Reply to inexpensive used car that has safety features like warning about nearby threats

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Automated emergency braking is, to my mind, the most important safety feature after a full complement of airbags and a strong passenger compartment.  It usually is paired with adaptive cruise control, using the same sensor to detect excessive closing speed and applying the brakes if the driver fails to do so.  [/quote]

Do you drive differently knowing these features are there?[/quote]

Not really.  I use adaptive cruise on highways, as it adjusts vehicle speed to traffic flow without me having to be constantly making tiny throttle adjustments myself.  That helps with minimizing fatigue, but I'm still steering and monitoring traffic for people changing lanes in front of me and so on.  Automated emergency braking does a couple of things:  it brakes for you if you're momentarily distracted or inattentive, which can happen no matter how good we think we are as drivers, or in situations as when you look over your shoulder before changing lanes and a car in front of you chooses that moment to slam on the brakes, and it applies the brakes with greater force than you might on your own - it's a common phenomenon that people tend to not brake hard enough in an emergency situation.  Most people rarely brake hard or practice emergency braking, and in an emergency they brake like they normally do.  With antilock brakes, it's possible to brake very hard indeed without losing control, but you have you really put your foot into it, which many people do not.  Automated emergency braking will apply the brakes forcefully if it detects an imminent crash, even if you're already applying some brake pressure short of maximum.

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A bit off topic, but I figured that braking hard on the highway can save your front but increases the risk of the car behind you rear ending you, because everybody tailgates and not everyone has automated emergency braking[/quote]

Well, in that case you pick your poison.  You can't control for someone following too close behind you to be able to stop abruptly if you have to, but you can (maybe) control whether you have a front-end collision because you don't stop fast enough to avoid hitting a car in front of you.  If you're hit from behind, ideally your seat belt and headrest will protect you, and if you're not in the back seat there is more crumple room behind you than in front of you; if you smack into something in front of you, you're dependent on your airbag and the collapse zone of the front of the your car to be sufficient to keep the passenger compartment intact.

Also, FWIW, if you rear-end someone you're going to legally be presumptively at fault, which is not the case if someone rear-ends you.  The person who hits you from behind will be presumed to have been following too closely for conditions.  [/quote]

And that presumption will doubtless be of great comfort while you’re recovering from grievous personal injuries you might have avoided, especially if you were actually driving yourself and swerved to avoid the collision entirely rather than depending on a panic braking robot.  [/quote]

Who said the driver relinquishes responsibility to a robot?  On the other hand, you presumably are 100% attentive all the time, apply the brakes properly under all circumstances, and have such superior overall driving skills that electronic assistance features are thereby rendered superflous.  It must be nice to be you.[/quote]

Nobody said the driver of a car relinquishes responsibility to the robot. They relinquish control, because the robot takes that away whenever it decides to. If you’re depending on robot brakes, you need driving lessons. [/quote]

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