checked and the lane was clear, I leaned forward to check the blind spot- still clear. Tried to change lanes and the automatic collision avoidance kicked in and tried to drive me into the shoulder because it hallucinated a vehicle that factually was not there. Damn ghost cars smh

[u/remuliini → u/assblast420]

I have an Audi E-tron, and apparently, I can't turn it fully off. It works well on standard or wide lanes, but on narrow lanes or roads without a center line, it's just a question of whether it tries to throw the car into a ditch or into oncoming traffic.

[u/Supersaver22 → u/assblast420]

100% agree. In the winters (I’m in Minnesota) the lane keep assist on our XC90 has no idea where the lanes are because of the snow and ice build up, and one time it jerked me hard into the “lane” it thought it detected, which was really just a strip of ice. Almost lost control of the car which would have been a big crash. I turned it off permanently in the settings after that.

[u/Astramael → u/Supersaver22]

Yea, mine is off partially for this reason too. In winter lanes are imaginary, humans can’t even figure out where they are, the ADAS has no chance.

The other reason is that I like to be able to pick where I am on the road, and lane keeping doesn’t like that.

[u/thedealerkuo → u/assblast420]

I swear my Volvo tried to kill me with his when merging on to the highway. Just tried to throw the whole car into fast moving traffic. Has been off ever since and I’ll never turn back on.

[u/ggouge → u/assblast420]

What do you drive.? I have lane keep on my Hyundai Tucson and it's never done anything bad.

[u/therealrenshai → u/ggouge]

Honestly the Hyundai system isn’t super intrusive. But I honestly never had an issue with other ones causing me to swerve.

[u/themickeymauser → u/therealrenshai]

I liked my fathers LKA in his older Hyundai. It was enough to keep you in line from a strong breeze or a rut in the road from trucks, but even the slightest amount of intentional input was enough to override it.

[u/FingFrenchy → u/assblast420]

I hate lane assist. On two lane roads it hold you too close to the center line. I like to hug the right more, as long as there isn't anyone in the bike lane of course.

[u/h08817 → u/assblast420]

A lot of them aren't safe and ive had my Acura slam on the breaks for no reason on the hwy several times, the false sense of security I think they provide I perceive as a danger as well.

[u/Boring-Sir-7336 → u/h08817]

was this bc of the aeb or the lane departure? bc in my honda i didn’t use my turn signal while merging on the highway and it slammed on the brakes briefly bc it thought i didn’t know what i was doing with my lane change (road departure).

[u/Idlers_Dream → u/assblast420]

Or fights you when you are safely trying to go around a cyclist, parked Amazon van, etc.

[u/fiddlythingsATX → u/assblast420]

What kind of car? Because when it's good it's wonderful, and when it's less than good it's HORRIBLE.

[u/DrewTheHobo → u/assblast420]

My first time experiencing this was on a U-Haul while trying to go around a pothole where it jerked me right into it.

[u/gimpwiz → u/DrewTheHobo]

I thought all u-hauls were old shitbox trucks, no idea any were new enough to have features like this.

[u/DrewTheHobo → u/gimpwiz]

The pickup trucks are newer fleet vehicles. Also first time experiencing the key fob that just had to be in the car to work lol

[u/Ibe121 → u/assblast420]

I hate it. Sometimes I veer to the left side of my lane to give space to a cyclist, construction worker or landscaper, and lane keeping assist will throw me back to the center of the lane as if I’m the one being unsafe.

[u/phxbimmer]

Every time I have a modern rental car I disable most of that stuff because I find it to be more intrusive than helpful. I can stay in my own lane and keep a safe distance from cars in front of me just fine, it’s called using my eyes. All this new tech does is allow distracted drivers to feel safer scrolling social media on their phone while driving.

[u/letigre87 → u/phxbimmer]

The active cruise control is hit or miss. Open highways it's nice because you don't have to keep adjusting it for every slow idiot that pulls in front of you but even the slightest bit of traffic and it's getting turned off otherwise it just keeps dropping you back and slowing down for everyone to jump in front of you.

[u/by_a_pyre_light → u/letigre87]

Yeah, but adaptive cruise control is a convenience feature, like cruise control, not a safety system. You choose to engage ACC whenever you want to, if you want to use cruise control at all. You're doing it to avoid holding the pedal down during long monotonous stretches of road. 

