New Toyota Safety Features - Helpful??

[Anonymous]

We bought a new Toyota Corolla Hybrid and this is our first new car in 15 years. Our previous car didn’t even have a backup camera.

All these whiz bang safety features are reassuring, but ours has seems to be slowing down for stop signs and cars in front of us on its own, without having adaptive cruise enabled nor with any brake warnings (I’ve seen that alert when I come up fast on a car).

Is this normal, to have such an aggressive drive for you safety braking system? Or is something wrong with our car? It seems fine on highway, so I wonder if it’s more aggressive regenerative braking when we take our foot off the gas?

If it’s smart features is it giving me bad habits for when I drive regular cars??

[Anonymous]

This crap is why I’m just not interested in any more new cars.

I know when to begin stopping for a stop sign or red light or traffic or any of dozens of other reasons I might need to stop. And it’s not a one-size-fits-all deal with stopping. Coasting towards a red light is a different type of stopping than seeing a soccer ball roll out in front of you or a deer jumping in front of you.

I’ll decide. I don’t need or want a car that thinks for me.

[Anonymous]

You can change the settings for your car. In my Honda, the braking system can be set to long, normal or short. When it "thinks" you might hit something it applies the brakes and flashes a "brake" image on the dashboard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can change the settings for your car. In my Honda, the braking system can be set to long, normal or short. When it "thinks" you might hit something it applies the brakes and flashes a "brake" image on the dashboard.

These seems a little different than the emergency braking -- there is no flashing signs and its happening for stop signs etc.

[Anonymous]

Read the owner's manual and look on Youtube for explanatory videos. There may be settings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Read the owner's manual and look on Youtube for explanatory videos. There may be settings.

This. Or OP is too aggressive of a driver.

[Anonymous]

The car's settings are meant to discourage tailgating. They may be adjustable, to a point, though.

[Anonymous]

Could it just be regenerative braking kicking in?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can change the settings for your car. In my Honda, the braking system can be set to long, normal or short. When it "thinks" you might hit something it applies the brakes and flashes a "brake" image on the dashboard.

These seems a little different than the emergency braking -- there is no flashing signs and its happening for stop signs etc.

Take it back to the dealer and ask

[Anonymous]

My car is 10 years old and doesn't have anything super fancy but it has a light in the side mirror that lights up when a car is in your blind spot. I like that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My car is 10 years old and doesn't have anything super fancy but it has a light in the side mirror that lights up when a car is in your blind spot. I like that.

+1 Hondas and Acuras have an audible cue, too, which my teenage drivers love. When we were car shopping most recently, it was the deciding factor that put the CR-V over the top, at their insistence.

[Anonymous]

I don’t think your car can do any smart driving or braking for you unless it is in the adaptive cruise control mode. Most likely it is just the engine braking which happens on every car when you take the foot off the gas pedal.

[Anonymous]

I love all these new car safety features. They make it much easier for me to text while driving.

[Anonymous]

Blind spot warning and back-up cameras are lifesavers.

However, other safety/convenience features can be annoying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think your car can do any smart driving or braking for you unless it is in the adaptive cruise control mode. Most likely it is just the engine braking which happens on every car when you take the foot off the gas pedal.

I mean I have adaptive cruise control on, like I’ve always had cruise control on so I can then set a speed on the highway without turning it on first. Maybe that triggers this more.

Absolutely not engine breaking, when I approach stoplights (which don’t show up on dash) it coasts fine. I noticed when I get close to cars it definitely brakes and shows the white outline of a car on dash. And I’m not even that close, I’m like 50 ft away. I always drive and stop so that I see at least two feet of pavement behind the car in front of me. Driving I follow the 2 sec rule religiously