Hi all - before I post this I did some searching and couldn't find my answer. I know how the FCW is supposed to work and I've tried short, normal and long distances and the FCW just doesnt go off. I really don't want to bring it to the dealer so i'm hoping someone else has experienced this and can offer a suggestion. I made sure there no obstructions in front of the camera - the LKAS works perfectly. Any thoughts?

 

Wish I could help, but I can't. I just wanted to say that mine is similar. It's the only feature of my car that is totally unreliable and useless. It will go off sometimes, but not when it's needed. I'm just going to live with it. I don't really need it and I don't want the dealer messing with it on the slim chance that they'll mess something else up. All this new technology is really neat, isn't it?

 

Mine works just as expected. I have it set to "long" so it is most sensitive and likely to go off sooner than short. It goes off whenever Im tail gating a car. So if you are on the highway I suggest speeding up to a car going about 10mph faster than the car infront and as you get closer it should beep "brake" at you long before you hit him if it is set to "long".

 

spoiler900,

I think you're correct - I assumed long meant, well, long and it would flash/beep when approaching a car that is go slowing than you. The manual is not very clear on how the system works or the distances when it will go off. I assumed long meant something like 150ft or so, normal mean 100ft or so and short meant 50ft or so. i guess I looked at it too logically.

 

^^^
Does that mean it works for you? Or perhaps you haven't tried it yet. Pls keep us informed.

 

It does works but not in how I was expecting. I guess I dont see how its useful if it goes off when you're so close to the car in front of you. Again, I was expecting it go off well before you would ever hit the car in front of you. Oh well... i'll keep experimenting.

 

As I mentioned previously, set it to "long". Mine goes off ALL THE TIME, like daily. Do as I said and on the highway come up on a car going 10mph-20mph and as you start approaching it then it will beep well ahead of time to warn you. I honestly dont understand the point of it if your not going to set it to "long" because if you set it to "short" I feel like it would be too late to react at that point

MY CAR ACTUALLY BRAKED FOR ME, TWICE. On a 1 lane road, very wide road, the car infront of me was turning right into a parking lot so they were slowing down. I obviously saw there blinker and paced it so I would have to slow down as minimal as possible and just miss them and aim to the left since it was a wide lane, no biggie, but as I got closer and the moment before the car turned off the road my car must have thought I was going to hit it and the brakes were applied. It created this HORRIBLE sound like metal clashing together I have no idea what was happening with the car, but as soon as the car fully moved out of the lane the car picked up speed again. Lasted maybe a split second. The second time I was pulling into a normal parking spot where cars pull in face-to-face and as I swung in real quick it did that same aweful sound I just mentioned, must of thought I wasnt gonna stop.

What it does is use some sort of formula to read the change in distance between you and the car infront, and as the gap lessons quickly then it will go off.

Also since I have the advance package I have Adaptive Cruise Control. Occasionally especially during traffic if the car infront of me comes to a quick stop the car doesnt think the ACC will respond in time so it actually kicks in the Collison Mitigation System and will beep and flash to brake telling me to hit the brakes hard! (so much for autopilot) So when using the ACC I usually know its going to do that and if I need to brake hard I just know to do it myself and as soon as traffic starts moving then I just resume the ACC

 

I love that you can adjust the sensitivity of the FCW/CMBS and I set it to most sensitive. It does flash a bit, but that is because it is detecting me approaching the car in front of me quickly. Once a car in front went to turn and I knew I would clear it and the car flash and started to gently apply the brakes, very cool.

 

I'm probably all wet, but could there be a difference between the system on the Advance (FCW/CMBS,ACC) and the plain vanilla FCW on the Tech?

It just seems like the FCW problems I've read about (either not alerting in time or too many false alarms) come from folks with just FCW.

Just food for thought.

 

@Spolier90 - I did try (and have been trying) what you suggested and it doesnt go off all the time and if it does go off, i'm very close the car in front of me. The question I have it how is the system designed or supposed to function. Acura does not list the distances for Long, Normal and Short so there is no way to tell if the system is functioning within spec.

@wlkeel - I began to wonder the same thing. Is there a difference b/t the FCW on the tech vs advance?

This is the info Honda needs to publish so the customers know if there is an issue with the car and if its operating within spec. I did some research and its not just TLX owners questioning how FCW works - MDX, RDX, Honda Sensing owners are all 'unsure'.

Thanks everyone - if there is an acura or honda tech on the board I would love to hear your opinion.

 

I just did the "build your own Acura" on their site to see what features each model comes with...

Tech pkg has the FCW, which to my understanding is just the warning part and will not apply the brakes

Advance pkg includes CMBS which will warn and then apply the brakes if the driver does not.

@jwift2000 by the sounds of things you have just the tech pkg? That may be why if your FCW system works slightly different

 

I thought the FCW were the same across the TLX models but yes, I do have a tech. I took a trip to see my brother today (mostly highway driving) the FCW went off like 10 times. I give up trying to figure this out but at least it worked.

 

True, and that's why I was wondering if there might be differences in the algorithms or calibration that would provide differences in performance between the two. For example, I sure wouldn't want my brakes applied every time there's a false alarm with my FCW, and if it didn't warn in time (and I hit something), I might be a little perturbed.

I don't know why they would do this, but maybe the FCW/CMBS system on the Advanced is a little better behaved than the FCW on the Tech.

Like I said earlier, I'm probably all wet on this. And we probably couldn't prove it of it were true.

Meanwhile, I'll keep ignoring it (or turn it off).

 

FCW has 1 alert stage, the warning light only

From Acura: The CMBS system has three alert stages for a possible collision. Depending on the circumstances or CMBS settings, CMBS may not go through all of the stages before initiating the last stage.

Stage 1:Visual warnings and audible warning
Stage 2:Visual warnings, audible warning, light seat belt retraction, and light brake application
Stage 3:Visual warnings, audible warning, strong seat belt retraction, and strong brake application

I've experienced stage 1 and 2, but wouldn't want to experience 3.

The distances for long/normal/short vary based on your current speed, i.e you'll get a warning sooner at higher speeds.