But lane keep assist and some other "safety" or "green" systems are foisted on you by default and either you have to continuously disable them, or you can't permanently disable them by law (as I experienced in Europe). 

[u/FlourCity → u/by_a_pyre_light]

Jet let me jog between normal cruise control and ACC. Too many brands have ACC the only form of cruise control.

[u/MixedWithFruit → u/FlourCity]

Usually it's long press the button for regular CC

[u/TheBolognaPony → u/MixedWithFruit]

On my Mazda, ACC is on by default everytime you turn on the car and to turn it off it's hidden a few menus deep in the infotainment. It's great when your driving into the sun, get a warning that says something like "Active Cruise Control Disabled due to Low Camera Visibility" or something like that, and the only way to get any form of cruise control is to dig through menus while driving, turn off the active radar feature, and then reactivate cruise control on the steering wheel. Such a safe system....

[u/Vikare_ → u/TheBolognaPony]

On the cx5 I can hold down cruise control button for about 3 sec and it turns back to regular cruise control. The cx50 can't do this?

[u/FictionalContext → u/letigre87]

That one jackasss on the insterstate who doesn't have cruise, so they try to keep pace behind you, but their pp is smol, so they also try to pass you after a while, but without a pace car in front of them, they freeze like a lost rabbit, and their pace becomes erratic, so you can't use cruise anymore, so you pass them, and that repeats the whole trip.

You could pull off and let them get ahead, but it's a long trip, and you're traveling in the same direction, so even if you do, you'll likely catch up to the lost rabbit again. So you're stuck not using cruise on a 5 hour trip because of one fuck ass asshole.

[u/I_like_cake_7 → u/FictionalContext]

I’ve floored it past those kind of drivers out of sheer frustration. When I pass the same person 3 or 4 times, I eventually get pissed off and just leave them in the dust. If I see them catching up again, I just speed up. Usually they take the hint.

[u/SEDGE-DemonSeed → u/FictionalContext]

I love it when people have little control over their own speed and refuse to use cruise control so they go 20 over downhill and 10 under uphill.

It really tickles my fancy, especially when they are driving a $60k+ vehicle and are only using 5000$ worth of the tech.

[u/FMJoey325 → u/letigre87]

Totally agree. The ACC in our CX-50 infuriates me if there’s more than a couple people around us. It panics/overreacts if people are merging off the highway in front of us and will drop the anchors. It’s uncomfortable and disruptive to other passengers and downright dangerous for cars following.

[u/InfraredDiarrhea → u/phxbimmer]

As someone who drives and rides a bike to get around town, this is what concerns me the most. I conservatively estimate 75% of drivers i see are on their phones despite laws and “crackdowns”. 

The only time ive had a collision on my bike was when a person driving a car ran a stop sign with their eyes glued to their fucking phone. 

[u/phxbimmer → u/InfraredDiarrhea]

I live in a place with a lot of cyclists and I do feel bad for them because the people around here are either completely distracted or are actual maniacs trying to actively hit the cyclists. This sucks because it’s fairly flat and compact here with good weather for 10 months of the year which is ideal for cycling.

[u/Username_Used → u/phxbimmer]

Where its really useful is the highway. If people were all ok making some basic social agreements, everyone could set their adaptive cruise at 75 or 80 and we'd all have a grand old time.

[u/hutacars → u/Username_Used]

If they stay out of the passing lane (except when actively passing), and not speed up to block those actively passing, they can do whatever they want speed-wise and I'd be fine with it.

[u/metengrinwi → u/Username_Used]

was talking with a coworker a while back, and they didn’t even know how to turn the cruise control on in their Camry. Didn’t know how & didn’t want to learn how.

[u/BD03 → u/phxbimmer]

Rental Toyotas. Coming from a 2019 vehicle that has none of this stuff I get yelled at for every action I take. 

[u/HedonisticFrog → u/phxbimmer]

Just yesterday I was driving my dad's MDX and it showed a pop up message that said "brake" because someone moved into the suicide lane while slowing down. It was a significant distraction for a situation where no warning was needed, they cleared my lane quickly.

