[SexyFlanders]

Just curious, how much do you trust Honda Sensing? Do you always keep your foot around the brake ready to take over or do you typically just let it do its thing?

I used adaptive cruise control in the parking lot of stop and go traffic called I-35 for the first time and it worked pretty well, but I just couldn't fully trust it without getting anxious. The car would sometimes speed up in scenarios I wouldn't, like when the car in front of me got a bit ahead of me but I could see ahead we were coming up on another stop. The car applied accelerator and a hard brake when I'd normally just coast and soft brake. I find that to be a disadvantage since a hard start and stop would eat more gas than a softer coast. I guess the radar and sensing only sees the car ahead of you and distance to apply formulas and doesn't take into account predictions based on other traffic ahead.

I also don't know how "quick" it is to react in traffic. Typically I can see blinkers or see that a car wants to get in the gap ahead of me and slow down before or as the driver is doing that. I felt that ACC would hit the accelerator a little too aggressive in traffic. In my above scenario since I wouldn't be accelerating too hard a car can easily slip in and it's not a big deal. However ACC would be applying accelerator which could perhaps cause the merging car to misjudge my speed. I personally find people who accelerate aggressively in heavy traffic during those momentary gaps to be annoying so I don't like being "that guy". Any workarounds to make it less aggressive? Perhaps a setting change. I guess I could always keep my top speed pretty low in traffic, though it was stop and go I had ACC set to 65 lol.

 

[mgldan]

I’m a little on the fence about auto acceleration too. I would like if it knew whether I was going up a hill? Drivers tend to slow going over hillcrests because they literally can’t see what’s on the other side. Maybe it already does; I haven’t made my daily commute too many times yet.

The braking is too aggressive, if anything. This morning, a guy was exiting the freeway, completely in the exit lane, and it still made me brake although my lane was clear. (This was on a downhill stretch.)

Lane keep is pretty amazing.

I’m not sure yet whether constant-speed cruise control is the right thing to do in all situations for this car, relative to a gas car. Feels like you’d want to accelerate more slowly to stay eco friendly and take the road more into account. Would be nice if Honda Sensing could account for that somehow.

I’m also generally still feeling everything out. I’m still surprised whenever the engine kicks in.

 

[MidAtlanticWhiteOrchird]

Been driving my car for two months now and I was nervous with using these features at first but am now more comfortable with using them. Foot is no longer hovering near the brake. I’ve of course adjusted the way I drive now. My index fingers are always near the paddles and my right thumb is set to press the interval button, increasing it in high speed and decreasing it when in slow speed or increasing or decreasing speed during ACC; all depending on the situation. I for the most part don’t use my gas and brake as often as I use to. Traffic and commute is so much less stressful IMO!

 

[ronnie]

How much do you trust the Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) and Collision Mitigation Braking System (CMBS) on the Insight? Do you use ACC and trust CMBS in congested traffic on the highway or do you manually take over in those situations? At what point do you "take over" and not trust it? Would you trust the car's automatical breaking with ACC and CMBS more than your own judgment?

My wife and I are in the middle of a 7,000+ mile trip and I generally use ACC, even when driving in heavy city traffic, such as Houston, Kansas City, St. Louis and a few other large cities on this trip. I have a brother-in-law, a civil engineer in his late 60s, that would never trust such technology. He's very skeptical of all the news regarding autonomous driving.

On this trip I have had a situation or two that scared me and I felt that I needed to manually intervene. It involved semi trucks abruptly cutting in front of me at a very close distances and my natural reaction of course was to brake manually. What would happen in such a case if I allowed the CMBS in the car to react instead of me?

Can this technology on the Insight be trusted more than my own judgment which naturally can involve emotions of panic and indecisiveness?

 

[markyp32]

Always "Trust" your instincts when something like that happens. Don't forget, you're scanning way more information with your eyes and the Insight is basically ONLY scanning what's in front of you. YOU can read the situation much better than an autonomous system. I do the same but always let "My Read" of the situation override Honda Sensing when it doesn't feel right.

 

[d3n13d]

Agreed. These systems are good aids and workload relievers but the car can’t see everything you can. If the situation is unsafe you should always intervene.

The car can’t see anything other than the cars directly in front so if someone is getting ready to make an unsafe lane merge it will not react until the car is already in your lane which may be too late

 

[Jason]

The ACC works far better than I ever thought it would. As long as you are in traffic with other cars closer than 120 yards, it will slow and keep up to the speed you set, and even come to complete stop. To resume, all that is necessary is a tap on the gas pedal.

