Vehicle Body DA-3 PDF
Vehicle Body DA-3 PDF
Vehicle Body DA-3 PDF
Lane departure warning. This is the original. It is a warning only. When you
let the car drift near, onto, or over the lane marking, the car alerts you. As the driver,
you have to take corrective action by steering the car back to the middle of the lane. It
doesn’t work if the road has no lane markings. It may not work, or not as well, if your
state waits until the lane markings are faded before repainting. Lane marking dots are
sometimes harder to track, especially if their colouring has faded. If it’s raining or
snowing, the camera may have trouble, too. By design, the lane departure warning
system doesn’t alert you if you have your turn signal on, or (some cars) if you apply the
brakes.
Lane keep assist. This helps once you let the car drift too far. The car then
steers itself away from the lane marking. The driver has to re-centre the car in the lane.
It’s also called lane keeping system, lane assist, side assist (Audi), lane departure alert
with steering assist (Toyota), or lane departure prevention (LDP is sometimes applied
also to lane centring assist).
Lane centring assist. This is the best and newest system, as long as you
trust technology. It’s a fully proactive system. Lane centring assist always tries to keep
the car centred in the current lane. It works as long as the car senses you have your
hands at least lightly on the steering wheel, and as long as curves aren’t too sharp. If you
have lane centring assist and adaptive cruise control, you have the beginnings of what
some people would call self-driving. At the very least, the combination is enough to save
you from inattentiveness if you speed along 5-10 seconds looking at a music playlist or
(shame, shame) scanning a full-screen text. “Lane centring assist” is not as well-
established as the other two terms.
Haptic feedback warnings . Other cars vibrate the steering wheel or seat
cushion. The vibration is unlike any vibration the car makes when it’s on, say rough or
gravel-covered road, or when the anti-lock brakes engage. Seat cushion feedback can
vibrate the left or right side only, to direct your attention to the offending side of the car.
Broadly speaking, Asian cars are more likely to use audible warnings, European cars are
more likely to use haptic feedback, and American cars use some of each (but not both on
the same car). Audible versus haptic isn’t really an option. You decide if one or the other
is so important you’ll abandon one brand for another.
Visual feedback . This is a secondary alert: Virtually every car shows a visual
indicator that the car is drifting out of lane. Typically, it’s a pair of striped lane markings,
sometimes with a car in the middle, typically yellow or green lines when LDW is active
and all is well, but red or flashing, on the offending side of the lane. In most cars, the
instrument panel indicator isn’t big enough to get the driver’s attention in a hurry, thus
the need for audible or haptic feedback. Some cars are now putting lane departure
warning icons in the head up display, where it’s more likely to noticed.
Early versus late warnings. Some cars let you choose whether the alert and/or
lane correction happens before the car reaches the lane marking, on the lane marking,
or once the car has gone over. The early alert sounds safest, but it also means more
alerts suggesting you haven’t been paying attention.
Adjustable audible warning levels. Some cars let you adjust the loudness of
the warning. But: Passengers who don’t like audible warnings will be less annoyed with
softer beeps, not unannoyed.
Force to overcome LKA/LCA . With lane keep assist and lane centring assist, the
car steers back into lane. You can always overcome the automatic steering by turning
the wheel harder than the car does. Some people, not many, will believe the force
required is too high. Typically, this is not an option; it’s just how each car comes.
Road departure mitigation. Some LDW systems recognizes the edge of the
highway as different and more dangerous than just drifting into the next lane. They will
tug the car back onto the road if it’s possible. Acura pioneered road departure
mitigation.