Exaggerated marketing?

[TDot]

Someone please tell me how the new infiniti detects potential accidents from two cars ahead.

[Bubba1]

Someone please tell me how the new infiniti detects potential accidents from two cars ahead.

I've had it in all my cars, it's called a driver. j/k

I saw the ad too. I'm not sure of the nuts and bolts of it, and am curious too. But I'm guessing the Q50's radar alerts (or reacts) when it detects objects from a wider range than just the vehicle immediately in front. So if the vehicle 2 cars forward is not perfectly aligned with the car directly in front of you, (or is larger than the car directly in front of you), then I would think any sudden sklowdown in speed relative to yours could be detected from either side (or just above) of the car in front of you. I'm sure it would be easier to detect along a curve than a straight road.

[Dattebayo]

Well the commercial shows a truck inbetween them, so it probably has a low mounted radar emitter on the front lip with a narrow focused beam. It wouldn't be hard to get a beam like that to pass successfully under a truck. Just my thoughts.

[krash]

yea I'm still trying to figure this out.

Also, why are we not more excited about the Q50? It looks awesome! Wish it had a V8 optional though.

[darylzero]

They probably developed this because all the f*** texting while driving. At least it can be turned off.

http://www.nissan-global.com/EN/TECHNOL ... ctive.html

The sensor installed to the front of the vehicle monitors the relative velocity and the distance to the vehicle directly ahead, as well as a vehicle traveling in front of the preceding one. The system is able to detect changes in the situation that are outside the driver’s field of view, and give alert to the driver with signal on display, audible warning and tightening up the seat belt if a potential risk is detected.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2gObUaTx7k[/youtube]

[MinisterofDOOM]

I think the best way to disable this kind of feature is to buy a DIFFERENT CAR. One that doesn't think it's better at driving than I am.

Sure wish I was Emperor. All of this stuff would be prohibited by Imperial law. People drive cars. End of discussion.

[Jesda]

yea I'm still trying to figure this out.

Also, why are we not more excited about the Q50? It looks awesome! Wish it had a V8 optional though.

Early reviews say it's a rolling high-tech gadget that drives like mush.

[frapjap]

yea I'm still trying to figure this out.

Also, why are we not more excited about the Q50? It looks awesome! Wish it had a V8 optional though.

Sure does look fantastic! I saw one on the road yesterday- very sleek, sexy looking sedan. Thought it was an M, then looked harder and said, "damn, it looks every bit as good as the M." Then abruptly reminded myself that the car isn't offered with a manual transmission.

[krash]

Early reviews say it's a rolling high-tech gadget that drives like mush.

Then abruptly reminded myself that the car isn't offered with a manual transmission.

[DrewH]

This car is a perfect example of how individual tastes come shining through because Motor Trends reviews are all over the place on the Q50. "Mush" is a word I've yet to come across in a review but if its in reference to the steering then its just the latest in disconnected driving that continues to become the norm across the board.

Certainly not the first time I've said it but I think its gorgeous. The only things that bother me is the carry over engine (certainly not the first time they've done that) and the lack of a manual transmission. The nanny state safety settings can be defeated and only come on a fully optioned model. Anybody complaining about them probably didn't like ABS brakes.

[MinisterofDOOM]

Anybody complaining about them probably didn't like ABS brakes.

Didn't and still don't. I've never seen convincing evidence that ABS actually improves braking safety in real-world conditions, but I have plenty of firsthand experience showing me that it can actually impair it in certain circumstances (snow and ice, for instance). The car should NEVER. EVER. second guess me. Full stop. It does not get any simpler than that.
I know what I'm doing, and if I didn't I'd have no business behind the wheel. That goes for everyone.

[DrewH]

..... Yeah ok. Where do you stand on traction control?

[audtatious]

..... Yeah ok. Where do you stand on traction control?

MOD hates anything that's not mechanical in nature

[cmesurf]

Someone please tell me how the new infiniti detects potential accidents from two cars ahead.

Buy a Q50 and with tech package and you will know.. it works.
It senses the distance of car in front and the one in front of that with forward collision radar system and if the system detects sudden drop of speed (velocity) thats what triggers Q50s brakes and warning to the driver. Got IT???

[Dattebayo]

Someone please tell me how the new infiniti detects potential accidents from two cars ahead.

Buy a Q50 and with tech package and you will know.. it works.
It senses the distance of car in front and the one in front of that with forward collision radar system and if the system detects sudden drop of speed (velocity) thats what triggers Q50s brakes and warning to the driver. Got IT???

What, do you work in Nissan sales or something?

[Bubba1]

What, do you work in Nissan sales or something?

^ Does sound like it, doesn't it? I sympathize with MoD's view, as the deterioration of average American's driving skills has been bad enough without this lastest idiot-proofing technological tidbit by Infiniti. And you wonder why people gripe about new cars being so expensive? This gimmick is an example why.

[MinisterofDOOM]

..... Yeah ok. Where do you stand on traction control?

