[EnVerv]

Bought a new X1, with the Driver Assistance and Driver Assistance Plus (Active Driving Assistant, not ACC) package, hoping it will have the Collision Avoidance, meaning it would stop the car before hitting the car in front of it. The car is for my two daughters who just turned 16. Believe me they need the feature.

Dealer could only find a fully loaded car for $49970, that had the Driver Assistance Plus (Active Driving Assistant, not ACC) package. I was now in the range of a med loaded X3 price.

Well To my dismay, it now seems the feature that was needed to do that is the Driver Assistance Plus with Active Cruise Control Stop & Go which was another $1000. I would have gotten it, but nobody told me and when I asked the sales man said oh that's just adaptive cruise control. Oh and that they could not find anywhere in the US.

Well before I pick a legal battle with the dealer, I want to ask the experts on here, does the ACC Stop & Go actually brake the car? What does the Driver Assistance Plus with Active Driving Assistance only do.

Any help, advice, anything please.

Does the

[CliveL]

I hate to say it, but the "Collision Warning with City Braking Function" is standard equipment, at least here in the UK; it doesn't need the Driving Assistant (5AS) or the Driving Assistant Plus (5AT) package. The chart below shows the features with the packages, and is taken from the "F48 Driver Assistance Systems" document in the technical section here.

The option code is 5AV - Active Guard. There's a description below, taken from the UK Standard Equipment document on the BMW UK website.

It may be different in the US, and hopefully others here on the forum can confirm or deny this for your market...

[nickmdp]

I think the dealer was telling the truth, but a full stop is not what you should expect out of it:

http://www.iihs.org/iihs/ratings/veh.../x1-4-door-suv

Click on the "Front crash prevention" tab, and you'll see it only mentions the Driver Assistance Plus package to get that level of safety, while the X3 shows that ACC and DAP have different levels of performance.

[flopdog]

According to the US Specs: The safety package Driving Assistant is a combination of the camera-based systems High-beam assistant, Speed Limit Info and Lane Departure Warning, as well as Approach control warning and Person warning with light city braking function.

here is what it does from section 4.1.4 of the technical manual:

The collision warning with city braking function is active from 5-85 km/h. This way the severity of
collisions should be reduced through automatic brake intervention up to 85*km/h. With the braking
function an accident up to approximately 20*km/h differential speed can be prevented. In the case of
a greater differential speed the accident severity can be reduced.
If there is still no response from the driver in this speed range (approximately 5 – 85*km/h) after an
acute warning, the vehicle is decelerated at approximately 4*m/s².
The brake intervention is restricted to approximately 1.5*seconds. Additional dangers for the traffic
behind are therefore avoided.

According to the IIHS test:

Low-speed autobrake
In the 12 mph IIHS test, impact speed was reduced by 10 mph.

High-speed autobrake
In the 25 mph IIHS test, impact speed was reduced by 7 mph.

So basically it doesn't always fully stop the car, it's goal is to first warn (two levels of warning) then intervene if nessecary to reduce the impact speed.

This is different vs something like the Subaru EyeSight system that will stop the car completely, here is the IIHS data for that:

Low-speed autobrake
In the 12 mph IIHS test, this vehicle avoided a collision.

High-speed autobrake
In the 25 mph IIHS test, this vehicle avoided a collision.

The X1 has no such comparable system at any trim level for 2016 at least.

[Pristineship]

Well you did not buy a Tesla.
No other car has a collision avoidance system, it is only collision prevention. Maybe letting your 18 year old kids drive even a small SUV if they "really need" something that brakes for them is not a good idea, because you know, but we can just hope whatever they seem to keep "almost" rear-ending are just cars and not people.

You have zero ground for a legal battle.
The ACC systems usually are able to prevent a crash (ACC does not have to be engaged at the time, if the radar is enabled) up to 40kph, but that always depends on so many factors no car maker will guarantee any of that. If you are tailgating then you are obviously out of luck. The system is very good, because it can be faster than you to recognize a problem by important fractions of a second, and it automatically increases pressure in the braking system, you have to just slightly touch the brake pedal and you are braking with full force, like if you would hit the brake pedal with both feet, it shortens the braking distance a lot.

Oh wait a minute, there was never better time to say

You better check yo'self before you wreck yo'self

[EnVerv]

the feature was available on Lexus and Nissan. Oh well, have to live with it. I hope they do not crash. I honestly hate car sales people. You have large dealerships with people who sell these cars for a living, and yet not one knew what the hell they were talking about.