I have yet to let the car get into a situation to see how the CMBS works.

I have to occasionally put the brakes on sooner than the ACC will, especially if there is a hill involved. If the radar is shooting over or under the car ahead, well the car ahead isn't there as far as the ACC knows.

I have a 55mph highway that has a stop light every mile, if the cars are more than 120 yards ahead, Honda Sense will be happy to keep cruising at 55 right up to basically a CMBS situation.

The worst offense that I have for using AAC is when I am following a car, that car decides to turn left. AAC tends to go into insane brake mode, after the car ahead is out of the lane and turned left. I have figured out to have the foot near the gas pedal, and that seems to make it just go, instead of slowing.

 

[insightfully]

I always maintain the 'active' driver role, even though it gets 'comfortable' with ACC/LKAS on. As with the other Honda Sensing features, I view them as tools 'supporting' my own driving/skills to catch things I may not notice... rather than depending on them entirely.

I have have my hands on the steering wheel when using ACC (even if the 'water bottle +LKAS' trick MIGHT work), and I view ACC as 'just' managing throttle/brake position to give my foot a rest. I'm alert/ready to brake more or accelerate more if needed, because I know what distance/speed feels comfortable to me.

I also only use ACC on relatively open highways to make my drive easier, rather than for stop/go city type traffic. Some forum members use ACC constantly, but technically Honda only states it to work in the 25-90 mph range (p492). The car manages itself on open highways the way I would do so myself, so that is where I trust its application. However, I feel the need to be more 'alert' in stop/go and city driving because more things can happen than the radar or camera can detect. I also happen to get better mpg without ACC in slower non-highway traffic, because I'm 'smarter' at factoring in terrain than the car can detect.

Overall, I only use the ACC tech in low-risk situations (open highway driving), and trust the other Honda Sensing features as "supporting notifications" to my regular driving to catch things I may not notice. Even if the Honda Sensing notifications can get glitchy (e.g. CMBS brake checks), any notifications it gives keep me active/aware/alert of my surroundings. In the end, *I'm* responsible for the risk management and insurance bill while on the road; until all cars are autonomous, no accident report nor insurance company will say 'the car was driving itself and is at fault.'

 

[insightfully]

The worst offense that I have for using AAC is when I am following a car, that car decides to turn left. AAC tends to go into insane brake mode, after the car ahead is out of the lane and turned left. I have figured out to have the foot near the gas pedal, and that seems to make it just go, instead of slowing.

Not sure if it'll help since CMBS sounds like it's working for you in all other instances with ACC, but there's also the option to change the "Forward Collision Warning Distance" to Short (vs Normal default - p379) to see if it better manages the 'departing left turn car situation.' Otherwise, the 'foot on throttle' technique sounds like it's working well for you, and probably keeps you more alert of these situations than otherwise.

 

[hasarad]

I use the low-speed-follow along with ACC. I would never 100% trust them and am always ready to take over. With respect to ACC, I find I can achieve better gas mileage without it. ACC tends to speed up more aggressively as well as brake later due to the AI not being able to anticipate like us carbon-based life forms.

 

[andrew28]

You need a powerful onboard computer, lots of cameras, and radar/lidar sensors plus deep learning neural networks for autonomous driving to work. The Insight has one front camera, one radar, and probably a low power CPU running on software of unknown quality from Honda at $23k (LX) for the whole car. I consider them as driver assistance features instead of thinking it is some basic form of autonomous driving.


I like driving so I haven't used ACC much (1-2 times).

 

[Verdier]

I have always used this system and iverall, it's pretty reliable. I have gone on many rants about the ACC not seeing stopped cars at lights frequently, so like most of my cohorts, use it as a tool kit as a crutch.

Respectfully to insightfully. I can understand why Honda doesn't technically advise people to use ACC at speeds below 25mph, but honestly I think this is there for liability. Let's be clear, the system is sold as a fully stop and go capable system, so the only reason they would have that warning is to caution the driver and cover their butts. I find it to be excellent overall for responsible driver's. 😋

 

[insightfully]

I have always used this system and iverall, it's pretty reliable. I have gone on many rants about the ACC not seeing stopped cars at lights frequently, so like most of my cohorts, use it as a tool kit as a crutch.

Respectfully to insightfully. I can understand why Honda doesn't technically advise people to use ACC at speeds below 25mph, but honestly I think this is there for liability. Let's be clear, the system is sold as a fully stop and go capable system, so the only reason they would have that warning is to caution the driver and cover their butts. I find it to be excellent overall for responsible driver's. 😋

No offense taken... it’s ‘just’ a tool/technology, after all… and we’re in an open dialog to learn!

