Start car with Lane Departure Warning Off by Default

[torbach1]

Hi Everyone:

This may be old news to some of you, but I haven't noticed this posted here before, so thought I would post it since I just discovered this and have read a lot of folks whether on forums or journalists, complain about this feature. As you know, many of the M's come with Lane Departure Warning and Lane Departure Prevention. I like these features when I've driving on the highway in normal weather personally, because they work well, and if I do take my eyes off the road for a sec to look at the radio, or whatever, it's great to have the beeping sound telling me that I'm veering off my lane, and nice to have the LDP nudge me back into my lane.

But when I'm driving in town and happen to go over 45mph (the speed at which these activate), or in rainy weather, in which these systems don't work all that well, I get really annoyed with the beeping sound, and until now, I've been annoyed that Lane Departure Warning is turned on by default, and I have to proactively turn it off every time I start the car. Well, I read the user manual (good old RTFM), and found out that if you want Lane Departure Warning to be off by default, you can do that by simply pressing the button that turns it on/off and holding it for 4 seconds. This toggles it between on by default and off by default. Again, maybe this is old news for you guys, but I figured some of you may now know about it, and may find this useful given how irritating LDW can be.

Cheers
t1

[debiniarthug]

Good post. I'm sure this will be/is helpful to someone on the forum.

[SIK L]

I didn't know this, and I have been wondering the same thing since purchasing the vehicle. Thanks for the tip!

[relentless1]

Wow! I had mine off this whole time! I switched it to ON yesterday and now I know why it's been off by the previous owner. It gets pretty annoying especially when it's raining outside and the stereo is low. Thanks for posting this.

[Theo]

this is news to me , thanks for the info

[torbach1]

Wow! I had mine off this whole time! I switched it to ON yesterday and now I know why it's been off by the previous owner. It gets pretty annoying especially when it's raining outside and the stereo is low. Thanks for posting this.

I hear you on that one. I've had it on since I got the car 1 year and 1 month ago, and the LDW beeping really drives me nuts sometimes. I also wish they would have a volume setting for it. That would make it a bit more tolerable. It is a really useful tool to have I think, but honestly, it's just too loud and irritating, and that's why I only use it on highways nowadays. Before I was usually too lazy to turn it off and it just irritated me. Now I just have to remember to turn it on when I'm on the highway. I pretty much always turn on LDP when I turn on LDW because I figure if I am wandering off the lane, the car may as well nudge me back into my lane a bit, so for me it would also be nice to be able to switch both on with one click, and make the position of that switch perhaps where the LDP switch is - on the steering wheel, as opposed to the lower corner position of the LDW switch.

Now that I'm probably going to sell my car because I can't afford it any more, I think this is actaully (much to my surprise), one of the features I will miss the most when I get a cheaper car (probably going to get a used VW GTI) to hopefully significantly lower my monthly payments, and significantly lower my gas payments.

[a.blanco0905]

I've hated this feature from the first day I got my car. The ONLY REALLY USEFUL TIMES are when I drive home to NYC or go to FL to see my moms and I've been on the road long enough so I'm like sleepy drunk... at that time this is the best feature ever. They probably had the sleepy drunkenness issue in mind when they came up with this feature.

[torbach1]

I hear ya - most people hate this feature from what I've read on this forum, or maybe it's just that those who hate it will complain about it, while those who like it don't really say anything about it - human nature being what it is. But even when I'm in my 'completely sober' state of mind, I do find I sometimes get distracted by something, whether it's a phone call, or I didn't hear what the nav just told me and I want it to repeat what it said, so I click on the 'voice' button next to the scroll wheel (voice is a really unintuitive name for this button, but that's for another topic), I want to change the temperature, or zoom in on the map in the nav (I may have activated that by voice, but then I look at the map - and therefore take my eyes off the road), and it's those times when this feature is really a potential life saver, which is why as annoying as it is 99.9% of the time, I think it's a great feature to have, and I'll miss it.

Also, maybe it's only me, but when I first got the car, I was amazed by just how often I was going just slightly outside of my lane lines. This thing was beeping every 20 to 30 seconds, and driving me bonkers. But it showed me that perhaps I should be a bit more focused on staying within my lane lines. These days it rarely beeps at me (even when it's turned on - :-) jk), so perhaps as scary as this sounds to me, my Infiniti M actually improved my driving skills just a tiny bit. Scary to think that.

