Emergency braking on level crossing with no nearby cars

[Rolfe]

I'm leaving the emergency braking on. It did it to me once, when someone stepped out on to the road almost in front of me. The guy wasn't intending to throw himself under my wheels, he was going to the driver's door of his own car which was parked at the side of the road and which I was passing at the time. He then opened his driver's door.

I'm a bit unclear about the sequence, whether I saw the guy before or after the brakes went on, because there was no actual danger so I hadn't intended to brake. I just remember sitting in the car in the road looking at this open car door just to my left, with the driver climbing in. I realised what had happened, pressed the accelerator and drove on without actually having a heart attack.

I don't blame the MG4. If that had actually been a child running into the road, that stop could have saved a life, or at least serious injury. It impressed me enough to feel that it's worth the occasional false positive. Or at least I'll think that until it does something genuinely outrageous I suppose.

 

[Pianoman]

Hi, Interested to hear your story regarding the emergency braking on the MG4. It happened to me at 40mph on a main road. Luckily, nothing was behind. It really shook me up. By the following day I had sold it and bought a Citroen EC4, which I'd owned before the MG. As well as the aforementioned problem, It also locked me out, locked me in, failed to link to my 'phone and dropped all the windows when parked in a public car park....in the rain. A great car to drive, just spoilt by the dangerous software. I have owned over 50 cars in my lifetime - this is by far the worst!
My advice.......get rid!

As I've already mentioned, my MG4 has no issues and for the price was and still is I believe the only one that gets 280 miles range. We've actually managed over 300 miles the other week when the weather was warmer etc. The ec4 Citroën only manages 220 miles don't know the price of it.... would be surprised if it compares though. Just sayin....

Sounds like you got a lemon which is unfortunate. Ive had mine for 5 going on 6 months and have had such issues...however my last car, a Mazda 3 gave me NO END OF TROUBLE, I got the lemon then for sure.

Here, here!

I'm leaving the emergency braking on. It did it to me once, when someone stepped out on to the road almost in front of me. The guy wasn't intending to throw himself under my wheels, he was going to the driver's door of his own car which was parked at the side of the road and which I was passing at the time. He then opened his driver's door.

I'm a bit unclear about the sequence, whether I saw the guy before or after the brakes went on, because there was no actual danger so I hadn't intended to brake. I just remember sitting in the car in the road looking at this open car door just to my left, with the driver climbing in. I realised what had happened, pressed the accelerator and drove on without actually having a heart attack.

I don't blame the MG4. If that had actually been a child running into the road, that stop could have saved a life, or at least serious injury. It impressed me enough to feel that it's worth the occasional false positive. Or at least I'll think that until it does something genuinely outrageous I suppose.

Well said.

I'm leaving the emergency braking on. It did it to me once, when someone stepped out on to the road almost in front of me. The guy wasn't intending to throw himself under my wheels, he was going to the driver's door of his own car which was parked at the side of the road and which I was passing at the time. He then opened his driver's door.

I'm a bit unclear about the sequence, whether I saw the guy before or after the brakes went on, because there was no actual danger so I hadn't intended to brake. I just remember sitting in the car in the road looking at this open car door just to my left, with the driver climbing in. I realised what had happened, pressed the accelerator and drove on without actually having a heart attack.

I don't blame the MG4. If that had actually been a child running into the road, that stop could have saved a life, or at least serious injury. It impressed me enough to feel that it's worth the occasional false positive. Or at least I'll think that until it does something genuinely outrageous I suppose.

Well said.

 

[awbugritt]

Interesting.... its the best car we've ever owned


That was my thought too. We have had the car brake when approaching bends etc too.


Only deliberately I hope?!.... and this forum would be useful then.... in court

Good point, though that's assuming you lived long enough to get to court

 

[bowfer]

I'm leaving the emergency braking on. It did it to me once, when someone stepped out on to the road almost in front of me. The guy wasn't intending to throw himself under my wheels, he was going to the driver's door of his own car which was parked at the side of the road and which I was passing at the time. He then opened his driver's door.

I'm a bit unclear about the sequence, whether I saw the guy before or after the brakes went on, because there was no actual danger so I hadn't intended to brake. I just remember sitting in the car in the road looking at this open car door just to my left, with the driver climbing in. I realised what had happened, pressed the accelerator and drove on without actually having a heart attack.