On my Q45 is simply pulled the fuse for it. On the LS8 I hit the off switch as part of the startup ritual. Every time.

I'm sure more sophisticated traction control like you find on supercars and Corvettes can be helpful in improving lap times (adding a degree of control that standard driver input doesn't allow...individual braking and things like that). However, every passenger car I've ever driven has traction control that consists of two things: cut throttle almost completely when wheelspin even suggests itself, and brake aggressively to stop that wheelspin. Neither of these things are useful. In many situations (again, particularly snow and ice) wheelspin is still more useful than nothing at all. And pulling into traffic or making other maneuvers only to suddenly lose power and be left stranded is terrifying and indisputably dangerous.

I do, on rare occasion, turn the LS8's advancetrac back ON in the snow. This is usually on snow-rutted highways. It's more the stability control than the traction control I desire, and it subtly brakes individual tires in order to make lane changes across rutted snow much less hairy. It doesn't mess with my throttle, it just helps the car maintain yaw attitude by use of corner braking--something I can't do with one pedal.

In pretty much all other conditions, though, I'd prefer to be the one to recover from potential disasters. In most cases, I find that, rather than actually HELPING (or even reacting more quickly than me) it would simply introduce more variables to the situation I was already working to control. In fact, many times I find that I'll countersteer to avoid the tail stepping out long before TCS...but then TCS will step in and make my countermaneuver irrelevant by completely changing the attitude of the car. It's like trying to drive safely with your passenger having their own steering wheel and pedals--even if they are a superb driver, they're not likely to drive EXACTLY the way you do, so it's not likely to help unless you're an utterly helpless and terribly unskilled driver who surrenders to fate and basically removes all limbs from controls at the first sign of trouble.

So, in summary:
TCS might have a purpose on the track for getting the last .001th of the car for a professional driver.
On public roads in my personal car, it's a nuisance, a menace, and not remotely desirable.

Good tires, a good differential, and throttle discipline will accomplish far more than consumer-market traction control ever will. And at least two of those three things are available for every car ever made.

[krash]

uhhh I dunno MOD, a proper ABS system is pretty useful.

[MinisterofDOOM]

Physics of driving on ice and snow dictate that skidding can actually be beneficial. It's where siping comes into play. Snow behaves in a way that causes it to compact, partially liquefy, and resolidify depending on application of heat (braking, skidding, and compaction). With a good tire with a good tread pattern, this means even locking the tire gives you something to grip. And snow on ice means you were NEVER going to grip anything with the tire surface. Instead you use the semi-fluid nature of the traction surface itself as a traction assist. The problem ABS creates is that it interferes with the ability to manually modulate lockup on ice and snow. I nearly rear-ended a car in a parking lot at <5mph because ABS in the Q45 wouldn't let me just lock 'em up. If it had, I would have stopped just fine. I've been driving cars with and without ABS for a long time. They behave very differently and the root problem is EXACTLY the same as that of TCS: it doesn't assist so much as interfere. I already know what I'm doing. Chances are, if ABS or TCS feels the need to step in, IT IS INTENTIONAL and I am already either prepared to react or intending to make use of that situation for my benefit. When I can't have 100% control 100% of the time, things get dangerous. Not allowing me full braking pressure application because I'm on ice is ludicrous. I AM ON ICE. OF COURSE THERE WILL BE SKIDDING. It's how you make use of braking power available that matters. So the last thing you want is to restrict or artificually interfere with the driver's application of that braking power.

ABS is useful in DRY road conditions and often also in wet conditions. Especially, again, on a track where it can help turn overly-aggressive braking on a (typical) front-biased car into disastrous understeer by accidentally crossing that lockup threshold. However:
1: I don't drive on the track most of the time. So ABS can GTFO.
2: If I WAS driving on the track and WAS crossing that lockup threshold, I'd rather learn from it happening and improve that aspect of my driving THROUGH MYSELF than have the car correct for me.

[krash]

Yea ABS does some weird stuff in the snow, but I was talking about dry pavement and rainy stuff.

[MinisterofDOOM]

The problem is that without a user-operated Off switch, the disadvantages will always outweigh the advantages by the simple fact that making things worse is never preferable to leaving things the way they are.

[cmesurf]

The problem is that without a user-operated Off switch, the disadvantages will always outweigh the advantages by the simple fact that making things worse is never preferable to leaving things the way they are.

On Q50 - you can turn off Forward Collision Assist, Lane Departure, Active Lane Control systems if you like and turn the steering system to soft, standard or sport, transmission to eco, standard or sport...You can stup these feature for three different drivers and the car's system remembers it by you fob and resets setting accordingly. Amazing isn't it.

You can read or watch video how to setip and operate the system controls:
http://www.infinitiownersinfo.mobi/Home ... 4/Q50HEV/0

BTW- I don't work for Nissan or Infiniti or any associated companies.

[Jesda]

BMW's TCS is trash. All it does is shut down the throttle and leave you stranded.

I like GM's Stabilitrak system best but it relies heavily on sensors that can be prone to issues.