Auto Braking by City Safety - 2015 Volvo S60 Long-Term Road Test

Edmunds.com

Auto Braking by City Safety - 2015 Volvo S60 Long-Term Road Test

The Auto Braking by City Safety fired off in our 2015 Volvo S60 as we approached out parking garage.

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banhugh

So you got a false positive. Do you blame Volvo for setting their system to be too conservative after this happened? They are still a long way from making thing work smoothly...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNi17YLnZpg

adantium

Tech like this is 1st generation and its going to suck. Wait 10 years then get it on a car. For now its a gimmick and there's no guarantee it will save your behind when you need it either. Drivers are getting lazy and hoping the tech will save them.

zimtheinvader

I get having a system beep a warning at me but I don't understand the need/desire to have it do the braking for me. I'm okay with having a car point out possible dangers but I don't think I want it to actually react for me.
Are our reaction times so slow that a warning to "BRAKE!" wouldn't be enough?

throwback

Is there an off button, or is it always on? If it is always on, that would be reason enough for me to not even consider this car.

miata52

It would have really sucked if you had gotten rear-ended because you came to an unexpected, sudden stop.

Thanks Volvo, but no thanks, I'll do the braking myself...

kmjs_1

Volvo has had this feature for a few years, I have it on my 2013 S60 and have never had it activate at any tollgates (airport entrances, parking lots, etc.). And it can be turned off in the menu. The city safety feature stops the car if you aren't paying attention and are about to rear end another car. Or hit a pedestian or other solid object. I "do the braking myself" but I don't object to having this safety feature on standby. And many other automakers followed Volvo and offer the same feature. So if an S60 approaching a gate and has city safe activate and is then rear ended by another car, I'd say that 2nd car had a tail-gating, non-attentive driver driver (hopefully with insurance).

dm7279

It can be turned off. I have a 2014 S60 and i've never had it activate. If it does, I might turn it off. Bear in mind, it is only active below about 30 mph.

nomercy346

kmjs_1 said:

I'd say that 2nd car had a tail-gating, non-attentive driver driver (hopefully with insurance).

Or that car had a totally attentive driver who saw nothing but clear space in front of an entrance gate and is following a Volvo that's slowing down exactly as a normal driver would do - until it suddenly doesn't... Most drivers will at least have a close call

mlin32

City Braking systems are intended to be uncomfortable to jolt the driver into awareness that they could have just had a collision. It's not a comfort feature like ACC.

I have this feature on the Mazda 3 and although I have only tested it in non-traffic conditions, I have never had it activate since I am generally attentive. However, it is nice to know it is there as a last-ditch backup feature. I have never had any "false positive" incidents.

ilikecars6

I have a 2013 S60 and I have only had the City Safety feature kick on once and I was sure glad it did. I was not paying attention and thought the car in front of me went at the green light when they did not move. In my case this feature saved me a pretty good fender.

I don't know how fast they approached the gate at the Edmunds parking garage but I go through gates everyday parking at work and leaving and have never had the system kick on at a parking gate.

herrstreet

What mlin32 says is exactly right and the engineers commented on it as such in a video I watched prior to getting a Volvo. Volvo's philosophy is to keep the driver as the center of the vehicle's operation. So they designed the stops to intentionally be a little dramatic so that you don't become a lazy, inattentive driver. I sympathize that you were a little startled - but the impression it left is probably proof that it does its job. 5th Gear also did a comparison of the higher speed collision avoidance systems and the Volvo unit did better than even the one on an S-Class. So at least you know that it is a quality design.