On a separate little tangent that is related, I have to say that these electronic nannies are now at the point where in some cars like the S-class Merc, if it's fully optioned, you can almost fall asleep while driving and it will get you to some or other destination - probably not the one you intended, safely. I mean the latest S-class if I'm not mistaken has:
* Lane departure prevention that will if you want it to really literally prevent you (as opposed to 'nudge' you like our cars do), from moving out of your lane unless you are indicating or it 'senses' an emergency situation around you where you need to suddenly switch lanes
* Auto-braking where the car will stop for you if the car in front of you does an emergency stop, or if you're asleep and the car in front of you stops - ie. it will not let you hit the car in front of you even if you try to, and if it's keeping you in your current lane, it will also not let you hit the car to your side...
* Auto-braking for pedestrians in your lane
* Blind spot warning AND prevention - so that if you try to move into the blind stop it will stop you (then again doesn't the new M have this one too? I think so)
* If you start falling asleep, it will alert you by vibrating the steering wheel, beeping loudly, etc. (ie. it's literally monitoring your eyes as you drive - seriously), and recommend strongly that you stop at the nearest rest area (this may be in one of the Lexi/Lexus vehicles and not in the S-class - can't remember for sure). I really love that one - wish I could get that. It actually senses that you're starting to get tired by looking at the dilation of your eyes, the movement of your head, and a few other factors and it tries to warn you, or strongly recommend that you stop if it senses you're starting to fall asleep. Maybe next year's model will have a little arm that pops out of the center console and slaps you in the face, sprays some minty spray into your mouth, and then yells at you in German - or Japanese with the ability to buy celebrity voice recordings giving you these warnings (ok, sorry for the really stupid jokes here - it's late and this is me at 1:30am).
* Machine guns (bazooka's are an optional extra) pop out the rear of the car and eliminate the car behind you if it's getting so close that an accident is imminent - ok, that one is not there yet, but it would be cool I think.
* What is there (I think in the current production version, but if not, it's coming soon), is that the Merc senses if you're about to get into an accident from any direction - someone hitting you from behind, from the side, etc. and will then sense where you have passengers, how much they weigh, etc., how quickly the car that's about to hit you is going, and will calculate the optimal deployment of airbags for the driver and each passenger. It will also pre-tension your seatbelts of course. Speaking of which, I had my seat belt pre-tensioner kick in the other day when I did an emergency brake - because I momentarily took my eye off the road and the car in front of me did an emergency brake). It was amazing - the seatbelt pre-tensioner yanked me back into the rear of my seat so quickly, I was just blown away - it works well).

Reading up about all of these advancements, and some that are coming soon, I recently came to the realization that the technology is actually already there today to have cars drive us around without any interaction needed from the driver. It's way too expensive to implement thankfully, but I'm sure in a few years it won't be too expensive. I'm dreading that time - I love driving way too much to let my car drive me everywhere. I would only use this 'feature' in rush hour bumper to bumper traffic, but of course then I would also fall asleep. Lets hope we don't get there in our lifetimes, because that's one sure way to take the pleasure out of driving.

Cheers and for those who have lasted this long into my post - I thank you for taking the time and patience to do that!
t1

[a.blanco0905]

Also, maybe it's only me, but when I first got the car, I was amazed by just how often I was going just slightly outside of my lane lines. This thing was beeping every 20 to 30 seconds, and driving me bonkers. But it showed me that perhaps I should be a bit more focused on staying within my lane lines. These days it rarely beeps at me (even when it's turned on - :-) jk), so perhaps as scary as this sounds to me, my Infiniti M actually improved my driving skills just a tiny bit. Scary to think that.

Dude, are you serious?? Have your read this???

do-you-have-a-tramlining-steering-issue ... 12545.html

While all those features are nice and all and could really help save lives, I really dislike the thought of not having control of a car in any situation... imagine if the aid takes control of the car at a moment when a pedestrian jumps out in front of your car, and you cant swerve... food for thought.

[torbach1]

Agreed with your point. But in fairness, our cars at least just 'nudge' they don't force us, so in the above example, I think we would still be able to swerve away from the pedestrian. Also, they only kick in at 45mph, so if a pedestrian gets in front of you at that speed, well, the odds are the pedestrian will be dead regardless... I'll read the tramlining article. Thanks for post it.

