Deactivate the you're too close auto brake "feature"

People who tailgate and drive up someone's a$$ are a fly on the wall that needs to be whacked.
That's my biggest pet peeve among the things reckless drivers do. Maybe a tie with the guys who pass and then come back in front me right off my fender and the NASCAR wannabes weaving from lane to lane at high speed. Sometimes that's all the same guy.

But unless you wave him to the side of the road for a faceoff, nobody's going to whack him though you gotta reckon he'll whack somebody with his vehicle someday. Best to just get out of the way whenever possible.
 
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Early, Normal and Late are my choices. Early sounds even worse than Normal so I'll stick with Late. I equate that to it's too late at this point.
Not necessarily. Depending on the situation, "late" might not stop a collision but the brake engaging faster than you do would get you to a lower speed at impact.

Though I'm not your mother, and assuming the forward facing camera or front radar is not misaligned, if "Normal" is squawking at you all the time, you might want to adjust your following distances. Just a suggestion.
 
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My 2019 CX-5 has kicked in a few times. In all cases, the car in front of me was pulling into a driveway. In the cases, I had plenty of room to clear the car making a right. The last time it jammed on the brakes for a moment. As I was clear, my worry was whether the car behind me was able to react in time. He did and it was a non-event.
As I looked in the mirror and saw all was OK, I laughed at the irony. His car was the same as mine down to the color. If anyone would have understood my automatic surprise hard braking, it would be him.
 
My 2019 CX-5 has kicked in a few times. In all cases, the car in front of me was pulling into a driveway. In the cases, I had plenty of room to clear the car making a right. The last time it jammed on the brakes for a moment. As I was clear, my worry was whether the car behind me was able to react in time. He did and it was a non-event.
As I looked in the mirror and saw all was OK, I laughed at the irony. His car was the same as mine down to the color. If anyone would have understood my automatic surprise hard braking, it would be him.
Exactly my concern as well. I'm worried about the car in front of me. I don't have time to consider the person behind when some computer decides I need to brake when I don't. I've been driving for decades just fine without some computer putting in its two cents.
 
While I agree that these “safety” systems are not nearly as good as they’d like us to believe, and this forward collision avoidance system leaves a lot to be desired, I find the simple solution to this specific problem is to simply leave a bit of extra space when someone ahead of me is making a turn from my lane. I can get off the gas and gradually apply the brake in advance if necessary and avoid having the system intervene. Being 20 feet closer isn’t going to get me anywhere any faster.
 
I dislike the SCBS as well. Would prefer to disable it permanently. Turns out I know how to drive and pay attention when I do. It does go off in the "car in front turning right scenario" on occasion even if I have a clear path and require no correction. I have discussed the system with Mazda support upper management and they have confirmed that this system prompts many complaints by Mazda owners in the USA. No idea if they will ever make a change.
 
I dislike the SCBS as well. Would prefer to disable it permanently. Turns out I know how to drive and pay attention when I do. It does go off in the "car in front turning right scenario" on occasion even if I have a clear path and require no correction. I have discussed the system with Mazda support upper management and they have confirmed that this system prompts many complaints by Mazda owners in the USA. No idea if they will ever make a change.
Maybe you drive as great as you say, but it seems like all the tailgating ass-hats have that same confidence in their abilities. I guess that the CX-5 gets more than its share because of its relatively sporty handling compared to its competitors.
 
Had another experience with the system this morning. Accelerating to merge into a gap in the lane to my left before reaching a stopped vehicle partially blocking the right lane. As I start accelerating and moving left, the car decided a collision was imminent with the vehicle partially in the lane ahead of me that I was already moving to the left of, and applied to brake. Luckily there was plenty of space and this didn't cause an incident, but it made the situation less safe since it takes no account for the approaching vehicle behind, on top of the fact that it's slow to recognize that the car ahead is no longer directly in front of me.

They really need to have the yellow warning light on the dash activate when the system is enabled, instead of when it is disabled. For anyone who is actually paying attention while they are driving, I think it makes the car less safe. Sure, maybe it's great for people who aren't paying attention and might stop them from running directly into someone in front of them, but I don't think I should have to have a warning light on my dash if I choose to disable a flawed system, which it what I plan to do now.
 
I dislike the SCBS as well. Would prefer to disable it permanently. Turns out I know how to drive and pay attention when I do. It does go off in the "car in front turning right scenario" on occasion even if I have a clear path and require no correction. I have discussed the system with Mazda support upper management and they have confirmed that this system prompts many complaints by Mazda owners in the USA. No idea if they will ever make a change.
Add this to the list of programming & testing shortfalls that Mazda has been made well aware of and have either chosen not to resolve or are unable to resolve. They do so many things really well with their cars, but they really need to clean up their development process for anything that entails software programming. It's really sub-par in way too many areas and needs to be addressed if they want to continue their attempt to push upmarket.
 
It irks me how many drivers think they are in a Nascar restrictor plate race in their daily drive. All these cars bumper to bumper. I was driving by a 10 car accident. All of them seems to have rear ended each other.
 
