Finally had the Auto-Braking system go nuts on me...

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'24 CX-5 Turbo Premium
Pretty much the scenario that others have had. I was stopped in the right lane but going straight through. When the light changed to green the driver in front of me started his turn but then randomly stopped like half way through then started slowly moving again. I went around him and WHAM the brakes just locked up at like 10 MPH. Scared the crap out of me and the wife. If someone had been behind me I have no doubt I would have been rear ended. The stop was abrupt enough that both our necks were achy for a while afterward.

I've never had it happen before in my '17 or '20. There have been maybe two times it's ever gone off before but that was when someone directly in front of me jammed on their brakes and even then I was already on the brakes as I'm a huge believer in keeping a lot of space in front of me from years of riding motorcycles in city traffic. I was closer to this guy than usual since we were at a light and it was impossible to predict they would stop for no reason, but the brakes had no reason to activate when they did.

Overall I'm a believer in the feature with all the distracted driving these days, and understand how difficult it is to program for edge situations. But I'll certainly be more aware of the possibility from now on and keep an even wider interval when in a similar traffic scenario.
 
Both times I've had it kick in were in similar circumstances: Guy in the left lane decides he needs to exit right, so he cuts in front of me to get to the right side exit lane. Came very close to me both times, plus he's slowing down so that he doesn't overshoot the exit lane. Very dangerous move. Still, when the car hit the brakes, it was very unnerving.
 
It's definitely jarring when it activates, but the sole purpose is to reduce the impact collision as much as possible. And as cliche as it sounds, if you were to get rear ended as a result of the auto emergency braking, the driver behind you was probably following too closely as well.
 
It's definitely jarring when it activates, but the sole purpose is to reduce the impact collision as much as possible. And as cliche as it sounds, if you were to get rear ended as a result of the auto emergency braking, the driver behind you was probably following too closely as well.
I totally agree, but it's hard to leave enough space in front of you while at a light in the city. You really just have to hope the guy behind you has a braking system too.

I had a guy slam the hooks on me about 10 years ago to make a sudden right turn into a parking lot just past the intersection where we had been stopped at the light. I caught it in the nick of time and managed to stop but the guy behind me didn't and rear ended me. As it semi-humorously happened it was right in front of my insurance agent's office directly across the street. I told the guy who hit me to sit tight for a second and walked over and grabbed my agent. They took care of the whole thing for me.

But if he had emergency braking he probably would never have nailed me.
 
I totally agree, but it's hard to leave enough space in front of you while at a light in the city. You really just have to hope the guy behind you has a braking system too.

I had a guy slam the hooks on me about 10 years ago to make a sudden right turn into a parking lot just past the intersection where we had been stopped at the light. I caught it in the nick of time and managed to stop but the guy behind me didn't and rear ended me. As it semi-humorously happened it was right in front of my insurance agent's office directly across the street. I told the guy who hit me to sit tight for a second and walked over and grabbed my agent. They took care of the whole thing for me.

But if he had emergency braking he probably would never have nailed me.

Yeah, its definitely a bit of a double edged sword. The problem is "how early is too early, before it's too late"? It's largely dependent on driving style, and when you know your car and your brakes, systems like these can be a bit proactive.
 
Yeah, its definitely a bit of a double edged sword. The problem is "how early is too early, before it's too late"? It's largely dependent on driving style, and when you know your car and your brakes, systems like these can be a bit proactive.
My biggest issue is that oftentimes it activates in driving conditions where braking isn't the best course of action at all. Even at very low settings. For many different roads and traffic scenarios here in the NE it will make sense to change lanes, shift over in your own lane, turn into the shoulder rather than a sudden brake application. Sometimes even applying a small amount of throttle is necessary to keep the vehicle stable. Especially if there are other vehicles around and behind you who may not be able to see what's happening in front of you.

And I say this driving a Mazda3. If I was behind the wheel of something heavier and with a higher center of gravity then I for sure don't want the vehicle to brake or cut power too suddenly with all that mass still wanting to remain in motion. That's a lot of energy best redirected instead of breaking traction as the wheels lock up and not even having any throttle to try and change direction.
 
Yep, it's far from perfect to be sure, and can be detrimental in some circumstances. But that being said, with all the idiots playing with their phones these days I'd prefer most people had it rather than not just to protect me from them.
 
i've had mine do that, even happened when no car was in front of me (ghost from a car having been there?). i sometimes override the adaptive cruise when i foresee a situation where it might do that. overall, the system works very well, though. sometimes the car spacing makes no sense to me. i like the way it works better than the eyesight i had on my '16 forester xt overall, though.
 
Yeah, its definitely a bit of a double edged sword. The problem is "how early is too early, before it's too late"? It's largely dependent on driving style, and when you know your car and your brakes, systems like these can be a bit proactive.
the best is when it says to brake, while the car is braking on its own. it's like why do you need me to help you brake??
 
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