I don't blame the MG4. If that had actually been a child running into the road, that stop could have saved a life, or at least serious injury. It impressed me enough to feel that it's worth the occasional false positive. Or at least I'll think that until it does something genuinely outrageous I suppose.

But it wasn’t a kid.
And you’ve said it wasn’t a scenario you’d have braked for.
So why excuse the behaviour in a non-dangerous scenario by making up a dangerous one?
So another incident goes unreported to MG and they think all is well….

 

[tsedge]

AEB has stopped me having an accident twice over the years with other cars, so despite the false positives from time to time, I left it on and I continue to leave it on with the MG. Never have I had a false positive that caused an accident. Because it is so unexpected my initial reaction is always that the stop is much harsher than it actually is and I think this is part of the psychology of why people feel it is dangerous.

I have had zero false positives with the MG4 in 3 months of driving it.

 

[bowfer]

Hi, Interested to hear your story regarding the emergency braking on the MG4. It happened to me at 40mph on a main road. Luckily, nothing was behind. It really shook me up. By the following day I had sold it and bought a Citroen EC4, which I'd owned before the MG. As well as the aforementioned problem, It also locked me out, locked me in, failed to link to my 'phone and dropped all the windows when parked in a public car park....in the rain. A great car to drive, just spoilt by the dangerous software. I have owned over 50 cars in my lifetime - this is by far the worst!
My advice.......get rid!

After rejecting my 4 I nearly went for the e-C4.
PCP costs are very competitive compared with the SE MG4, with more kit thrown in (leather, head up display)
And a push button to switch the lane assist off!
In the end it was just the lack of power/speed that killed it for me, 134bhp just isn’t enough.
They’ve announced a higher power one at 154bhp, still not enough…

AEB has stopped me having an accident twice over the years with other cars, so despite the false positives from time to time, I left it on and I continue to leave it on with the MG. Never have I had a false positive that caused an accident. Because it is so unexpected my initial reaction is always that the stop is much harsher than it actually is and I think this is part of the psychology of why people feel it is dangerous.

I have had zero false positives with the MG4 in 3 months of driving it.

AFAIK it applies the brakes as much as it can?
Literally an emergency stop that can make the ABS kick in.
It can’t be any harsher than that….?

 

[Rolfe]

But it wasn’t a kid.
And you’ve said it wasn’t a scenario you’d have braked for.
So why excuse the behaviour in a non-dangerous scenario by making up a dangerous one?
So another incident goes unreported to MG and they think all is well….

It's not a human being and I don't think it's reasonable to expect it to have the fine judgement of a human driver. There's a degree of leeway I'm prepared to allow it, and this was within that leeway.

The incident made me realise just how good it could be supposing I was woolgathering and a child did run out. Woolgathering is a bug human beings suffer from.

I was the child who ran out, once. I still remember. I just ran towards my home with no thought whatsoever of the A71 in the way. I shouldn't have been there without an adult, I was very little, but someone slipped up. The driver of the approaching car did the emergency stop from heaven and didn't touch me. His own child bashed his head on the dashboard (this was before any car had seatbelts). So I'm in favour of not switching off anything that might help even if it isn't perfect.

 

[Robf]

It's not a human being and I don't think it's reasonable to expect it to have the fine judgement of a human driver. There's a degree of leeway I'm prepared to allow it, and this was within that leeway.

The incident made me realise just how good it could be supposing I was woolgathering and a child did run out. Woolgathering is a bug human beings suffer from.

I was the child who ran out, once. I still remember. I just ran towards my home with no thought whatsoever of the A71 in the way. I shouldn't have been there without an adult, I was very little, but someone slipped up. The driver of the approaching car did the emergency stop from heaven and didn't touch me. His own child bashed his head on the dashboard (this was before any car had seatbelts). So I'm in favour of not switching off anything that might help even if it isn't perfect.

Absolutely agree 1000% I was that child once too, crossing Gilmore Place Edinburgh.