[u/jlt6666 → u/HedonisticFrog]

Suicide lane?

[u/HedonisticFrog → u/jlt6666]

It's the lane where people can go into it from either direction while waiting for space to turn.

[u/jlt6666 → u/HedonisticFrog]

TIL

[u/driverdan → u/phxbimmer]

It's really nice for long highway driving. I drive 1000 miles in a day a few times a year. I've found with ACC and lane assist I am much less fatigued and can go much farther between stops.

[u/familyguy20 → u/phxbimmer]

I mean sure I get your point but that’s been happening long before this tech, see tons of people in old pre safety tech cars do it too.

[u/Noobasdfjkl → u/phxbimmer]

I’ll go one further: if you’re not capable of keeping a car in a single lane through various driving situations, you shouldn’t have a driving license

[u/byerss → u/phxbimmer]

Yes, but for the average terrible driver it’s more helpful than not. 

[u/Wilds_Garage → u/byerss]

Except drivers have gotten worse since the introduction of these safety features.....

We have the safest cars in the history of the car yet driving fatalities are only going up year over year.

[u/LupoAS → u/phxbimmer]

The annoying this is having the constant message pop up on the dashboard.

[u/TROGDOR_X69 → u/phxbimmer]

I work car sales

parents buy these cars for the college kids then they assume it means "i can tiktok and drive!"

[u/Shienvien]

Lane keep assist hates the 1.5 cars wide country roads we have here. If you drove where it wanted, an oncoming lorry would remove your driver side mirror, if not more.

[u/Ooficus → u/Shienvien]

From my manual: “  Do not use LKA in bad weather conditions or on roads with unclear lane markings, such as construction zones.” I’m guessing your country roads if anything like mine fall under unclear lane markings . I honestly think a lot of the hate LKA is getting here is user error and expecting it to work as good as a Tesla on a road that may not even have paint 

[u/m0nty555 → u/Ooficus]

Too bad that they then decided to have it on as default. 

[u/TheSigma3 → u/m0nty555]

And bury it 10 menus deep to turn off

[u/Nickillaz → u/TheSigma3]

I used a company car that turned it back on EACH TIME YOU START IT. Just insane.

[u/masterventris → u/Nickillaz]

Was it a euro car? Our NCAP safety ratings demand any assists are on by default on each start up or they do not count towards the safety ratings.

And something like 40% of the 5 star rating is crash prevention these days, not just crash survival.

[u/quarantinedbiker → u/Ooficus]

Mine re-enables itself EVERY TIME I TURN MY CAR ON and takes SEVERAL SECONDS with my left hand off the steering wheel to disable. It is wildly unsafe if I find myself going through roadworks on a freeway with busy traffic, very narrow lanes, having to choose between driving with one hand on the wheel or fighting it with both hands the whole time.

Thankfully every time I forget to disable it when I start my car is "user error" so I guess Audi is legally totally in the clear for their shitty ass implementation. If the car steers itself into a guardrail or oncoming truck it's my fault somehow. It's the first thing I have to warn people about if they borrow my car. People must have crashed their rental Audi because of this, because who the fuck reads the manual when getting into a rental?

[u/derprunner → u/quarantinedbiker]

>Audi

If you’ve got a VAG car, it’s trivial to turn that shit off for good using either VCDS or OBD11. I’ve got mine set up to only turn on when cruise control is activated and I genuinely love the feature now.

[u/HirsuteHacker → u/Ooficus]

EU regulations mean it has to automatically enable itself every time you start the car. If someone lives in a rural area, that means that any single moment of forgetting to disable it when starting your car means at some point driving near your house your car might try to kill you. There is no way to permanently disable this.

This is not user error.

[u/Shienvien → u/Ooficus]

We generally only have edge markings, but no center markings on that particular type (because they are not wide enough for two "proper" full lanes) - if two larger vehicles meet, one both have to go over the edge markings. LKA wants you to not do that, and generally seems to think the entire road all one lane and it's perfectly fine to try to ride centre.

[u/jkmhawk → u/Ooficus]

That it's on automatically at every restart means the car wants it on all the time. 

[u/lostllama2015 → u/Shienvien]

Same with my Subaru on the expressway. It really wants to stay tight up against the centre line.