Trying to understand/reconcile the difference though… If your experience is that ACC doesn’t see stopped cars (presumably at slowing/lower speeds while approaching stop lights), isn’t that similar to Honda’s warning (for liability or other reasons) of system inaccuracy below 25 mph? How do you think about the difference between the two?

 

[Mobilcams]

No offense taken... it’s ‘just’ a tool/technology, after all… and we’re in an open dialog to learn!

Trying to understand/reconcile the difference though… If your experience is that ACC doesn’t see stopped cars (presumably at slowing/lower speeds while approaching stop lights), isn’t that similar to Honda’s warning (for liability or other reasons) of system inaccuracy below 25 mph? How do you think about the difference between the two?

I believe he's talking about approaching stopped cars that the car hasn't pinged yet ahead of it. I have a crappy commute home from work every day and honestly - I think the system saved me from a few instances where my rear end would have puckered up pretty hard. Traffic ahead slowing down faster than I can see has been caught by the system more than once and warned me so I could intervene (with additional braking). As for stop and go traffic jams, I went to the the Gator Nationals drag races here in Florida and was stuck in VERY slow stop and go traffic for 45 minutes - it was the most amazing thing in the world not having to hit the brake, hit the accelerator, hit the brake etc!! I have grown accustomed to the quirks the system has on my routes and adjust for it as needed. I trust it to the extent I know it will help in most cases if needed, but just like a seat-belt or airbag - it's best to not find out how well it does work.

 

[PHILBERT]

The ACC works far better than I ever thought it would. As long as you are in traffic with other cars closer than 120 yards, it will slow and keep up to the speed you set, and even come to complete stop. To resume, all that is necessary is a tap on the gas pedal.

I have yet to let the car get into a situation to see how the CMBS works.

I have to occasionally put the brakes on sooner than the ACC will, especially if there is a hill involved. If the radar is shooting over or under the car ahead, well the car ahead isn't there as far as the ACC knows.

I have a 55mph highway that has a stop light every mile, if the cars are more than 120 yards ahead, Honda Sense will be happy to keep cruising at 55 right up to basically a CMBS situation.

The worst offense that I have for using AAC is when I am following a car, that car decides to turn left. AAC tends to go into insane brake mode, after the car ahead is out of the lane and turned left. I have figured out to have the foot near the gas pedal, and that seems to make it just go, instead of slowing.

Same here. It tries to guess when it come to traffic turning out of a lane, and overcompensates, so I have to push the gas otherwise it leaves a huge gap (people behind me get understandably mad). Speaking of gaps, ACC has too much lag on restart from a stop, and people love to cut you off and "jump in" (around here). Once again I have to push it to close the gap.

I keep my finger tips resting on the - regen paddle all the time to recover as much energy as possible when traffic ahead is about to stop, but this is also my emergency ACC system release to take back control quickly when the system does something abnormal. Although, I have experienced situations where ACC was following just fine, but I hit the regen twice to slow down a bit ahead of time (saw it coming) and ACC still did breaking like it was still engaged. It doesn't always do it, so I'm still trying to figure out why. It's not CMB, as there is not warning prior to the breaking.

As for CMB, it works for me. My reflexes are pretty quick, but one time I was distracted and it activated in time. Saved my butt! That stays on. I know there have been times that lines and shadows across the road have triggered a CMB warning, but never a breaking situation. I just wish I could get rid of those bogus "Lane Departure" warnings. You would think turning off RDM would do it, but it doesn't.

Phil

 

[Verdier]

No offense taken... it’s ‘just’ a tool/technology, after all… and we’re in an open dialog to learn!

Trying to understand/reconcile the difference though… If your experience is that ACC doesn’t see stopped cars (presumably at slowing/lower speeds while approaching stop lights), isn’t that similar to Honda’s warning (for liability or other reasons) of system inaccuracy below 25 mph? How do you think about the difference between the two?

I believe he's talking about approaching stopped cars that the car hasn't pinged yet ahead of it. I have a crappy commute home from work every day and honestly - I think the system saved me from a few instances where my rear end would have puckered up pretty hard. Traffic ahead slowing down faster than I can see has been caught by the system more than once and warned me so I could intervene (with additional braking). As for stop and go traffic jams, I went to the the Gator Nationals drag races here in Florida and was stuck in VERY slow stop and go traffic for 45 minutes - it was the most amazing thing in the world not having to hit the brake, hit the accelerator, hit the brake etc!! I have grown accustomed to the quirks the system has on my routes and adjust for it as needed. I trust it to the extent I know it will help in most cases if needed, but just like a seat-belt or airbag - it's best to not find out how well it does work.