... Accelerating to merge into a gap in the lane to my left before reaching a stopped vehicle partially blocking the right lane. As I start accelerating and moving left, the car decided a collision was imminent with the vehicle partially in the lane ahead of me that I was already moving to the left of, and applied to brake. ...

Do you recall, when the SBS actually activated the brakes, were you pressing on the accelerator or brake or were you "coasting" at that point? The reason I ask is AFAIK, the system should NOT activate the brakes if you are manipulating controls (i.e. steering inputs, accelerator, brake).

The other possibility that comes to mind is if you had your cruise control on, manually pressed accelerator to move into the gap and when you let off it was actually the radar cruise that applied the brakes. (I've experienced that scenario)

Mazda CX-5 manual

(I know it says "may" not operate.)
  • The SBS system may not operate under the following conditions:
    • If the vehicle is accelerated rapidly and it comes close to a vehicle ahead.
    • The vehicle is driven at the same speed as the vehicle ahead.
    • The accelerator pedal is depressed.
    • The brake pedal is depressed.
    • The steering wheel is being operated.
    • The selector lever is being operated.
    • The direction indicator is being used.
    • When the vehicle ahead is not equipped with tail lights or the tail lights are turned off.
    • When warnings and messages, such as a dirty windscreen, related to the Forward Sensing Camera (FSC) are being displayed in the multi-information display.

I wouldn't be very happy either if the car auto-braked on my while I was driving. My experience has been if I'm touching a pedal, that cancels the frenzied BEEPBEEPBEEP sound and prevents auto-braking but continues to flash BRAKE warning in the HUD.
 
Do you recall, when the SBS actually activated the brakes, were you pressing on the accelerator or brake or were you "coasting" at that point? The reason I ask is AFAIK, the system should NOT activate the brakes if you are manipulating controls (i.e. steering inputs, accelerator, brake).

The other possibility that comes to mind is if you had your cruise control on, manually pressed accelerator to move into the gap and when you let off it was actually the radar cruise that applied the brakes. (I've experienced that scenario)

Mazda CX-5 manual

(I know it says "may" not operate.)


I wouldn't be very happy either if the car auto-braked on my while I was driving. My experience has been if I'm touching a pedal, that cancels the frenzied BEEPBEEPBEEP sound and prevents auto-braking but continues to flash BRAKE warning in the HUD.
My foot was on the accelerator (roughly 20-30% throttle I’d guesstimate), cruise control was not on, and I was also steering slightly. Based on the manual and others’ description here, I was very surprised and quite unhappy that the car decided to override me and apply the brakes. It did then ultimately a good second or more later release the brakes and I was able to complete the lane change before my slowing down became an issue. If it had been a closer situation, it would likely have caused me to get rear ended with the sudden and aggressive brake application.
 
I was very surprised and quite unhappy that the car decided to override me and apply the brakes.
+1 .... That's not cool ! Every vehicle (cars, trucks, airplanes) that I operate will not override my inputs.
 
+1 .... That's not cool ! Every vehicle (cars, trucks, airplanes) that I operate will not override my inputs.
Indeed, not very cool at all. I’ve learned to live with it vibrating the steering wheel as part of the lane departure warning system when I move over a line to avoid a vehicle stopped or parked partway into my lane of travel. That’s an annoyance but not actively doing something to override my inputs. I’ve also had the BRAKE! alert flash at me briefly when a car in front is turning just as it clears my lane ahead of me. Again, annoying but I can deal with it. This in my opinion makes the car less safe. Mazda’s safety features are not very well implemented, and are making me question whether I made a mistake buying what is otherwise an excellent vehicle in many ways.
 
If you turn on you turn signal before crossing the lane line it should not shake your steering wheel. That way is will also check the lane you are entering to make sure you did not overlook someone...
 
The parameters are set by the governing bodies. In Europe, a car will not get a full five star crash rating unless it has autonomous braking that meets certain conditions and if your conditions are slightly different then the parameters have to be opened up to include them. It’s unfortunate but there are a growing number of people driving cars that are completely engrossed in mobile phones. They get in a modern vehicle and start disabling engine stop and this system and that system and override the air conditioning then drive down the road with a smartphone stuck under their nose. Those are the people that you can thank for autonomous braking because those are the ones killing people with cars rather than put the phone away and think about what they’re doing.
 
Indeed, not very cool at all. I’ve learned to live with it vibrating the steering wheel as part of the lane departure warning system when I move over a line to avoid a vehicle stopped or parked partway into my lane of travel. That’s an annoyance but not actively doing something to override my inputs. I’ve also had the BRAKE! alert flash at me briefly when a car in front is turning just as it clears my lane ahead of me. Again, annoying but I can deal with it. This in my opinion makes the car less safe. Mazda’s safety features are not very well implemented, and are making me question whether I made a mistake buying what is otherwise an excellent vehicle in many ways.
what is your alert distance set at?
 
If in that situation, with your foot on the accelerator and steering into the next lane, your signal should be on. Having the signal on cancels the lane departure warnings (as @GAXIBM mentioned), so maybe it also cancels the automatic emergency braking in that scenario too? I don't know for sure. But it would make sense for the system to use that info to determine what the driver's intent is, in addition to steering and acceleration input.
 
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