 

[Amun]

For me, the car has done it 2 or maybe 3 times, I put my foot on the brake, it slows me down the majority and then the last bit where you come to a full stop, it’s like it keeps rolling instead, fortunately i haven’t had any accident with that, but it did roll onto a roundabout with people approaching.

I had this when I test drove the MG4. No accident, but it was one of the reasons that we didn't buy one, buying an MG5 instead.

I can quite understand the OP wanting to get rid of their MG4 - you have to feel that your car is safe, and not trying to kill you.

 

[Pianoman]

But it wasn’t a kid.
And you’ve said it wasn’t a scenario you’d have braked for.
So why excuse the behaviour in a non-dangerous scenario by making up a dangerous one?
So another incident goes unreported to MG and they think all is well….

I'm assuming Amun is saying it proves it works and it's better to be safe than sorry?

 

[bowfer]

It's not a human being and I don't think it's reasonable to expect it to have the fine judgement of a human driver. There's a degree of leeway I'm prepared to allow it, and this was within that leeway.

The incident made me realise just how good it could be supposing I was woolgathering and a child did run out. Woolgathering is a bug human beings suffer from.

I was the child who ran out, once. I still remember. I just ran towards my home with no thought whatsoever of the A71 in the way. I shouldn't have been there without an adult, I was very little, but someone slipped up. The driver of the approaching car did the emergency stop from heaven and didn't touch me. His own child bashed his head on the dashboard (this was before any car had seatbelts). So I'm in favour of not switching off anything that might help even if it isn't perfect.

Woolgathering, I assume, means not paying attention…. (No need for the history of the phrase. )
Fair enough, if you’re willing to put up with ghost events in the assumption (and it is an assumption) it will work in a proper emergency scenario, up to you.

There was a video on one of the social media accounts last week where fake people walking and on bikes were put in front of cars to see which ones succeeded in braking.

Out of quite a few cars, the only one they succeeded was a Tesla.
I can’t recall if the 4 was in that test. Let me see if I can find a link to the vid.

 

[Amun]

I'm assuming Amun is saying it proves it works and it's better to be safe than sorry?

Please re-read what I was commenting to. I was talking about the brakes on the MG4 that I test drove not working properly, which is a big NO from me. I have an MG5, which so far has only alerted me once, which was due to me approaching a stationary car. It obviously thought that I didn't press the brake pedal quick enough - fair enough.

 

[tsedge]

AFAIK it applies the brakes as much as it can?
Literally an emergency stop that can make the ABS kick in.
It can’t be any harsher than that….?

Maybe so but still feels worse than it is because the driver is not initiating it and it is so unexpected, that's my point.

Anyway, I have explained why I leave it on and zero false positives with my MG4 so far. The last few VAG cars I had gave me a fair few false positives but not enough for me to turn it off.

 

[Rolfe]

Please re-read what I was commenting to. I was talking about the brakes on the MG4 that I test drove not working properly, which is a big NO from me. I have an MG5, which so far has only alerted me once, which was due to me approaching a stationary car. It obviously thought that I didn't press the brake pedal quick enough - fair enough.

I've had an audible warning a handful of times, in exactly the same situation. Either coming up behind someone waiting to turn right, and the car thought I hadn't braked soon enough (it was probably right, I should have reacted sooner by allowing the car to apply regenerative braking), or not pulling out to pass a parked car as soon as the car would have liked because there was another car approaching. I can live with the occasional beep and flashing light.

I think as I develop the habit of looking further ahead to take advantage of regenerative braking, this will happen less often.

 

[Rolfe]

Woolgathering, I assume, means not paying attention…. (No need for the history of the phrase. )
Fair enough, if you’re willing to put up with ghost events in the assumption (and it is an assumption) it will work in a proper emergency scenario, up to you.

There was a video on one of the social media accounts last week where fake people walking and on bikes were put in front of cars to see which ones succeeded in braking.

Out of quite a few cars, the only one they succeeded was a Tesla.
I can’t recall if the 4 was in that test. Let me see if I can find a link to the vid.

I'm not assuming it's going to work, but we're all human and moments of inattention happen. If there's something that might help in that situation, best to leave it on I think. Someone else on the forum said he had had a genuine incident and the car got there a split second before he did. Sometimes a split second can be critical.