I'm definitely talking about stopped cars at lights that the system hasn't pinged yet.

I think the reason I have trouble with reconciling these problems even though Honda warns of inaccuracies is the fact that my Ford fusion energi has the same set up (also made by bosch) which almost never shows this same behavior. I don't talk about it much in my videos because most people don't seem to be concerned (or care) and Honda waved me off without even a willingness to check the aiming of the system. That and the dang "transmission" not seamlessly switching from ice to ev (something motorweek and most people here say work well for them...and me too 75% of the time) are 2 thing that irk me to no end. Obviously Ford has figured out how to keep both from happening to their cars. ( The radar thing happens once in a blue moon, the shake during ice to ev changeover never happens). The ACC is excellent overall in the Honda, but I'm glad we have members here who understand to use it responsibly since it obviously has some limitations.

2 last rants. The inclusion of the lack of reliability under 25mph quote in the manual (paraphrase) is, IMHO, a weasle like liability response along with a honest warning that the driver has to take responsibility for their car even though it's sold as a stop and go system. Also, if anyone else chides me that the insight doesn't have a "transmission" per se, I swear my next nasal erotica scene will include the green. The few of you who watch my videos know what I mean. 😉😁

 

[d3n13d]

Same here. It tries to guess when it come to traffic turning out of a lane, and overcompensates, so I have to push the gas otherwise it leaves a huge gap (people behind me get understandably mad). Speaking of gaps, ACC has too much lag on restart from a stop, and people love to cut you off and "jump in" (around here). Once again I have to push it to close the gap.

I keep my finger tips resting on the - regen paddle all the time to recover as much energy as possible when traffic ahead is about to stop, but this is also my emergency ACC system release to take back control quickly when the system does something abnormal. Although, I have experienced situations where ACC was following just fine, but I hit the regen twice to slow down a bit ahead of time (saw it coming) and ACC still did breaking like it was still engaged. It doesn't always do it, so I'm still trying to figure out why. It's not CMB, as there is not warning prior to the breaking.

As for CMB, it works for me. My reflexes are pretty quick, but one time I was distracted and it activated in time. Saved my butt! That stays on. I know there have been times that lines and shadows across the road have triggered a CMB warning, but never a breaking situation. I just wish I could get rid of those bogus "Lane Departure" warnings. You would think turning off RDM would do it, but it doesn't.

Phil

I agree about CMB staying on for me. However I have had two instances where shadows or underpasses caused CMB to fully activate and start to brake. Both times the system released the brakes quickly but I can imagine this would have pissed off the car behind me had there been one. This is the only worrying aspect for me as far as CMB goes.

 

[Mobilcams]

I agree about CMB staying on for me. However I have had two instances where shadows or underpasses caused CMB to fully activate and start to brake. Both times the system released the brakes quickly but I can imagine this would have pissed off the car behind me had there been one. This is the only worrying aspect for me as far as CMB goes.

Yeah I keep imagining the conversation if I had to have one with them. I hope people don't think they are being brake checked.. Mine did brake pretty hard one time on me. Luckily the person behind me was far enough away they were really affected by it.

 

[808_Insight]

I love ACC, primarily in stop and go traffic. The only "scary points" are when some knuckle head all of a sudden veers into your small space and ACC over reacts and suddenly stops. Other than that, I pretty much trust ACC.
LKAS on the other hand, I used to love it but now it seems to be less and less able to find the lines and stay in a lane. Also the fact that it only engages for 20 seconds and then shuts off seems more un-safe than anything. I know, I know... it is not meant to be an autopilot, it is meant for you to have both hands on the wheel and for it to "assist" you.
But I sure as **** cannot wait until full-auto pilot is ready and I am sure it is not that far off!

 

[Verdier]

Lkas seems to do very well on expressways even with faded lines. On expressways I find it stays on almost non-stop without losing lane integrity in all but the most confusing areas. On small rural highways that have 2 lanes and excellent lane markings it's dubious at best. Going 45mph on well painted road without hard curves it inexplicably loses lane detection popping in and off at the weirdest moments. It's this one thing that ruins lkas for me. I love lkas otherwise, but I still can't figure out the logic of why it loses lane markings in these scenarios.