Honda Subaru Recalling Cars with Automatic Braking...

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"CARS equipped with futuristic technology that can save lives by braking automatically are being recalled in Australia and overseas because their latest safety systems are on the blink.

Japanese car makers Subaru and Honda have issued two separate recalls involving technology that is designed to prevent rear-end crashes and/or avoid hitting pedestrians.

Subaru is recalling more than 5000 of its latest Outback wagon and Liberty sedan models equipped with its “Eyesight” system that uses two cameras behind the windscreen to scan the road ahead.

A sign of just how complex modern cars have become Subaru has discovered a seemingly unrelated brake light fault can disable the vehicle’s automatic emergency braking system.

A statement from Subaru said: “The (Eyesight) system may not operate as intended in an emergency braking situation (where the driver has failed to apply the brake), or may fail to properly engage the brakes when the vehicle has been placed in (automatic cruise control) mode. This is due to a software programming issue.”

Subaru says the fault “does not affect the performance of the brakes when engaged by the driver” and no incidents have been reported in Australia or overseas.

Meanwhile Honda Australia is recalling more than 2000 examples of its latest Accord sedan and CR-V that are equipped with similar automatic emergency braking technology.

Automatic braking system can be activated without warning ... Honda is recalling its late

Rather alarmingly, in the case of the Honda fault, the automatic braking system can be activated when it is not supposed to.

“In certain driving conditions, the Collision Mitigation Braking System (CMBS) may unexpectedly activate while operating the vehicle,” the Honda recall statement says.

“In rare cases, the system may interpret certain roadside objects, such as metal fences or guardrails, as obstacles and apply emergency braking.”

The faults come as the car industry is debating how much technology should be introduced in modern cars, and how much control should be taken away from the driver.

Car giants Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz, and technology companies Apple and Google, are all experimenting with driverless cars that rely on cameras, radars and other sensors to navigate their way through traffic with limited or no input from the driver.

But the latest recalls show that the technology still has a long way to go before it becomes failsafe."

This reporter is on Twitter: @JoshuaDowling
http://www.couriermail.com.au/techno...-1227395387692

[XR Martin]

“In rare cases, the system may interpret certain roadside objects, such as metal fences or guardrails, as obstacles and apply emergency braking.”

Wheels mag encountered this more than once when driving the latest Cherokee

[Mechan1k]

Whatever happened with looking out the windscreen and figuring it out for yourself???

[mik]

This sort of technology scares me,
the thought of being in a situation where the car takes over and there may be other big danger factors to consider if you or your computer controlled car suddenly brake hard.

[satria]

We've got a bit of a funny corner in our area where you are turning and there is oncoming traffic at a standstill wanting to turn but they are at an angle, about to cross your lane. Bit hard to explain but it's a bit of a weird corner, made me wonder that car's with emergency braking would think you are having a head on collision and hit the brakes, I really find it hard to think they are smart enough to figure that one out.

If we have a corner like that in Bendigo there must be tonnes of scenarios in a CBD where I think the software must have trouble. I'm all for this software but I hope they have it completely nutted out before fitting it.

[Yellow_Festiva]

I have this feature in my Outlander and it has worked flawlessly so far.

[Yellow_Festiva]

Originally Posted by Mechan1k

Whatever happened with looking out the windscreen and figuring it out for yourself???

The same can be said for all the other safety aides can't it?

[1TUFFUTE]

Originally Posted by Mechan1k

Whatever happened with looking out the windscreen and figuring it out for yourself???

Nothing happened, it's still there all the other cars are either in recall or just roaming around waiting to rear end someone......or get rear ended when they brake for no reason. Imagine that on the highway