R. White

'14 RLX TECH

Endless false alarms: people walking, bikes, cars coming around curves in the opposite direction, nothing in sight. Dealer checked codes nothing there. I turned it off. It is an unsafe distraction.

Anyone else having these issues ?

George Knighton

I thought that only Advance had CMBS.

But anyway, no, I wouldn't call it a distraction. Not at all.

Sometimes when I'm using the radar controlled cruise control, it'll complain when a car ahead of me slows faster than normal, and it'll tell me to brake for like ½ second before it decides everything is okay.

Now...I've got [Approaching Object!] warnings at odd times. Snow storms. Driving along Quantico, soldiers walking in the easement who will turn quickly to see who's coming and whatever it is they're carrying will trigger.

But, no, I wouldn't say I have any issues at all with how the car handles things.

It's just the price of the game that a snow storm or a bird flying at low level is going to give you an Approaching Object! notice.

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

turn it off.

who needs a nagging car?

George Knighton

: raises hand :

:-)

I drive 60-90 minutes to work, drive around a lot when I'm at work, and then drive 60-90 minutes home again, the 30 minute difference depending on exactly where it is I've gone to work.

I arrive home at night feeling much, much better than I used to feel in my previous car.

If you really have to drive a lot, these systems are a relief.

woropallo

Not here, mine work fine

miner

My CMBS works as designed. No problem on mine.

neuronbob

The Tech has FCW (forward collision warning), not CMBS. The OP is saying that the FCW is overactive. That is, I assume it's telling him to brake with the most minor distraction. Some in the TLX section are also having issues with it. I'm wondering whether a sensor is overactive.

PS, R. White, welcome to this portion of the forum!

TampaRLX-SH

The 'not mine' responders have Advance w/ CMBS. As Bob noted Tech has FCW.

CMBS reacts actively by braking....FCW is passive only with alerts.

Is it possible that FCW is more sensitive than CMBS since it will not brake for the driver?

Just my deduction based on the above responses.

holografique

^ that would be correct, otherwise you'd have some highly potential risks for accident situations with the car constantly trying to brake on false alarms.

I've on a few occasions had FCW throw a false alert when there was nothing to trigger it. I just shrugged it off and kept about my business. Nowhere near being any type of nuisance, and like others, enjoy and appreciate the added "situational awareness" the technology provides me as a driver.

Unfortunately, it cannot prevent every situation from turning into an accident...like a driver pulling out dead center into 35mph oncoming traffic with only 10-15ft of distance to react....

TampaRLX-SH

For those purposes I am awaiting the Photon Torpedo option.

holografique

sign me up as well.

neuronbob

I prefer the Dalek gunstick option to "exterminate" dumbass drivers.

CGTSX2004

iTrader: (1)

I believe it has to do with the position of the FCW sensor. My understanding from both time behind the wheel and also talking with some folks about it is that the position of the FCW sensor is set up high to try to capture as much visibility as possible (it uses the cameras mounted behind the rear view mirror). As a result, taller objects, such as cyclists and pedestrians, are easily recognizable and picked up.

That said, the FCW warning is adjustable and you should be able to tweak it to reduce the warning distance or even shut it off entirely. In our long-term RLX, I found it excessive at the medium distance so I set it to short and it rarely goes off anymore.

MisterZDX

I totally feel your pain holografique. Although a vehicle is materialistic, it still makes a person mad knowing they've worked so hard to be able to buy something nice for themselves, only to have some careless driver crash into you.

Mike_TX

It's adjustable? Didn't know that.

I get a fair number of false alarms with mine, but I think the car just thinks I'm driving too aggressively for its tastes. When I'm approaching slow or stopped cars (such as at a stoplight), it will often sound off, even though I'm in no real danger of hitting anyone.

.
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R. White

Last week when I went in for new front seat belts, I asked them to look at the FCW again. They " reinitialized " the system. So far, no false alarms.

Colin

Yes, it's in the MID, but it's also good to know that reinitializing the system improves functionality.

R. White

I spoke too soon. I got several false alarms today so I shut it off.

arkieflyer

Can someone convert that term "MID" to something a newbi can understand? Prolly means "Manual In Drawer".

Thanks!

2011TL

MID = Multi-Information Display.

arkieflyer

Ah, yes. Thanks!

Perfectly logical, just like the interface is perfectly logical to the people that designed it. I think many of those "designers" are the same ones who made it possible for most DVRs (remember those?) to always show 12:00 for the time.

Ken1997TL

I did the same thing with our Accord. The FCW was going off a lot...