 

[bowfer]

I'm not assuming it's going to work, but we're all human and moments of inattention happen. If there's something that might help in that situation, best to leave it on I think. Someone else on the forum said he had had a genuine incident and the car got there a split second before he did. Sometimes a split second can be critical.

Be interesting to see if repeated ‘ghost activations’ make you change your mind.
There’s no denying the 4 is particularly ‘sensitive’ to this, other cars fitted with it just get on with driving normally.
In my new car I’ve had it beep once because I was horsing down an off ramp and it didn’t like the speed I was approaching a stopped car at the bottom.
That’s it, one beep, in a time period that would have had the 4 beeping like a censored TV programme.

 

[Rolfe]

It's certainly possible I might change my mind if it misbehaves significantly. If I do, I'll let you know.

Remember the poor child who was the front-seat passenger in the car that nearly hit me. He was flung against the dashboard and had a lump the size of a pigeon's egg on his forehead. Because there were no seat belts. They didn't even exist. No car had them.

Then we had seat belts, but it wasn't compulsory to have them fastened.

Then they made it compulsory. It has reduced road traffic injuries enormously. But it wasn't an instantaneous thing. People talked about being trapped in a burning car, refused to wear them and all sorts. I once fell flat on my face getting out of the car because my foot got caught on a hooked-up seat belt. No tensioners in these days, you put them on then adjusted the fit like an aircraft seat belt and there was a great loop of belt hanging behind each front seat. But eventually they were refined to the point where it was reasonable to make wearing them compulsory.

I think we may still be at the point when I tripped over the loose seat belt and skinned my face. At that point I'd have been saying, these things are more trouble than they're worth, why do we have to have them fitted.

Patience, grasshopper.

 

[bowfer]

Maybe so but still feels worse than it is because the driver is not initiating it and it is so unexpected, that's my point.

Anyway, I have explained why I leave it on and zero false positives with my MG4 so far. The last few VAG cars I had gave me a fair few false positives but not enough for me to turn it off.

It's certainly possible I might change my mind if it misbehaves significantly. If I do, I'll let you know.

Remember the poor child who was the front-seat passenger in the car that nearly hit me. He was flung against the dashboard and had a lump the size of a pigeon's egg on his forehead. Because there were no seat belts. They didn't even exist. No car had them.

Then we had seat belts, but it wasn't compulsory to have them fastened.

Then they made it compulsory. It has reduced road traffic injuries enormously. But it wasn't an instantaneous thing. People talked about being trapped in a burning car, refused to wear them and all sorts. I once fell flat on my face getting out of the car because my foot got caught on a hooked-up seat belt. No tensioners in these days, you put them on then adjusted the fit like an aircraft seat belt and there was a great loop of belt hanging behind each front seat. But eventually they were refined to the point where it was reasonable to make wearing them compulsory.

I think we may still be at the point when I tripped over the loose seat belt and skinned my face. At that point I'd have been saying, these things are more trouble than they're worth, why do we have to have them fitted.

Patience, grasshopper.

I’m not sure it’s an applicable analogy as seatbelts are mandatory, but AEB can be switched off.
Perhaps the switch off option will be removed from future new cars.

 

[Rolfe]

Once upon a time seatbelts weren't mandatory either. But the technology got more advanced and they became mandatory. I think we're in the developments stages with this one, and it's reasonable to allow people to switch it off if they feel it's not right for them. As we once could decide not to wear a seatbelt if we felt it wasn't right for us.

I have decided to leave it on for now, but if I change my mind at least the facility to switch it off is there.

 

[bowfer]

Once upon a time seatbelts weren't mandatory either. But the technology got more advanced and they became mandatory. I think we're in the developments stages with this one, and it's reasonable to allow people to switch it off if they feel it's not right for them. As we once could decide not to wear a seatbelt if we felt it wasn't right for us.

I have decided to leave it on for now, but if I change my mind at least the facility to switch it off is there.

Seatbelts becoming mandatory wasn’t due to any advances in their technology.
They only became mandatory in 1991, seatbelt tech has been pretty static since tge 60s (inertia reel) and the 80s (pre tensioners)
What I’m saying is the government weren’t waiting for a point where they thought ‘right now they’re at a point we can make them compulsory’