Potential safety issue with T6.1 Automatic Cruise Control

[Rams66]

I'm not a big fan of the ACC and would prefer to have the choice of standard cruise control. That said it is relaxing but somewhat of an annoyance particularly when pulling out and overtaking on a motorway. Maybe I'll warm to it, it is new for me. It's coming to motorbikes now and personally I wouldn't like the lack of speed control as such.

 

[andyinluton]

I'm not a big fan of the ACC and would prefer to have the choice of standard cruise control.

Given the choice I would have had ordinary Cruise control, I used to drive the old van on the motorway with it switched on using the steering wheel controls as a hand throttle.

I'm getting used to adaptive, & strangely find it of more use when stuck in one of those 35mph queues on an A road where it really is just following the car in front for miles.

What I really don't like is heavy rain turning the system off with the fault warning, if it only turned off the ACC I wouldn't mind, but I don't see why it should stop the speed limiter working.

 

[sidepod]

Hope I’m never out there in front of the OP!!

 

[Blue Yonder]

Buddy69. You should vent your anger at the VW dealership that “fixed” a none issue with your ACC. As others have pointed out The ACC is not designed to react to stationary objects in your path only to react to traffic that is moving in the same direction as you are and then match speeds.

 

[WelshGas]

@Buddy69 won't be back on this thread to apologise, admit his mistake or give us more information as to why VW replaced the sensor. Probably moaning to his " Mates" about the d******ds on this Forum who think they know more than his VW Dealer.

 

[chris151151]

I'm not a big fan of the ACC and would prefer to have the choice of standard cruise control. That said it is relaxing but somewhat of an annoyance particularly when pulling out and overtaking on a motorway. Maybe I'll warm to it, it is new for me. It's coming to motorbikes now and personally I wouldn't like the lack of speed control as such.

I was quite wary of it at first, but now find it a useful aid on motorways and expressways. Never on undivided roads though. A dumb beginner's question about it. When I finally get to France will it automatically switch the "do not undertake vehicles" function to the other side?

 

[AlisonF]

This is why I don’t bother posting on forums any more. Pack mentality, correcting little errors, getting hurt because the OP didn’t ask for your corrections and ability to drift off topic… jeez!

There are clearly two sides. Sadly, it seems, the OP was not aware of how the ACC works. But neither was his dealer. Hence, he reported what he believed to be a genuine safety issue.
After that things have gone downhill.
Some strong words on both sides.
It’s maybe another reminder to us all to ‘be kind’. And if that sounds soft. In the world I came from they encouraged ‘enquiry’ instead of ‘advocacy’.

 

[kocotte]

I found the implementation of ACC in our California the best so far, it's surprisingly reliable and correctly reacts to both yourself overtaking and cars entering your line after finishing overtaking.
It's always a bit of a dillema, when you see stuff happening in front of you and you're wondering if you should react yourself and let the ACC do the job in a moment, when it actually detects it, but that's a low price, and its always better to deal it by yourself, as you see things happening ealier, althougn its reassuring there is a second 'eye' too.
Now, where the classic cruise controls is better is to keep the high average speed on the highway. It's easy to not notice that your car has progressively slowed down by 20km/h and is now following some snail, while you're thinking you're still charging at max speed

 

[gleneagles]

Hello this thread is specifically geared towards T6.1 California Coast owners 2020 onwards. I have had to ask VW to replace my ACC front sensor under warranty, due to a safety fault. Three times it failed at motorway speeds. This was confirmed by VW technicians as faulty yet the vehicle had only covered 300 miles! Therefore the unit itself may need to be assessed by your local dealership. Best to be safe out there guys.

I have had problems with my radar sensor, simply not working and my local dealer is no help at all. I tried various things myself then bought a new one and fitted it myself which of course triggered all sorts of other failures which the dealer could and did put right but left their premises without any thing being dealt with about the radar as they did not have the technical ability or any equipment to calibrate the new sensor. A bit hopeless really, anyone got any ideas.

 

[Parallax33]

There are clearly two sides. Sadly, it seems, the OP was not aware of how the ACC works. But neither was his dealer. Hence, he reported what he believed to be a genuine safety issue.
After that things have gone downhill.
Some strong words on both sides.
It’s maybe another reminder to us all to ‘be kind’. And if that sounds soft. In the world I came from they encouraged ‘enquiry’ instead of ‘advocacy’.