[torbach1]

Ok, just read the thread on tramlining. I don't experience that issue at all. Driving on the highways around DC, which are not in great shape, and having just driven 270 miles to Richmond and back yesterday, I have never had an issue with tramlining. I know what I described sound like it could be from that, but it isn't. It was that i was not concentrating on keeping my car within it's lane lines - but only on winding roads and turns. I never had any issues staying within the lanes on highways. I did however sell my stock Goodyear Eagle RSA's because they're crap. I have Goodyear Eagle F1's for summer, and Continental ContiWinter's for winter. Both are awesome tires, and neither exhibit any tramlining issues. On my trip to Richmond, which is almost all straight, boring I95 highway with very few turns, I was completely relaxed both ways. I didn't have to focus on staying within my lanes at all.

Cheers
T1

[relentless1]

It should be connected to the NAV system so it automatically turns on on highways/freeways.

[The00Dustin]

I also wish they would have a volume setting for it. That would make it a bit more tolerable.

Really? I can barely hear mine, so I wish there was a volume setting too, but I never understood why people complain about it. LDW is one of the reasons I bought this car, and I can't hear it on concrete interstates with the radio off.

Also, maybe it's only me, but when I first got the car, I was amazed by just how often I was going just slightly outside of my lane lines. This thing was beeping every 20 to 30 seconds, and driving me bonkers. But it showed me that perhaps I should be a bit more focused on staying within my lane lines. These days it rarely beeps at me (even when it's turned on - :-) jk), so perhaps as scary as this sounds to me, my Infiniti M actually improved my driving skills just a tiny bit. Scary to think that.

Same here, mine didn't go off a lot, but it definitely goes off less now than it did when new. I can't help but think the people who hate it and turn it off must be the drivers that I hate to see on the road, I mean, the ones who can't stay in their lane and don't signal so you never have a clue that they're doing, but presumably (and if I'm correct, apparently) think they are great drivers.

Dude, are you serious?? Have your read this???

do-you-have-a-tramlining-steering-issue ... 12545.html

While all those features are nice and all and could really help save lives, I really dislike the thought of not having control of a car in any situation... imagine if the aid takes control of the car at a moment when a pedestrian jumps out in front of your car, and you cant swerve... food for thought.

I'd have to agree with Torbach here too, I'm sure that even if the LDP actually turns the steering (as opposed to braking wheels on one side) that you can still override with little to no effort by turning the wheel the direction you want it to turn. I don't have LDP to verify this, but I've read about other systems that turn the steering, and they detect your turning of the wheel and disengage (or don't engage, as the case may be).

[a.blanco0905]

I'd have to agree with Torbach here too, I'm sure that even if the LDP actually turns the steering (as opposed to braking wheels on one side) that you can still override with little to no effort by turning the wheel the direction you want it to turn. I don't have LDP to verify this, but I've read about other systems that turn the steering, and they detect your turning of the wheel and disengage (or don't engage, as the case may be).

You, torbach and I are just speculators since neither one of us have the uber-futuristic LDP he mentioned, you read about and my subconcious knew existed, I was just implying that if you lose control of a car for a fraction of a second, regardless of the means of losing it, it doesnt matter wether you can regain control easily or not, that fraction of a second is in the past... and a lot could've happened. On paper I'm all against most types of driving "aids" unless I have personally tried it and make my own informed and adult decision if it benefits me and my family. For instance I dont use adaptive cruising but that's my choice and just because you may like it and therefore use it, I'm not going to smash you for it and pass judgement on your driving habits.

[The00Dustin]

You, torbach and I are just speculators since neither one of us have the uber-futuristic LDP he mentioned, you read about and my subconcious knew existed, I was just implying that if you lose control of a car for a fraction of a second, regardless of the means of losing it, it doesnt matter wether you can regain control easily or not, that fraction of a second is in the past... and a lot could've happened. On paper I'm all against most types of driving "aids" unless I have personally tried it and make my own informed and adult decision if it benefits me and my family. For instance I dont use adaptive cruising but that's my choice and just because you may like it and therefore use it, I'm not going to smash you for it and pass judgement on your driving habits.