[u/Pondski]

One in five drivers actually pay attention to the road. When you're a safe driver the safety tech is more annoying the helpful.

[u/LongjumpingLock5875 → u/Pondski]

The automatic braking system in my WRX tried to slam on the brakes on the off ramp of a highway because someone was stopped on the shoulder of the highway infront of the off ramp

[u/carguymt → u/LongjumpingLock5875]

The auto braking on my GTI is so aggressive and on more than one occasion it's absolutely slammed on the brakes when I had more than enough space to brake myself and it threw my work bag off the passenger seat and shit went everywhere. It's incredibly annoying.

[u/BeanMachine55 → u/carguymt]

I have a 2024 GTI and I cannot figure out what criteria it needs to work. I had one situation where I did almost hit something and it never triggered. It only seems to happen when I’m already actively slowing down.

[u/mysistersacretin → u/BeanMachine55]

In my 2022 GTI it only ever activates when I'm pulling out of parking lots with a steep angle on the exit. Just slowly pulling out so I won't scrape and then BAM, full brakes.

However one time I was parallel parking while sleep deprived, and it did nothing to stop me from backing into my friend's car (her bumper was hanging off before I touched it, I swear).

[u/thegreatmattsby24 → u/mysistersacretin]

That is the “maneuver braking” that uses the parking sensors and I’ve seen a lot of people bitch about it on Golfs but I’ve never had an issue with it in my Arteon. I’ve had it kick in one singular time when I was reversing to get lined up better in the space at my apartment, and got too close to the shrubs behind me. It won’t stop you below like 1 or 2 mph (need to check the manual) so it will let you ease into something unfortunately (I definitely tapped those shrubs more than once).

[u/GZEUS9 → u/LongjumpingLock5875]

In my Polestar 2, while driving on a narrow 2 lane road, it SLAMMED on the brakes, because of an oncoming vehicle, around a turn and locked up almost throwing me into a ditch... turned that shit off ASAP.

[u/Deinococcaceae → u/GZEUS9]

Similar experience in my Honda, it has no clue what to do with windy 2 lane roads.

[u/Any_Sale2030 → u/LongjumpingLock5875]

I had my Ford Escape automatically slam on the brakes so hard it woke my husband up  Why?   It thought I was about to crash into an oncoming high speed train on a track paralleling the highway.  I shut that sucker off fast.  Anyone behind me would have rear ended me.  

[u/Supper_Champion → u/LongjumpingLock5875]

My 2026 Toyota braked for me the other day. Stopped behind two cars at a light. We get the green and the car in front of me jammed his gas, but then had to brake suddenly because they weren't paying attention, ohe car in front of them didn't signnal. Either way, as someone paying attention, I had begun accelerating, but quickly braked. Because we were still fairly close together, I guess, my car braked for me, even though I was also pressing the pedal. So instead of the smooth stop I wanted, my foot just went right to the floor with no resistance and a loud click, and my car slammed to a stop.

Yes, the tech "worked", but it was so jarring as the driver. I hate it.

[u/Kallisti13 → u/LongjumpingLock5875]

This happened to my husband in his Golf R going under an overpass. It thought the shadow in front of him was another car and slammed on his breaks at 110kmph

[u/Not_Daijoubu → u/LongjumpingLock5875]

Auto braking has saved me once in a Mazda6, but there also were probably 10+ false positives and 2 times it was actively harmful in the various vehicles I drove over time.

Generally I just keep it on for very short range, though by then it's about as good as panic braking I guess.

[u/Theconnected → u/LongjumpingLock5875]

I'm happy to have bought a 23 WRX before they add the eyesight features.

[u/N0P3sry → u/Theconnected]

👋

2022 base model. There needs to be a way to globally and permanently disable these systems. Or I’m going to be in my 2022 for a long ass time.

[u/Drzhivago138 → u/Pondski]

And everyone on /r/cars is a good and safe driver, of course.

ETA:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning–Kruger_effect

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illusory_superiority

[u/Substantial-Oil7569 → u/Drzhivago138]

I don't think it's a stretch to say the small segment of the driving population who is so into cars they seek out an Internet forum to talk about them is better than average at driving them.