Zoommer

I believe the driving style does have a lot to do with how the system reacts. The algorithm is computing the closing distance and not how vigilant the driver is in braking or driving style. Just my two cents. I noticed that if you merge or shoot the gap () the system will warn you and possible tug the seat belt and all warnings go off.

fsmith

I can confirm that the FCW in the Tech is VERY different from the CMBS in the Advance - I'm referring to the warnings, not the fact that they also do different things. After two months in my Hybrid Advance, I very rarely see the CMBS warning come on. But today I happened to be driving a Hybrid Tech, and, driving the same way as I always do, and on city streets, the FCW was flashing constantly (well, not really constantly, but a lot). It was kind of a pain and I would think one would begin to ignore it after a while. I do not have this issue with the CMBS in my Advance.

mgalbr22

Cmbs=?

fsmith

Collision Mitigation Braking System - warns of danger (like FCW), and then automatically tightens your seatbelt, pushes back on the accelerator pedal, makes a lot of noise, and finally applies the brakes if necessary to keep you from hitting whatever set off the alarm.

R. White

In my opinion, the Forward Collision Warning (FCW) system should be shut off until Acura develops a solution for these frequent false alarms.

A driver distracted by these false alarms could cause an accident.

Mine is off.

George Knighton

The system that's supposedly rolling out with the New Legend this spring (in Japan) will bring the car to a full, quick stop and avoid a collision.

What we have now on the cars we're driving from 2014 and 2015 is a system that will substantially mitigate the severity of the collision, but it will not bring you to a full emergency stop.

I have no idea what kept them from rolling this out in North America for 2014. The technology is clearly already there because ACC/LKAS will use the radar and cameras to bring you to a stop behind a car, even while steering you around a curve.

They should do away with the one second following distance, IMHO. I think that for full emergency stops to work more or less automatically, you need at least two seconds following distance.

Personally (and this might just be the old man in me speaking), I give three seconds.

Zoommer

We should poll on this forum and other Acura sites to see if this is a common issue.

(Btw, if you own a car that gives you a problem then it is an issue and the manufacturer should take care of it but we all know that will only happen if enough people complain.)

If it is a one off is it a bad sensor (s), board, or other cause (such as interference) that might be causing it?

Thanks

fsmith

George - Could you explain your one/two/three second references with regard to the CMBS? I don't understand.

George Knighton

When you turn on ACC, you have a choice of four following distances that you can choose.

If you set it to the shortest (nominally one-second) following distance, there is not enough time for the ACC radar and the LKAS cameras to direct CMBS to do what it would need to do to bring the vehicle to a full emergency stop. There's essentially two more decisions to be made than the system has time to make when you are set at the shortest distance, assuming that the processors and heuristic analyses are the same.

For the New Legend's system to do what it is rumored to be doing, it would have to either have a completely new and much faster system of processors, or they would have to eliminate the shortest following distance that we have on the North American cars.

fsmith

^^^ Hmm. So you are saying, I think, that in order for the CMBS to actually prevent a crash (without help from the driver), one most set the distance selector at the third longest setting? BTW, the manual does not give any of this information.

George Knighton

CMBS is not guaranteed to prevent a crash under any circumstances, and Honda tells you that it will not do an emergency stop.

What I'm saying is that if you want to take it to the next level and be able to cause the vehicle to come to an emergency stop, assuming (1)new programming and (2)the same hardware, the manufacturer will have to eliminate the one second following distance of ACC.

It is not enough time to observe, analyze and react, assuming the same hardware.

IMHO.

And what the hell do I know.

fsmith

I understand. It seems a bit odd to me that the closest following distance is not enough for the computer to catch up, as I feel pretty safe following at that distance by myself without the CMBS. But maybe I've always just been kidding myself about my reaction time in an extreme emergency. And I am getting slower while processors are getting faster.

On the other hand, if the CMBS processor is the same one used for the NAV system UI, my processor is way faster than that.

RLX-Sport Hybrid

I am going to bring in my ride to the dealership for the TSB service on the CMBS as I am getting more false alarms and they have been happening for no good reason. Not a big deal.

pcloadletter

I have seen very few false alarms, each time it was a reflective curve sign. Purchased CPO after the TSB was issued, assumed the update was completed.

George Knighton

My biggest problem in my part of the world continues to be all of the construction that goes on.

In a curve, the car might very well imagine that a plastic barrel is a hazard and will flutter the throttle pedal at me and flash the orange.

I guess they'll finish all these projects one of these days.