I have nobody to blame but myself though, As mush of a car enthusiast as I am, I did not do my research and went out there shopping without proper research.

I Appreciate everyone's input here. Really do. Most rear ending happens in traffic and now a days with people texting etc this feature can really save an accident. Funny thing is the electronics and the mechanism with todays available components are so simple that a college Senior level engineer can design it. Everything is available off the shelf to make it and yet a company like BMW skimps. Tesla is doing this stuff not because they have smart engineers, but because they know its stupid not to do it when the cost of doing it is so cheap compared to the rest of the car.

Thanks everyone. Really appreciate all the help.

[Mr. Saw]

Originally Posted by EnVerv

The car is for my two daughters who just turned 16. Believe me they need the feature.

Guau!!! 16-year-old girls start driving with a 228 HP car....really impressed!!!

I perfectly understand that you are worried for having that feature.....

[nickmdp]

Originally Posted by EnVerv

Thanks everyone. Really appreciate all the help.

For a while I shared many of the same feelings as you in regards to being disappointed in the inability to bring the car to a full stop, but I think I've gotten over it at this point. The number of times when this may have been useful in my entire life can be counted on one finger, and no system on the market is perfect, even the Tesla managed to miss a semi turning left and the driver died because of it.

At the end of the day, a good driver with no safeguards is likely still safer than a reckless driver with every possible safety feature. Making sure you and your daughters are in that first group is the best way to go, and is something that will last much longer than that X1, and probably until we have completely self-driven cars.

[Pristineship]

actually using the ACC as much as possible may be safer, because then the car brakes immediately, does not allow precious seconds to give the driver the chance to react.
Especially in stop'n'go traffic driving with ACC is not only comfortable, but safer, the radar is much better at close range to detect sudden slowdown of the car in front.

But whether it is a good idea to let young drivers rely on a car too much instead of forming good driving habits on their own, I am not convinced.

[pbjjj]

Originally Posted by EnVerv

the feature was available on Lexus and Nissan. Oh well, have to live with it. I hope they do not crash. I honestly hate car sales people. You have large dealerships with people who sell these cars for a living, and yet not one knew what the hell they were talking about.

I have nobody to blame but myself though, As mush of a car enthusiast as I am, I did not do my research and went out there shopping without proper research.

I Appreciate everyone's input here. Really do. Most rear ending happens in traffic and now a days with people texting etc this feature can really save an accident. Funny thing is the electronics and the mechanism with todays available components are so simple that a college Senior level engineer can design it. Everything is available off the shelf to make it and yet a company like BMW skimps. Tesla is doing this stuff not because they have smart engineers, but because they know its stupid not to do it when the cost of doing it is so cheap compared to the rest of the car.

Thanks everyone. Really appreciate all the help.

Please also keep in mind that the BMW's system on X1 is mostly for "warning". They are not designed for prevention of a crash. In addition, BMW uses camera-based active cruise control system. It is not radar based like in Tesla, so in some situations, such as large amount of water splashed from the car in the front or from the rain, the system will disengage and force the driver to take control. I would not beat yourself too much over not getting the ACC system because the way BMW's ACC system functions in real world doesn't seem to really match your expectation of a radar-based system.

I agree with you about car sales people. I don't know why I expected more from a BMW sales person, but I did. I was deeply disappointed by quite a few until I was referred to the one from whom I purchased my X1.

[Pristineship]

oh damn damn damn.
I was already a bit surprised the acc works only in 0-140kmh interval, which is fine as the max. highway speed in most EU countries is 130, but in Germany I would have used it up to 160 at least.
My current VW has 0-160 , but that is just because of the less powerful engine, in higher-end models you get 0-210kmh radar based ACC,
and I would swear all BMW's have radar too. But nope, now I googled at a bit and X1 seems to be the one with camera based.
I thought the camera is just for traffic signs and lane assist for the traffic jam assist or how they call it, but acc without a radar, well... this spoiled my joy of waiting for a new car a bit. I am actually glad now I went for a 2 year lease instead of 3, because there is just too much compromise, but well, I wanted all the toys from the option list, did not have enough budget for a 3er GT.
btw isn't the reason the Tesla mistook and crashed into a shiny white semi truck for a sunny horizon the reason it only uses cameras and not radars?

[nickmdp]

Originally Posted by Pristineship

btw isn't the reason the Tesla mistook and crashed into a shiny white semi truck for a sunny horizon the reason it only uses cameras and not radars?

The Teslas actually have both. That's the reasoning they gave out to the press, though I'm sure it's a lot more complex than that.