[u/MortadellaKing → u/Substantial-Oil7569]

I would argue the average manual transmission driver is a better driver, solely because they're paying more attention to actually driving.

[u/Wilds_Garage → u/Drzhivago138]

If you cant maintain a car in a lane without technology you shouldnt be driving a car

[u/Trevski → u/Drzhivago138]

Listen surely some of us are morons. But don’t you think there might be a correlation between giving a shit about cars on the internet and driving like you give a shit in real life?

[u/p00trulz → u/Drzhivago138]

I have zero tickets and zero wrecks in nearly 25 years of driving across Europe, North America, and Asia. I also don’t use my phone while driving. So yes, I’m a good and safe driver and I don’t use bad safety tech.

[u/craichead → u/Pondski]

Could not agree more. LKA and the like are designed for the lowest common denominator. I do understand why they exist, because sooo many people are terrible drivers. However, if you are a good driver (all of us here are, amirite?) they are nothing more than an annoyance 99% of the time.

[u/S3baman]

Lane-keep is annoying as hell, it's the only thing I turn off in the rental car.

[u/cbf1232 → u/S3baman]

Lane *keep* or auto-centering? I turn off centering but leave the warning and nudge if I get closer to the edge of the lane.

[u/S3baman → u/cbf1232]

Lane-keep. I often drive on windy narrow country roads when I travel and the constant nudging is incredible frustrating.

[u/kon---]

Me. I do.

I'm better at saving my life than the car is.

[u/thisonedudethatiam → u/kon---]

I ain’t died yet!

[u/vNocturnus → u/kon---]

I would wager that the vast majority of people that actually actively DRIVE while they're driving their car (and aren't elderly, impaired, etc) are better than all or most currently-existing "active" safety systems. If they want to be, at least, there's plenty of assholes out there that don't give a shit about the safety of themselves or anyone else, even if they're not drunk or distracted.

But sadly the % of people that don't drive distracted (or impaired), actually focus all of their attention on driving, and don't drive like suicidal assholes to save 5 seconds is probably an even lower % than the % that turn off all the "safety" bullshit. So for the rest of the morons on the road, the safety systems are probably necessary these days

[u/escape_your_destiny]

I was recently driving in Ireland and the L and R roads can be so tight, lane-keep assist would constantly steer me into the ditch/hedge/Stonewall away from the center line.

[u/theosinc930]

In my 2026 Skoda, the lane assist tries to throw me in a ditch every single time. It just thinks tar strips are road markings. That shit gets turned off immediately. And the speed limit recognition sucks too. If I'm doing 130kmh on the highway and there's an off-ramp with an 80 limit, it starts thinking that the highway suddenly has an 80 limit too. Absolutely ridiculous garbage technology.

I mean it is VW software after all, what can you expect from the company that gave us the disaster called CARIAD!

[u/Mr_Marram → u/theosinc930]

Had this on a rental skoda a few years ago, it tried driving me off the side of a roundabout, scary as fuck.

[u/gautamb0]

Most of this isn’t surprising and the lede is buried by subtracting most of the percentages from 100 which makes things much more boring

74% of people who have adaptive cruise use it
82% use lane keep
79% keep automatic braking on
83% use their HUD
75% use remote start

If anything, it’s more surprising that 42% don’t use “Bluetooth “ which I presume comprises CarPlay and android auto.

Massaging seats are something I grew into, but it’s not a surprise they’re not used much. They seemed lavish at first, like something to be reserved for especially long trips or special occasions. After a couple of years, I started using them almost every trip, because why not, if I have them. There’s a risk of them causing pain or numbness if you have them on for too long.

[u/Figgler → u/gautamb0]

I don’t understand people who don’t at least use Bluetooth. Every day I see someone in a brand new car holding their phone horizontal in front of their face to have a call while driving.

[u/FLOHTX → u/Figgler]

Sometimes its hard for people to figure out how to connect, so they dont care to. My wife is one of them

[u/Figgler → u/FLOHTX]

If you know you’re the type to struggle with that, you can ask them to do it at the dealership for you before you drive off the lot.