I totally understand being afraid of it, the thought of the car turning itself when I don't want it to or braking when I don't want it to is scary to me too, but the article I was referring to specifically suggested that if your hands are on the wheel, it isn't going to kick in because it can tell you are in control (seems to me that this would be useful if you were asleep or constantly fighting crown/alignment pull). That said, I wouldn't fault anyone for disabling LDP or VDC, or choosing not to use Adaptive Cruise (so long as they use standard cruise or have a steady foot [I imagine that most people who think they do, don't]). However, I can't help but feel that anyone who feels that the LDW feature is annoying because they can't drive on US Highways without it going off only a minimal amount shouldn't be driving (and I only say that because I aassume you gathered it from my prior post anyway based on your reply, even though I tried to keep my original post from directly insinuating fault in anyone), but I don't dislke/judge the people who say it's annoying, I just have that thought in the back of my head (perhaps where I should have kept it). I can see it being annoying in Europe, because the lanes are at least a foot less wide, and I know from experience that it will go off more than it should on really curvy roads with lanes that narrow (or perhaps I just drive too fast on those roads), but with at least a foot more room to play with on most highways, not being able to keep it from beeping seems like a good reason to take a cab (don't get me wrong I live in the middle of nowhere, so I understand many people don't have such options). Is it annoying when driving over 45 on an unmarked sideroad and it decides a groove in the road is a lane marker and goes of continuously? Yes. Is it annoying when the sun is reflecting off the hood and leaving a bright thin vertical line that totally looks like a lane marked on the camera's sensor so that it goes off constantly? Yes. Are there probadly other scenarios where it shouldn't go off and it is annoying that it does? Yes. But none of those scenarios are ever menioned by those who complain that it is annoying, and most of them aren't going to be full-time daily occurrences (a person could have a long drive on an unmarked road daily, but the sun reflection is only going to happen daily for a small portion of the year since the sun moves, and most other scenarios are rare as well [I've never had rain make it go off, and I rarely see snow make it go off when it shouldn't]). All of that said, most of the posters who complain about it suggest that they consider it generally annoying, which is where this feeling comes from, I do remember one poster complaining about it being annoying in specific circumstances, and that's totally different. However, I personally try to put up with it even when it's doing something it shouldn't and getting very annoying, because otherwise I'm afraid I'll forget to turn it back on and not have it on the off chance that I actually really need it later on that drive. To me, it's far too easy to get distracted while driving, and I rarely use the radio and don't even carry a cell, so not leaving LDW on would be about like not wearing a seatbelt because you know someone who was killed in a freak accident because they were wearing one (but then again, I hate wearing a motorcycle helmet, and wouldn't fault anyone for not wearing a seatbelt either unless their only excuse was that they were more afraid of a freak accident than a typical one). Finally, a compliment to you, if someone was going to call me out for my prior post (or this one), I'd prefer it were you, as you've been far more generally helpful / useful to this forum than most new members on most forums since you joined not so long ago.

[a.blanco0905]

You ride without a helmet??? You're going to hell... lol... j/k.

Very polite way to clear the air sir.

I've been riding for 13 years and I would never fathom not halving a helmet on, 3 big accidents and my helmets have been there for me but I respect people who dont wear them, however, if my kids ever get on a motorcycle, believe you me it will be with a helmet on... I do mention to young riders on crotchrockets that helmets save lives, because most of them been riding for a month or two and just because they know how to control the bike, they think they know how to ride. I know this because I felt that way when I started riding. I dont say nothing to dudes on Harleys or cruisers for obvious reasons

[The00Dustin]

I've been riding for 13 years and I would never fathom not halving a helmet on, 3 big accidents and my helmets have been there for me but I respect people who dont wear them, however, if my kids ever get on a motorcycle, believe you me it will be with a helmet on... I do mention to young riders on crotchrockets that helmets save lives, because most of them been riding for a month or two and just because they know how to control the bike, they think they know how to ride. I know this because I felt that way when I started riding. I dont say nothing to dudes on Harleys or cruisers for obvious reasons

I actually wore a helmet all the time for years, and couldn't imagine going without one, but now I'd rather get a pair of goggles and enjoy the wind. I don't ride much because I don't own a bike, but I'd be on a Harley if I did. It's actually possible that we've crossed paths on bikes, highly unlikely, but not impossible, I've been to TX on a motorcycle a time or two, and I've ridden the dragon, if you've heard of it.