I agree, but prefer there to be only one “side”, that of the OP.
Everyone else should remember their role is to contribute to a positive outcome.

 

[andyinluton]

I agree, but prefer there to be only one “side”, that of the OP.
Everyone else should remember their role is to contribute to a positive outcome.

Good of you to let us know what our role is, still waiting for your contribution......

 

[WelshGas]

I have had problems with my radar sensor, simply not working and my local dealer is no help at all. I tried various things myself then bought a new one and fitted it myself which of course triggered all sorts of other failures which the dealer could and did put right but left their premises without any thing being dealt with about the radar as they did not have the technical ability or any equipment to calibrate the new sensor. A bit hopeless really, anyone got any ideas.

Do you use a Towbar bike rack?

 

[andyinluton]

I have had problems with my radar sensor, simply not working

Might be a silly question, but how do you know it wasn't working?
Is there an error message? or did it say "unavailable"

 

[kurienp]

I have had problems with my radar sensor, simply not working and my local dealer is no help at all. I tried various things myself then bought a new one and fitted it myself which of course triggered all sorts of other failures which the dealer could and did put right but left their premises without any thing being dealt with about the radar as they did not have the technical ability or any equipment to calibrate the new sensor. A bit hopeless really, anyone got any ideas.

@gleneagles , are you able to provide a bit more information such as:
1. what happens when you try and engage the ACC - below 20mph and above 20 mph
2. any errors that the system displays/error codes on screen?

On sensor calibration, any workshop that has the ADAS calibration equipment should be able to do it. The NCR Bodyshop near me has one and they are the ones who do my 4 wheel alignment.

View some videos on the thread on here - https://www.t6forum.com/threads/4-wheel-alignment-with-acc.11185/

If you are able to tell us more, then we should be able to help/guide.

edit - realised that one sentence was incomplete.

 

[kurienp]

I agree, but prefer there to be only one “side”, that of the OP.
Everyone else should remember their role is to contribute to a positive outcome.

@Parallax33 , if you read the thread, all responses were to help the OP to understand how the system works. When the OP saw that no one was sympathizing with him, he called all people on here armchair experts, was quiet rude and disappeared from the scene

All focus was to help with a positive outcome, but the OP started the downhill slide himself from post #14

 

[kurienp]

There are clearly two sides. Sadly, it seems, the OP was not aware of how the ACC works. But neither was his dealer. Hence, he reported what he believed to be a genuine safety issue.
After that things have gone downhill.
Some strong words on both sides.
It’s maybe another reminder to us all to ‘be kind’. And if that sounds soft. In the world I came from they encouraged ‘enquiry’ instead of ‘advocacy’.

@AlisonF , you have been a top poster on here, and now I think a moderator (or you have been one in the past). You did not reach this position by making useless posts. You have positively contributed to this forum with your inputs. If you post something rude (which you will not), trust me, no one will say anything to you, instead people will be asking you if all is well. IMHO, this forum is like a large extended family.

On the issues in the recent past that I can remember:
- Someone comes on the forum and in the 3rd post says that all people on here are "dick wagging"
- another person in his 17th post, says that all people on here are armchair experts.

... what should they expect ... us to molly coddle them? Sorry, don't think that is right and will happen. They need to learn how to behave on forums and learn to understand themselves when the people who have driven a few hundred thousand miles more than then and some who have grown up with VW vans from their childhood are guiding them on the right track.

Also, then, there may be old contributors who are usually on this forum after a few pints ... and so for them ... all is forgiven forever

 

[AlisonF]

@AlisonF , you have been a top poster on here, and now I think a moderator (or you have been one in the past). You did not reach this position by making useless posts. You have positively contributed to this forum with your inputs. If you post something rude (which you will not), trust me, no one will say anything to you, instead people will be asking you if all is well. IMHO, this forum is like a large extended family.

On the issues in the recent past that I can remember:
- Someone comes on the forum and in the 3rd post says that all people on here are "dick wagging"
- another person in his 17th post, says that all people on here are armchair experts.

