Parking Assist & Driving Assist not happy

[woof]

The worst thing for me is I have no option to use a standard type of cruise control, it's active or nothing at all and mostly I get nothing at all!

To disable active cruise control, with cruise control "on" hold one of the "closer/farther" buttons down for a few seconds. It will then switch to standard cruise control for the rest of the trip.

--Woof!

 

[Paul1886]

Woof.... That is unbelievable thank you so much for that tip!

I asked this question of my dealer and was told it's not possible!

 

[noakey]

Paul, you shouldn't accept what they are saying. Yours needs fixing because the system isn't as bad as that. I've probably used ACC for about 1500 of my 2000 miles and I've had it drop out 3 times in total (twice when I exited a dark tunnel into bright sunlight). Even at night and in heavy rain it is working well. Yours obviously has something wrong with it so keep at them !

Hi.. have done about 700 miles of which I estimate 500 were motorway active cruise.. only dropped out once with direct low sun and massive road glare from a wet road... even I couldn't see...

From reading I understand that radar is used for distance to vehicle sensing and the cam for lane detection.

 

[Plug]

does yours work OK say at 7 am when the sun is out?... until the sun is high in the sky mine just will not engage

Admittedly I don't really have a commute that sees me driving directly into the sun very much but I'm driving early mornings every weekday (6:30am) for about 18 miles with the ACC on for the majority of the time and I'm not experiencing problems with it. In fact I'm impressed by how well it works, following cars round tight corners etc.

Good luck with sorting it out.

 

[GMac67]

does yours work OK say at 7 am when the sun is out?... until the sun is high in the sky mine just will not engage

Admittedly I don't really have a commute that sees me driving directly into the sun very much but I'm driving early mornings every weekday (6:30am) for about 18 miles with the ACC on for the majority of the time and I'm not experiencing problems with it. In fact I'm impressed by how well it works, following cars round tight corners etc.

Good luck with sorting it out.

Good to hear that for some people the system actually works. I love it when it works. I also have a Ford Galaxy with a basic radar based active cruise control, and that works perfectly and I love it. This is the main reason I got it on the i3. I have asked my dealer and they said it is not normal and that the service department will contact me.

 

[kentheteaman]

does yours work OK say at 7 am when the sun is out?... until the sun is high in the sky mine just will not engage

Admittedly I don't really have a commute that sees me driving directly into the sun very much but I'm driving early mornings every weekday (6:30am) for about 18 miles with the ACC on for the majority of the time and I'm not experiencing problems with it. In fact I'm impressed by how well it works, following cars round tight corners etc.

Good luck with sorting it out.

Good to hear that for some people the system actually works. I love it when it works. I also have a Ford Galaxy with a basic radar based active cruise control, and that works perfectly and I love it. This is the main reason I got it on the i3. I have asked my dealer and they said it is not normal and that the service department will contact me.

I have done 7500km(5000miles) so far.
Mostly drive with ACC. But I am very apprehensive with it. It suddenly drops with loud warning sound every now and then. Mostly when facing the bright early morning or late evening Sun. But it also happened other times as well when I could find any real cause for it.

So I am constantly alert when I use it because it once happened when I was over taking at 80miles speed and another car was tailgating me. The car suddenly slowed down and the car behind me almost crashed on to me. He had to break suddenly and he was very alarmed. He horned me very loudly and shouted at me when he over took me. Not nice.

So when it works it is excellent. But one has to be constantly on the look out to use the foot very quickly to maintain speed when it happens.

The question is will it happen often and in my case yes, it does.
Is it reliable? Most of the time yes and it is enjoyable. But it also lets you down frequently and can be very dangerous.

regards,
ken

 

[RJSATLBA]

It sounds very much as if BMW should modify the software so that the normal regenerative braking comes in progressively when cruise is disengaged. I haven't specified traffic assist because I don't want a light coloured interior (unless it is leather!) so won't have ACC and was expecting that nimble footwork would be required to disengage the standard cruise smoothly, especially when having to do so on the motorway because of traffic ahead.

 

[Gonville]

I searched the parts diagram and couldn't find the radar. Having said that I think I did read that there is a radar but that I think is confusion with other systems.