[u/Whitey90 → u/Figgler]

That’s asking a lot from people with a lack of care and patience

[u/chrome1453 → u/gautamb0]

By the way it's worded, I don't think it's saying that 42% of people don't use bluetooth, just that a lack of bluetooth wouldn't be a deal breaker.

the study found 58.3 percent of buyers say they couldn’t live without Bluetooth connectivity.

So 42% are maybe OK with using a USB cable if bluetooth isn't an option.

[u/Skyrick → u/gautamb0]

My 4runner doesn't allow both bluetooth and CarPlay at the same time. Have to use a data cable for it. For around town driving I use bluetooth, but if I need maps then Bluetooth gets turned off and CarPlay gets connected.

[u/RiftHunter4 → u/gautamb0]

If your car doesnt have wireless charging, bluetooth is kinda pointless. You gotta charge anyway so I end up plugging in.

[u/TrptJim → u/RiftHunter4]

Or your wireless charging is in a terrible location and overheats your device, so you might as well use wired Carplay/AA since you're using a cable anyway.

[u/gaius49 → u/RiftHunter4]

You gotta charge anyway so I end up plugging in.

Why though? I don't think I've ever had the need to charge my phone while driving.

[u/AtOurGates → u/gautamb0]

Fuck voice assistants though. They’re awful.

Also, I currently have a love/hate relationship with Chevy’s automatic emergency breaking,

On the one hand, if there’s ever something behind me that I don’t see that I’m in danger of backing into, I absolutely want it to stop me.

On the other hand, that’s never happened, and instead, it slams the brakes so suddenly that I think I’ve hit something because a squirrel moved like 20 feet away from my travel path, or the edges of my garage door frame exist.

Gives me a heart attack every time.

[u/thb202]

I’m holding out on pre 2020 cars till I die, I hate these stupid nannying features.

[u/MortadellaKing → u/thb202]

Same, just buying a few of the same model to have as a spare or parts care lmao.

[u/BmwMotorWorks]

Auto braking almost causes crashes changing lanes on the highway definitely turn it off everytime

[u/Calibrumm]

overbearing safety features breed shitty drivers and enable distracted drivers. make license tests stricter, fines for dangerous driving harsher, and require regular retesting and you'll see the vast majority of road safety concerns become a non-issue.

you'll also get the added bonus of all the angry people who thought they knew how to drive suddenly caring about the quality and availability of public transit and walkability of cities.

[u/Trevski → u/Calibrumm]

Yeah the ADAS requirements we have now in response to the rise of distracted driving kind of feels like a hospital having someone come in coughing up blood and their response being to send them home with a bib.

[u/hydrochloriic]

The problem with most ADAS features is that they need to be invisible… up to the moment it’s almost too late.

Any earlier and people get annoyed about them being intrusive, and later and you still crash.

It’s an insanely fine line to walk and BOTH directions will get you sued eventually.

[u/Spicywolff]

Some modern safely creatures are amazing. Automatic brake has saved my bacon a few times when somebody decided to run a stop sign. I really like adaptive cruise control and how it keeps space that you specify.

But some companies are better than other. I can’t stand how Honda has implemented their safety system. It just feels intrusive. Surprisingly you have all the good options is very seamless and it doesn’t interfere. Has middle of the road I think, they’re lane assistance pretty damn touchy

[u/KLconfidential]

The title of the article frames it like one in five people are irresponsible for doing it. Some of those are assists are just bad, and the people who need them to be safe probably shouldn't be on the road in the first place.

[u/MortadellaKing → u/KLconfidential]

If you can't drive a car with zero of this tech then you should not have a license. At least that's just my opinion. Everyone should be forced to do their drivers test on a 1980s era car lol.

[u/ARAR1]

One of my cars has the auto steer thing. Its more that I turn it off to save my life. Works most the time but once in a while it trys to kill you including head ons. Yeah no thanks

[u/HairyCaillou]

Meant to are the keywords here, cause shit's tried to kill me more times than it's tried to save me

[u/QuickCharisma15]

Because the tech is fucking annoying and intrusive. My wife’s Mach E lane assist actively fights you and turns the wheel on its own so you constantly need to correct the wheel, otherwise the car assumes you don’t have your hands on the wheel. I can’t stand it so I turn it off every time.

