[Kevin Williams]

I'm normally a very careful driver but was having a crappy night last night and crappy day this morning. Driving in to work I was lost in thought with all the crap when suddenly the 4 red lights flashed at me on the windshield. Hit the brakes quickly and came within a foot of the car in front of me (from 50mph).

Thanks Subaru from keeping my crappy day from being much crappier.

Ironically I was a bit blah at first about the EyeSight technology (I would've ordered a model without it if it was cheaper) but after using it for a while I'm glad I have it! Never more-so than today!

 

[zulater]

Glad everything worked out as designed!

 

[traildogck]

@Kevin Williams

I am holding on to my older cars for several reasons. One is they have no nannies at all except ABS. They don't even have traction control ... just a rear LSD. However, the older I get, the more annoying Denver is getting. My level of attention needs to be sharp. The older I get, the more often I find myself drifting off some mental rabbit hole. I try to stay focused all the time, but as you say ... life can get in the way of that focus.

I am still far more attentive than the folks who look at the phone instead of the road. Hopefully, I stay attentive enough to not wish I had ES someday. I thoroughly enjoy driving and I stay engaged. But, I am happy these systems are helping to reduce accidents.

 

[Carl Abrams]

@Kevin Williams

I am holding on to my older cars for several reasons. One is they have no nannies at all except ABS. They don't even have traction control ... just a rear LSD. However, the older I get, the more annoying Denver is getting. My level of attention needs to be sharp. The older I get, the more often I find myself drifting off some mental rabbit hole. I try to stay focused all the time, but as you say ... life can get in the way of that focus.

I am still far more attentive than the folks who look at the phone instead of the road. Hopefully, I stay attentive enough to not wish I had ES someday. I thoroughly enjoy driving and I stay engaged. But, I am happy these systems are helping to reduce accidents.

Wife's daily driver is a 2015 Forester. We're like you, getting a little older, and the OKC drivers are getting more and more stupid. So we're trading it in on a 2019. The 'nanny' system will help since she's had TWO times she's backed into something (which was one reason I couldn't get GTP value for the trade). And since around here, if you want to go just about anywhere, you're hopping onto either I-40, I-35, I-235, I-44, or I-240, I've come to enjoy the Adaptive Cruise Control. And I've had collision avoidance help at least half a dozen times prevent my customers from running into someone else while we were on test drives.

 

[crowdc]

I'm still adjusting to the adaptive cruise, especially in traffic on the highway with braking. It's a little unnerving at first; slowly getting "used" to it.

 

[rockthebeef]

I'm still adjusting to the adaptive cruise, especially in traffic on the highway with braking. It's a little unnerving at first; slowly getting "used" to it.

Yeah, I play with it on my commute sometimes. It's great, but I tend to keep my feet hovering over the pedals and I'm constantly watching to make sure it's really working (it does!). I see how it can be relaxing, but until I learn to trust it, I will be a little tense when using it.

 

[RCoaster]

The ACC on my old 16 Legacy had a profile similar to the Standard setting on my current Ascent. The logic was to wait till the last minute then brake, especially when using it in stop and go traffic. The system is working as intended, and knows what it's doing, but can be unnerving for the human driver. I've set my Eyesight to Level 2, "Comfort". I'm finding that the braking is more gradual, and responds earlier. I haven't given the Eco setting a try yet, but will experiment with it more once I get past the 1K break-in period.

 

[Kevin Williams]

I wasn't even using ACC in this case, but instead just saw the 4 red flashing lights for the collision warning!

But when I use the ACC I do have it set to comfort and also set the follow distance to the farthest I can, or maybe 1 notch in if traffic is heavy. Better on gas mileage and less "pucker factor" for slowing down. I still have time to hit the brakes manually if needed.

 

[pilot1226]

As long as it doesn't leave a big enough hole that someone ducks in the lane front of you... right?

I'm also looking forward to it. I have some recurring leg/soccer related injuries that are exacerbated by the movement of the foot from the accelerator to the brake and back over a longer drive, so I'm looking forward to ACC.

 

[Kevin Williams]

As long as it doesn't leave a big enough hole that someone ducks in the lane front of you... right?

I'm also looking forward to it. I have some recurring leg/soccer related injuries that are exacerbated by the movement of the foot from the accelerator to the brake and back over a longer drive, so I'm looking forward to ACC.

Yeah, if traffic is really darting a lot, I'll close the gap.

I drove 45 mins in rush hour traffic the other day and never touched a pedal. That was nice!

 

[Jason]

Glad you had it!

We had a very prominent member of our management team (who is no longer with the group) buy a 2016 Outback, fully loaded except no eyesight. Just over a month later we get a phone call saying they will be a little late for work... she rear ended someone... it was the exact situation that would have been prevented by Eyesight

I will gladly put up with the minor annoyances to save my butt when I'm not being the best driver

 

[pilot1226]

Right. The way I look at it is that it'll just make good drivers even better, because if you're a good driver, there should be very little, if any, input. Now, if you change lanes without a signal, or accelerate/roll forward at a light when the guy in front of you hasn't started moving yet.... sure, Eyesight is going to give you some nanny alarms - but that's because of your ... less than "ideal" habits...
@Kevin Williams - What spacing are you using in heavier traffic, how many notches on the follow distance?