The previous version on the 5 series used radar only and would not lock on to a stationary vehicle as you came up to a queue. The latest F10 LCI seems to combine camera and radar as it will detect vehicles both days and night that are stationary to some extent. Also the camera tracks vehicles for the adaptive headlights.

So it looks like they have the same software but dropped the hardware radar to save weight maybe? Or they have made the radar smaller? Or are using the ultrasound as well?

I suspect the camera alone is going to really struggle in a low angle of sunlight that you describe.

 

[calibanjon]

I have ACC on mine and think its great but I do find myself covering the accelerator in case it drops out. I have had it drop out a few times and it can be a bit dangerous as the regen kicks in quite hard and you need to get on the accelerator quick in case you get rear ended.
I think that's my main issue, dropping out now and again wouldn't be a big deal on a conventional car but with the i3's regeneration it has the potential of getting you in trouble. It would be much safer if the regen was programmed to temporalily deactivate or soften or if the system gave you half a seconds warning before cutting out.

 

[kentheteaman]

It would be much safer if the regen was programmed to temporalily deactivate or soften or if the system gave you half a seconds warning before cutting out.

Hi Calibanjon,

I agree.

Now as it is, even though most of the time it works, because of these unpredictable failures I find myself constantly alert to react quickly. It is a pity. I should be relaxing instead of dreading the terror of being rear-ended !

regards,
ken

 

[RJSATLBA]

Let's hope BMW don't wait until they have been sued over a few accidents caused by dropout before they act.

 

[Gonville]

Question is do the brake lights come on during regen?

 

[AndyW]

Yes they do, but that won't stop a close tailgater rear-ending you!

 

[Gonville]

Interesting. I'll get to try this Monday Tuesday on a two day trial.

With ACC on the 5 series I tend to cover the brake pedal in the event that it decides to accelerate when someone chooses to fill the space ahead by pulling out. My partner had some experiences when using it last week for the first time. Tried to jet her out onto a roundabout when she wasn't expecting it. ;-).

I think being attentive to it doing something outside the normal parameters is a must. Like riding a horse I guess you need to keep a hand on the reigns in case of being spooked.

I guess I'll be covering the accelerator pedal instead!

 

[Zakalwe]

I drive east on my morning commute, west in the evening. With UK weather to add further variety I have seen ample evidence that:

The windscreen in front of the camera is especially prone to condensation (perhaps because it is better insulated from the warm cabin?)

Any combination of bright low sun in front of the car, or obstruction (raindrops or condensation) in front of that part of the screen is likely to result in active cruise drop-out or failure to engage. In my driving so far, it has been unavailable about 1/3 of the time.

When it works, it's great, but now I find myself reverting to conventional cruise in order to avoid the uncertainty: it should be better than this....

 

[Gonville]

M3 used to be pretty bad up the slope to Bagshot from Farnborough straight into it at the critical time of day spring and autumn. West bound in the evening can see some fabulous sunsets. Not good for camera vision.

 

[noakey]

I have ACC on mine and think its great but I do find myself covering the accelerator in case it drops out. I have had it drop out a few times and it can be a bit dangerous as the regen kicks in quite hard and you need to get on the accelerator quick in case you get rear ended.
I think that's my main issue, dropping out now and again wouldn't be a big deal on a conventional car but with the i3's regeneration it has the potential of getting you in trouble. It would be much safer if the regen was programmed to temporalily deactivate or soften or if the system gave you half a seconds warning before cutting out.

Hi... on the odd occasion mine has deactivated it was always bright sun, and a it gave me a clue by backing off a tad for no reason.. it was subtle but definite.

 

[Zakalwe]

Forgive my ignorance: does anyone from BMW monitor this forum, it would be good to get an official response...

 

[MikeS]

You would think they would, but I expect not! Most BMW dealers (and others) seem to treat anything from a forum with contempt! Really peed them off when I went in with my Z4 and a reference from the Z4 forum to show the specific BMW job reference to fix a fault! :twisted: They asked where I got the info from!

 

[Hengus]

Sorry to hijack an old thread but as I have an I3REx on order - with time left to change options - can anyone tell me whether the issues identified in this thread have been resolved with a software update et al?