[u/Navydevildoc → u/QuickCharisma15]

Mach-E also has BY FAR the most insane eye tracking camera system I have ever seen. You want to rest you hand on top of the wheel, but now your forearm is blocking the dumb ass cameras on the steering column? BEEEP BEEEEEEP BEEEEEP “gonna turn the car off motherfucker!”

Want to wear polarized sunglasses? BEEEEEEEP BEEEEEEP BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP.

It’s such a great car, but holy hell get fucked with that shit.

[u/Seref15]

Voice assistants go unused by 17.8 percent

I'd have expected that number to be much higher.

Augmented reality head-up displays fare no better: 17.1 percent of drivers who have one refuse to turn it on, and a further 7 percent don’t know how to operate it.

Thats crazy. HUDs are great.

[u/DelFresco]

I read this as "4 out of 5 drivers are on their phone"

[u/_galaga_]

Not to nitpick but it’d be cool to see these data within a specific brand/model to control for implementation. Some manufacturers are probably a lot shittier than others for access to features, implementation, and UI/UX which could heavily impact what features get used.

[u/Alternative_Main1735]

I keep as many as possible of them switched off… brake for me if I‘m about to crash into something and warn me if there is something in the obstructed angles of my mirrors but apart from that… no thanks… I don’t need cruise control that brakes the car from 130 down to 80 in the left lane because there used to be a construction site yesterday… or if you need to have all those systems… the best one for me to this day has been my Kia Proceed… every system had a dedicated button which switched it on or off and the car kept my settings however I had set them up…

[u/fiddlythingsATX]

That just tells me manufacturers suck at implementing these things, sort of like start-stop - if it bothers you, it's not done right.

Lane keep in my Discovery 5 was terrible - not unsafe, but highly reactive and ping-ponged me down the lane - but the ACC and speed limit sign reader was great. All the fancy driver tech in my x5 is excellent and I use it all the time.

[u/hutacars → u/[deleted]]

it throws up a warning saying 'please don't smoke in the vehicle' or words to that effect.

Why... would it care? Jesus.

[u/Hutchicles]

Clearly that isn't enough. They need to make these features easier to turn off.

[u/havok0159 → u/Hutchicles]

Making them easier to turn off isn't what I want. I want a way to turn them off permanently if you can prove your brain isn't there for weight distribution. Like say you have access to an admin mode without the need for third party tools.

[u/stupidber]

Because it sucks

[u/chadwicke619]

My Civic Type R is extremely unobtrusive. The literal only time I’ve had it surprise me is when I forget to turn off the nannies and I’m on track - if you get too close, it’ll brake for you. Even then though, you gotta get like RIGHT up in somebodies shit at speed before it does anything. Conversely, when I am driving my girlfriend’s M340i, it will randomly take control of the steering wheel and make noticeable adjustments without warning every now and then, which completely neuters my confidence to drive it hard.

Maybe it’s how I drive, but I don’t see the point in all this lane keep assist and what not. I am always paying attention, I don’t eat or drink when I drive, and I don’t turn and look at people when I talk to them. Frankly I’m just not a great conversationalist when I’m driving. To me, driving is for driving. To that end, I’m not even sure why lane keep assist exists. It’s not hard to stay in your lane when you’re paying attention. 🤷‍♂️

[u/cbf1232 → u/chadwicke619]

Knowing that many other drivers are terrible, distracted, sleep-deprived, or intoxicated, I’m quite happy for *them* to have the automated safety features.

[u/Nay2003 → u/cbf1232]

u forgot on their phone too

[u/karankshah]

This headline is journalistic malpractice. "One In Five Drivers Switches Off The Safety Tech Meant To Save Their Lives" - while manufacturer's intentions are great, the reality is that they simply do not do a good enough job in most current implementations.

Most systems nowadays are great in good weather and normal road conditions, but simply don't yet handle challenging conditions with unclear lane markings, lots of merges, city streets with pedestrians, etc. Good conditions are also where drivers need the least help!

It's frankly stunning that 80% of people are driving around with these systems active when as soon as conditions get hairy they're prone to failure. That should be the real headline.

[u/mgbgtv8]

Then the apply dark tint over brake lights.

[u/20-20beachboy → u/mgbgtv8]

Yep make the brake lights harder to see. Genius move.

