Pre-sense city gave me whiplash

[AudiUser01]

I just wanted to share a recent experience I had with my Audi A4 B9 that scared the hell out of me with an unexpected and unwarranted pre-sense stop which manifested some of the worst neck and shoulder pain I've ever experienced that lasted for a week!

I've only had the car about 4 weeks and since this happened, I've turned the pre-sense setting from medium to late and fingers crossed it hasn't done it again. However there is an element of distrust and paranoia about this causing my passengers or myself injury or worse an accident with whoever's behind when I least expect it.

I was in a 30mph zone with no one in front of me and glorious weather, slightly up hill round a 45 degree bend that has a pub on the corner. As you approach this bend, your car is facing a pub and had people walking around in front of it. It was a little rural village location. Without warning, the car braked very aggressively for a split second, it didn't come to a full stop but was a significant enough stab of the brakes to kill all my momentum and catch me and the person behind me off guard and even leaving a few pedestrians looking at me wondering what the hell was going on due to the awful noise that came from the brakes and the car behind me giving me a blast of their horn.

There was no prior warnings or bongs, just a violent stab of the brakes out of the blue and the only reason I knew it was pre-sense was due to the fact I caught a glimpse of the the dashboard saying pre-sense after the fact.

I believe it reacted to people crossing the opening of the junction to the left. Thankfully it was only me in the car at the time as I ended up having whiplash for a week with some of the worst neck and shoulder pain I've ever experienced. Very worried about this causing an accident or injury to my passengers when I least expect it. Anyone else had any pre-sense stories?

 

[HMG1K]

Always better safe than sorry. Pre-sense works at speeds below 10 or 15 mph (or at least the basic City version I have does.

It has happened a few tines to me. I've never complained to myself or others as the vehicle has clearly spotted something I haven't before I have. As such I have been thankful and grateful and frozen on my merry way

 

[RAF_S7]

Pre-sense on my S7 works above 15mph!

I have a country route that I drive on a regular basis - usual twists and turns, and pre-sense throws a fit at a couple of the bends regardless of traffic situation. Scared the hell out of me first time it did it (day 1 of owning the car) Now I know the road well enough to anticipate the pre-sence cutting in and deal with it ok.

It can still scare me if it activates unexpectedly!

 

[taks1]

Atleast you know it’s working.
Happens to me on my way from work on a tight bend with a bin setting off the pre sense.


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[smog c6]

I’ve had this happen to me a few times, it’s always in the same spot on this road in Kidderminister (see picture). If I go round that slight bend while another car is oncoming it will jab the brakes, it’s happened a few times where it’s very abrupt. I’ve noticed if I keep the windscreen area for the camera clean it will just display pre sense on that dashboard.

 

[AudiUser01]

Always better safe than sorry. Pre-sense works at speeds below 10 or 15 mph (or at least the basic City version I have does.

It has happened a few tines to me. I've never complained to myself or others as the vehicle has clearly spotted something I haven't before I have. As such I have been thankful and grateful and frozen on my merry way

I've got pre-sense city on mine and the manual says:

"It can detect cornering and stationary vehicles and pedestrians at speeds of up to 52 mph, and can warn drivers of imminent collisions. Audi pre sense®city can also initiate emergency braking, and can even help the vehicle come to a complete stop at speeds under 25 mph"

I love the concept of the technology and I'd rather have it than not. I'm just thankful its responsiveness is customisable. I don't dispute the feature could avert something that the driver misses. It's more the fact that having not experienced it before it just came as a complete shock to me. My only complaint was my neck and shoulder for about a week afterwards. Now I know what to expect I'd hope it'll be better if I experience it again. Although if it had caused someone to crash into me in this instance, I would be very upset and would definitely be ranting that the pre-sense caused the accident rather than averted it.

 

[AudiUser01]

Atleast you know it’s working.
Happens to me on my way from work on a tight bend with a bin setting off the pre sense.


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Not sure I've got Audi Bin-Sense® on mine. I'll certainly be wary of bins and traffic cones though!

 

[Mr Olympik]

Mines never actually went full flap mode and applied the breaks... has a hissy on a narrow road all the time with cars parked either side.

 

[AudiUser01]

Mines never actually went full flap mode and applied the breaks...

Haha, full flap mode. Love it. I think as others are suggesting, you kinda work out trouble spots and learn what it does and doesn't like around your local area. If I was driving in Wales or similar though I think I'd turn it off completely.

 

[Terminator x]

I had it a few times whilst reversing, massive stomp on the brakes as per the OP and because you aren't expecting it the head tends to fly around! I turned it down too.

Tbf I also had the current car brake for me when reversing only to see that some **** had stopped behind me between me starting to reverse and the car braking! Without it tbf I would have hit the car ...

TX.

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[cuke2u]

Life saver, just set it to late. I have never once experienced anyone who has had the system kick in suffer from any physical harm. It is only the same as momentarily hitting the brakes thus it is doubtful the g force would be as extreme as being rear ended...

 

[liveseytowers]

I've had it go off a couple of times which i found annoying, one time it slammed the breaks on hard and caused quite a shock. But it saved me from rear ending a car that stopped when I wasn't expecting it too, when i was looking up a side street. I'd be worried about turning it off completely as annoying as it can be.

 

[firebits]

Mines does this. It’s quite fattest, there are speed control chicanes here and if you’re turning in and there is a larger person on the pavement, it locks the breaks up. Almost like it believes the person is closer than they are due to their size. It’s not just done this once, it’s happened a fair bit. Enough for me to notice the common denominator.

 

[cuke2u]

It should not apply the brakes unless it doesn't detect movement on the steering wheel, or any application of the brakes. What setting have you got

 

[firebits]

It should not apply the brakes unless it doesn't detect movement on the steering wheel, or any application of the brakes. What setting have you got

It’s set to the middle one.

 

[MOA4B9]

I never had mine slam on the brakes. Once I just had a hint of the brakes being applied but as Cuke2u said, when the car detects your input it lets you take over. I've set mine to early detection. It gives that ping audio warning so if I'm not looking at the road ahead it's gets my attention and can safely slow down. I think it will only slam on the brakes in a critical situation when a collision is inevitable.

 

[firebits]

Yeah it’s a short, sudden burst of braking then release

 

[cuke2u]

It’s set to the middle one.

I have mine set to late as that is the default setting that's too intrusive..