Since more and more car manufacturers are trying to make their vehicles not only comfortable and luxurious but also safe; Volkswagen is amongst those vehicle brands which offer greatest safety. Latest technological advancements offer driving assistant systems such as adaptive cruise control and front assist features which help to ensure maximum safety of both the driver and passengers. These safety features are programmed to indicate the driver in case of any problem with its proper function.
Front assist is a premium feature that can be found as part of VW's driver assistance package. Red warning light of VW’s collision avoidance technology is a safety feature that is available was an available option beginning with 2015 premium Touareg SUV models and was expanded to the 2016 VW Jetta, Beetle, CC, e-Golf, Golf, Golf GTI, Golf R and Golf SportWagen, depending on the model and trim line.
What is Volkswagen ACC system?
Adaptive cruise Control (ACC) is like regular cruise control, designed to set and maintain a constant speed between about 20 mph and 95 mph and a distance interval between you and the car ahead of you either by slowing down or accelerating up as necessary. The latest generation of ACC as fitted to the first models takes into consideration speed limits as well as the route to be driven. In this way, it works to maintain a set speed and a set distance of your vehicle from the other vehicle running in front of you.
How ACC works?
In order to make your VW ACC work properly, first you need to accelerate to your desired speed and press the SET button on the steering wheel. In the same way you need to set the distance between your vehicle and the other car in front of you.
After setting your desired speed and distance limits, you can expect the ACC system to work as it should. ACC would slow down your Volkswagen if the car ahead is slow just to match down its speed and will speed up automatically adapting to the required traffic speed limits when there is no longer a vehicle ahead. You can always change speed limits and distance using ACC controls.
Adaptive Cruise Control uses radar, a sensor, a camera and the navigation system data. While radar enables the sensors on your vehicle to detect the distance of the vehicle in front of you and the system is activated between speeds from approximately 20 mph up to 95 mph; camera and the linked traffic sign detection system, helps the car to “see” speed limits and the edges of built-up areas. The car calculates its position at the same time using the navigation system route data and adapts the speed limits ahead of bends, roundabouts and junctions.
What is VW Front assist technology?
The Volkswagen Front Assist also sometimes referred to as Forward Collision Warning system is a standard driver assist feature on Volkswagen lineup which makes the use of pedestrian monitoring system and audio/visual clues to indicate the driver if they are in close proximity to other vehicles and/or pedestrians in front of them on the road. Front Assist system is also equipped with an Automatic Emergency Braking feature so that if drivers do not respond to audio and visual signals in a timely manner; the vehicle automatically slowdowns thereby saving the car and driver from an accident.
Volkswagen's Front Assist technology by using a series of sensors and software works to cut down on front-end collisions. The car monitors the road in front of you and takes action if it suspects an imminent collision by applying the brakes.
That's pretty great. But, sometimes...
Owners say it will also apply the brakes when there is no imminent collision. Sometimes it will detect something that's not there and stop the car in the middle of the road.
So while it might reduce the chance of you hitting something in front of you, it increases your chance of getting hit from behind.
In that case usually your instrument cluster or infotainment screen will display a message “ACC and front assist no sensor view warning message” which means the ACC and front assist system of your car have been dropped out due to some reason and not function properly. You may also observe a continuous sound from parking sensors.
How to diagnose and fix the error message?
Usually this warning appears when a sensor has failed in cruise control and/or front assist braking system. The front assist and adaptive cruise control sensors are usually located behind the VW emblem in the grille. In some cars that is very low to the ground. Therefore, sometimes anything as simple as dirt or a buildup of ice can disable the sensor or, even worse, create false positives. At times something as simple as road spray or a snow storm can also create issues.
Normally this message appears when your car not getting a clear view from the radar sensor so make sure that there is no obstruction to the clear view and the radar sensor is free of any debris or moisture. If you have a pre-face lift car you have a single front-facing radar. Sometimes a carrier bag might stuck on the front; or rain, snow or fog might have blurred the sensor. In that case however, cleaning should resolve the problem and warning message should go off. Ideally there should be nothing more than this.
But that's may not always be the case and if simple cleaning doesn’t solve the problem, another trick is to check the sensor for its proper alignment in its place. Sometimes, your vehicle might hit something or met with a collision but not visibly apparent damage to the sensor is observed. Aligning radar sensor in its place should resolve this problem because correct adjustment is crucial for perfect functioning of the ACC system.
It is recommended that before trying to adjust the ACC system, the event memory must be read out and faults must be rectified. You may also need to update the software for the error to get disappear. Though it happens in rare situations but if the issue still remains unresolved then replacing radar should be the final solution to this problem. When the problem calls for the replacement of radar, make sure that you find the reason of radar failure. You may feel moisture or water on any part such as connectors, wires etc it means that the radar was failed due to the unusual external elements.
After removal and reinstallation of a new radar unit calibration with a scan tool is required. Replacement a sensor could be a bit tricky so if you are confident on your skills, you can perform this replacement at your home otherwise xenons4u provides replacement parts and services to resolve any issues.
