FCW is listed in one of the packages for 2017. Not mentioned for 2016. What's that?

 

FCW is part of any 2016 with the Acurawatch Plus features.

 

Unlike other auto brands,the feature doesn't completely stop the vehicle.Just slows it down.Maybe the '17 will.
It's said that Subaru's Eyesight system is the best system.

 

There are two related features: FCW and Collision Mitigation Braking System, CMBS. I have yet to see CMBS in operation. The FCW nanny/minder often alerts (loud chime and "BRAKE" in big black letters on an amber background) just as I am braking anyway. Once or twice, it has alerted before I hit the brakes and several times in city highway traffic it has alerted as I was changing lanes. Have yet to be convinced that these features are really helpful, but may revise opinion if FCW/CMBS stops me from running into the back of a dump truck someday.

 

I don't think 2016 RDX has FCW, it only has CMBS, which from reading the owner's manual, it will only apply the brake and beep at you, it won't stop the car completely, and I don't plan on testing it out to see if it will stop the car completely anytime soon.

 

Well, you're right...but so am I. The owner's manual (p. 107, 109) mentions the "Forward Collision Warning Distance" and seems to suggest that it's a feature of CMBS.

But the 2016 RDX Factsheet shows CMBS and FCW as separate features of the Acurawatch Plus package (see screen captures below). My window sticker also shows the same two entries.

For sure, whether it's one or two features, Acura never says it will bring the car to a complete stop, and they warn you of that.

 

Wow. The only fact sheet I can find does not list FCW, which is why I asked.

 

CMBS and FCW go hand in hand and are part of previous models - but - it seems they broke it out on the 17 to "add" another feature to their list.


While CMBS won't stop the car prior to collision reliably (in German tests only the Subaru and Volvo did), they will fairly reliably eliminate injury.

 

That's what I was getting at. Mention being made in '17 specs but not '16 as though it was an extra added attraction. Then I checked the owner's manual and noticed there's a distance setting for it.

 

I thought FCW started out as a camera based system to warn the driver of potential frontal collisions. It would only warn with visual and/or audio alarms. CMBS is a radar based system that takes the FCW warning as a 1st step and and adds a second and third step of starting the braking process and seat belt pretensioner. It sounds like Acura is splitting hairs because you have FCW if you have CMBS since FCW is the first step of CMBS.

 

I believe you are correct. CMBS is the more advanced system and the only one that applies any braking.

 

Correct. FCW does nothing except beep and blink.

 

The one thing FCW/CMBS will give you is time:
- time to alert you of potential or real problems
- time to make a decision to brake, stop, slow down, avoid, or keep driving straight
- time to prepare yourself and better protect your family if the unavoidable happens (pre-tension seat belts, warning bell, start the braking process automatically)

I don't have FCW/CMBS on my TSX or RDX; but, both cars were in minor front end fender/benders in the last 2yrs. There is a good chance FCW/CMBS might have prevented or reduced the severity and avoided slight bump in my insurance premiums.

I had an opportunity to see CMBS on my 11 MDX (beeping with seat belt pretension, I was already on the brakes) in action on the hwy at 80 mph when unsecured gear came out of a towed boat in front of me and was bouncing down the road. It turned out to be a large half-ass wrapped sleeping bag; but, it probably looked like a huge boulder to the CMBS radar.

 

The '16 owner's manual addresses both "parts" of the system but makes no mention of FCW. Perhaps the '17 manual does and hence it's inclusion on the spec sheet?