... what should they expect ... us to molly coddle them? Sorry, don't think that is right and will happen. They need to learn how to behave on forums and learn to understand themselves when the people who have driven a few hundred thousand miles more than then and some who have grown up with VW vans from their childhood are guiding them on the right track.

Also, then, there may be old contributors who are usually on this forum after a few pints ... and so for them ... all is forgiven forever

That’s a good response. Apologies if I have not been so observant to the ins and outs of this particular thread. Your synopsis is spot on. I owe you a beer / wine at next meet.

 

[Amarillo]

They need to learn how to behave on forums and learn to understand themselves when the people who have driven a few hundred thousand miles more than then and some who have grown up with VW vans from their childhood are guiding them on the right track.

A new poster is not going to know the experts from the charlatans.

It appears that he has been told one thing by the VW service department and another thing by posters here. We should not be too surprised that he takes the view of VW over posters he doesn’t really know.

 

[Parallax33]

Good of you to let us know what our role is, still waiting for your contribution....

^^^this

 

[Parallax33]

@Parallax33 , if you read the thread, all responses were to help the OP to understand how the system works. When the OP saw that no one was sympathizing with him, he called all people on here armchair experts, was quiet rude and disappeared from the scene

All focus was to help with a positive outcome, but the OP started the downhill slide himself from post #14

Actually he was just giving a heads up to a potential safety issue… then every started telling him what a fool he was. Don’t blame him for switching the post off, was mostly bullying

 

[WelshGas]

Actually he was just giving a heads up to a potential safety issue… then every started telling him what a fool he was. Don’t blame him for switching the post off, was mostly bullying

If you read the Posts no one called him a fool. People asked him for additional information, clarification etc: and then pointed out what ACC is capable of as detailed by VW in the Handbook.
Then he threw his teddy out of the Pram.

 

[andyinluton]

Actually he was just giving a heads up to a potential safety issue… then every started telling him what a fool he was. Don’t blame him for switching the post off, was mostly bullying

I must have missed something - if you read the manual it says the system cannot recognise queuing traffic.

The OPs first complaint was that the ACC didn't recognise the back of a queue.

The potential safety issue appears to be that there are drivers out there that havn't read the manual & are expecting the ACC to stop them driving into the back of a queue.

The second thing was that the radar sensor was faulty. If you search the forums & read the manual you will find that things such as heavy rain, squashed flies or a loose contact can cause the fault to be shown on the dashboard.

VW technicians on the whole are fitters rather than engineers, if it says there's a fault on the dashboard the only thing that most of them do is replace the sensor. If there was a loose connection just replacing the sensor will usually fix this, but just crimping up the connection may well have had the same result.

Just because the garage say it was faulty doesn't actually mean it is, as the vans under warranty & presumably the OP hasn't had to pay, no-one is that bothered.
Wait until the vans out of warranty & you have to pay hundreds of pounds for a replacement sensor, at that point people will be looking a lot more carefully as to whether something is really faulty or not.

 

[Rowls1958]

Hello and thankyou for all your armchair 'expert ' input into solving the issue. This forum it seems revels zoneing in on critiscizing any new posters, however important the issue. Note not one positive reply to say thanks for the heads up re a real world safety issue. Its all your fault etc read the manual..doest seem broken to me.. classic cognitive dissonance.However you can all rest now and be assured that I have taken the advice of the real experts. The professional trained ones from VW who have diagnosed on a VW diagnostic computer. That the part is well yes 'broken' and as such was replaced. So forum members were the VW technicians and the computer diagnostic wrong. Or are you rite and they just replaced it to keep Hannover parts depot busy.

Well said....

 

[Rowls1958]

Actually he was just giving a heads up to a potential safety issue… then every started telling him what a fool he was. Don’t blame him for switching the post off, was mostly bullying

Quite right, same people on here every time trying to belittle and make a fool of less experienced posters with their sarcastic and pompous remarks. They are just a bunch of bullies.

 

[WelshGas]

Quite right, same people on here every time trying to belittle and make a fool of less experienced posters with their sarcastic and pompous remarks. They are just a bunch of bullies.

Yeah, the same people, Paid up Members who have a wealth of experience and knowledge and take the time to help others.