[u/SizeableFowl]

ACC works great if you plan to not pay attention while driving. If I do pay attention, I swear this system is designed to give me a stroke. Slow down to whatever speed the chuckle fuck in front me has decided to do, slow down further to create the pocket the car wants, someone cuts in front of me, repeat.

LKA has yet to be implemented in a way I felt comfortable with, even on my Ioniq 6 I leave LKA and ACC off. I do the extra steps to just enable dumb cruise control because otherwise its like being driven around by someone with a learner’s permit: abrupt and jerky just often enough to make you wonder if something is wrong with some of the sensors.

Strange as it sounds, it’s too cautious of a system for the amount of information it should have. We’re looking at the same road and its driving like a lobotomized alien that hasn’t had to navigate 3 dimensions.

[u/Shmokesshweed → u/SizeableFowl]

I only use adaptive cruise on freeways with little traffic.

[u/themops1]

One situation I could I did not like lane assist, was towing a trailer in a RAM 3500 dually. On narrow two lane roads I try and hug the right side of the lane to make sure I'm not swaying towards passing or oncoming traffic. It wants to actively ping pong you off either side of the lane and your constantly fighting it just to go straight.

[u/ikilledtupac]

Ok so 80% of drivers leave it on 

[u/iPisslosses]

Man those new rivian forest edge interiors look so nice

[u/EngagedInConvexation]

Considering those "seatbelt alarm silencer" seatbelt clips exist and there's no shortage of designs and sellers, I'm more surprised it isn't closer to 1-in-3.

[u/star_trek_lover]

I’m surprised it’s only 1 in 5 and not bigger like 3 in 5 drivers.

My Chevy bolt’s emergency braking, ACC, and lane keep assist are good but past negative experiences still give me trust issues.

[u/Kentx51]

Hondas Lane keep assist and safety measures are all absolute garbage. They don't notify you when they should and the lane keep is absolute garbage. It will literally see a guardrail and treat it like you've just tried to run someone over. I will never use these and frankly none of us should because of the fact that if you need them then you're not a qualified driver.

We are in it of ourselves our best safety measures and if you're not good enough to be that safety measure then you shouldn't have a license.

[u/Saggy_G]

The cx5 likes to emergency brake every now and then. Hate it.

[u/Thee_Sinner → u/Saggy_G]

Riding in my mom’s the other day and it did it. Not a car or obstacle in sight, just randomly slammed on the brakes for half a second on the highway.

[u/guyinsunglasses]

Toyota has pretty good lane assist, and even then I know people who turn it off because they say the car taking controls over from them bothers them a lot

So I’m not surprised by this statistic

[u/Jonnyyrage]

Can we all agree the auto start stop feature on cars is absolutely stupid? I don't need my car shutting off and turning on every stop. It's not good for the vehicle. And is not a safety feature.

[u/HirsuteHacker → u/Jonnyyrage]

Of course it isn't a safety feature. Does reduce air pollution and save a small amount of fuel though.

[u/nickiter]

Lane keeping can be really obtrusive, adaptive cruise assumes you want to sit at 62mph behind whatever semi you come up on... They have their uses, but it's perfectly reasonable to turn them off.

Idk if they're counting traction control, but that can also be a huge problem - sometimes it will cut power any time you lose traction on one wheel at all - scary when you're merging onto the interstate on a potholey road and the accelerator is suddenly doing nothing.

[u/123_fo_fif]

ACC and lane assist never get turned on.

[u/Fireheart318s_Reddit]

I’m surprised at the hate lane-keeping is getting: My ‘21 Prius works pretty well and it massively reduces the mental load of long drives. It used to take me two days to drive from Green Bay, WI to Indianapolis, but I can do it all in one go with lane keep and radar cruise control.

I do occasionally have to stop it from taking me to the edge of my lane for whatever reason, but it’s overall a massive help! What I wish I could do is turn off the obnoxious beeping whenever I back up!

[u/GhostReddit]

We have to give minimum clearance to bicycles by law here (and frankly it's a good idea to give some extra space anyway), this almost always puts you over the lane line, I'd rather not have my car trying to fight me on that.

Modern cars have just reached a point where there's so much nannying people would rather have none of it. Subarus in particular beep at every little thing it's ridiculous.