 

[Kevin Williams]

Right. The way I look at it is that it'll just make good drivers even better, because if you're a good driver, there should be very little, if any, input. Now, if you change lanes without a signal, or accelerate/roll forward at a light when the guy in front of you hasn't started moving yet.... sure, Eyesight is going to give you some nanny alarms - but that's because of your ... less than "ideal" habits...

@Kevin Williams - What spacing are you using in heavier traffic, how many notches on the follow distance?

Yes, I very rarely have the nanny alarms now. I had it more when I first got it, but it is much wider than my Outback was, so adjusting to that was new.


At full highway speeds, I keep the follow distance as long as I can.

If traffic is heavier and a bit slower (10mph below the speed limit) I'll bring it in a notch, maybe two.
If traffic is slow and heavy I'll set it at the closest distance, but then also pay attention and hover my foot on the brake pedal.


It's also nice that the follow distance is speed dependent, so the car does some of the adjusting for you as well. Full notches away at 75mph is much farther than full notches away at 45mph. Glad it's smart!

 

[SaffronRouge]

My husband complains about the nanny (that I rarely set off now) when he drives Pearl. I said "maybe you shouldn't tailgate and use your signal when you change lanes? Just a suggestion" Well, that didn't earn me any brownie points.

 

[Kevin Williams]

My husband complains about the nanny (that I rarely set off now) when he drives Pearl. I said "maybe you shouldn't tailgate and use your signal when you change lanes? Just a suggestion" Well, that didn't earn me any brownie points.

I know someone said in another thread, "Don't like the nannies? Drive BETTER!" And it's really true. Good habits and good driving and it rarely complains!

 

[SaffronRouge]

I was laughing (to myself, of course) yesterday, because dear hubby was mumbling about alarms and beepers going off all the time. A mutual friend of ours describe hub's driving style as "he drives like he is always running behind and he gets a prize if he gets there first"


I have driven about 5500 miles in the Ascent, hubs has driven about 500. EyeSight has disabled twice on me and probably 4 or 5 times on him. It dawned on me yesterday as to why. When it rains, as soon as it gets up to a moderate rain, I almost always have the wiper speed on high. Hubs, on the other hand, will have the wipers speed on the lowest possible setting. I think that EyeSight is disabling more in the rain, when he drives, because it cannot see because the wipers are not going fast enough. Just a theory.

 

[mdub]

Im curious in this situation where the OP hit the brakes - shouldnt eye sight brake for you in an immediate collision situation like that? I pick up my ascent tomorrow and much to learn but coming from a 2009 pilot Im looking forward to the ride and advanced tech!

 

[Janner]

Im curious in this situation where the OP hit the brakes - shouldnt eye sight brake for you in an immediate collision situation like that? I pick up my ascent tomorrow and much to learn but coming from a 2009 pilot Im looking forward to the ride and advanced tech!

It will put on the brakes, that's for certain. But the OP was going 50mph and it is unlikely that Eyesight could have stopped him at that distance. Eyesight warns YOU to stop and if you don't, it tries. I don't remember the exact distances where Eyesight can stop the car and how fast you can be going. For me, the warnings usually come on when someone turns left in front of me or makes a quick right turn without any indicators. Most of these times, you are already aware of the traffic and you wouldn't have hit the car but the margins are close. I've never had it truly keep me from hitting someone I wasn't already aware of but it's nice to know it is there. I'm a pretty attentive and watchful driver. (I also had a '15 Outback with Eyesight so have been using it for a while).



Good luck with your new Ascent!

 

[Carl Abrams]

Im curious in this situation where the OP hit the brakes - shouldnt eye sight brake for you in an immediate collision situation like that? I pick up my ascent tomorrow and much to learn but coming from a 2009 pilot Im looking forward to the ride and advanced tech!

Eyesight will apply the brakes for you if you do nothing, and if you're hitting the brakes but not hard enough, Eyesight will apply MORE pressure to try to prevent the accident.

Note that there was a real world test by either Road & Track or Car & Driver (can't remember which, but it was posted on here) where you had a Subaru Impreza doing 50 mph coming up behind a vehicle doing 10 mph and the Eyesight completely prevented the accident - and that was comparing to Cadillac, Tesla, and Toyota.

 

[Kevin Williams]

Im curious in this situation where the OP hit the brakes - shouldnt eye sight brake for you in an immediate collision situation like that? I pick up my ascent tomorrow and much to learn but coming from a 2009 pilot Im looking forward to the ride and advanced tech!

Being a computer engineer I've played with the system quite a lot to see how well it operates. The eyesight is constantly calculating closure speed and distance between your vehicle and the vehicle ahead. As soon as it detects a closure speed that appears unsafe or "likely" to cause a collision, the 4 lights on the dash will flash like mad and the warning chimes will go off. Very shortly after that it will apply the brakes to prevent a collision.

In the case I mentioned, as soon as the lights flashed I hit the brakes, so I "beat" the eyesight system to the punch.

I've had other times where I've set off the warning lights but not needed the brakes, either by changing lanes or letting off the throttle.

An easy way to get the eyesight's panties in a bunch is to accelerate hard towards a stopped car! And as soon as I let off the throttle and hit the brakes it stopped complaining!

It really is a very smart system and so far I've been really impressed with the software processing they do to make it all work. About the only "hiccup" that it doesn't handle well is someone in front of you on the highway slowing and going off into a turn/exit lane. The eyesight will warn of a collision when you KNOW that car will be out of the way in just a sec. It has put on the brakes a couple times for me doing that.