[Atlant]

Hi all,

New here (2023 Pro S AWD picked up 2 weeks ago), and searched for these terms but couldn’t find anything exactly what I was experiencing. I have been commuting about 25 miles each way to work on an interstate with a 70 MPH speed limit using ACC. At one particular interchange, drivers always crowd the right 3 lanes and cut over at the last second to exit creating a jam that you can see from a pretty far distance away. I have tested these conditions with the ACC and have found that it does not slow down much before hitting the jam, so it brakes hard and I feel like I have to intervene so it isn’t too close. I had a rental Mazda CX-5 recently and it would “see” the traffic up ahead and slow accordingly thus avoiding any hard braking. I have follow distance set on the second to longest distance. What have y’all experienced using ACC in stop and go traffic? Wondering if I can calibrate some settings to make it smoother and less scary in these scenarios. Thanks!

Somewhere in the configuration menus, there's a setting relating to how aggressively the ACC does its job. You can set things so it brakes earlier and gentler and doesn't accelerate as hard when the path becomes more clear.

I tried it, but here in New England, it just meant that the ID.4 was leaving a big(ish) gap in front of me and so multiple drivers would cut me off.

Note: This is UNRELATED to the ACC's “Following Distance 1-5” setting.

 

[Atlant]

I falsely assumed that it would behave similar to other ACC systems I have used.

Rule 1: NOTHING on the ID.4 was designed by people who have actually driven other cars with these features. It's as if they gave the programming assignments to a bunch of 15 year olds who've never had driving licenses.

This is how we ended up with the whacky “Automatic High-Beams” state machine that insists you flash your brights at the oncoming driver before you can switch off the high beams.

This is how we ended up with ACC that very aggressively accelerates and decelerates but can't see a new-but-stopped object.

This is how we ended up with cabin light switches that need a video to explain how their state machine functions.

This is how we ended up with side-mirror dipping that doesn't really help you during parallel parking.

This is how we ended up with headlight controls that almost always cause you to inadvertently activate one of the three defrost options.

And so on and so on…

 

[Atlant]

I'm sorry, but you're using your car wrong - some of the examples you describe are user-error related: The Automatic High-Beam issue is because you toggle the control the wrong way (unless your set-up is vastly different from mine) - you toggle it out, the Automatic High-Beam comes on, and if you toggle it back in, it switches off without flashing anyone.

You are absolutely wrong about how the function works and others here have described this problem.

If the cabin lights required a video for you to figure out, you must struggle with minor adaptions.

Others here have described this problem.

ACC has never failed to see anything for me, and if I set the distance but a little farther away, it behaves admirably.

Just this morning, someone else here has described this problem.

I get you're extremely negative about the software, and rightly so in many ways, but try and keep it fair and somewhat objective - subjectivity is very little use to owners trying to find solutions to their issues.

I just have this (obviously foolish) idea that for US$50,000, I ought to get a car with software that pretty much works.

 

[Atlant]

As others have said, you bought a $30,000 car with a $20,000 battery.

That's really just an opinion, isn't it?

 

[Atlant]

. . . seem to want to be unhappy with the car. For myself, life's too short to drive around in a car I don't like, so if I were that unhappy, I'd just move on to something else, unless being unhappy was my goal to begin with.

As I've said, I'm awaiting the software update. If it doesn't arrive or it turns out to be a dud, I most surely WILL move on. Life's too short to drive a car with this many bugs in it.

 

[Atlant]

As others have said, you bought a $30,000 car with a $20,000 battery. And it's a car with known idiosyncrasies and some iffy software. Yet most ID.4 drivers seem to adapt to both the quirks and the bugs, and those who can't mostly sell and buy something else. A few, however . . .

Okay, for the sake of argument, let's accept that you're right and the ID.4 IS just a US30,000 car.

Should it be acceptable that a $30,000 car comes with obviously defective software and no software updates so far after three years in the field?

 

[Atlant]

If I bought a car widely billed as having obviously defective software I'd blame my lack of due diligence. But my research into the ID.4, through media reviews of varying degrees of usefulness and on this very useful forum and during my one-hour test drive of a 2021 FE, taught me that the ID.4 was a competent car that drove as well as my previous VWs and was amazingly comfortable, and that there was an annoying iPad-like-thing stuck onto the dash that was a bit temperamental but which I could mostly ignore.

I notice you didn't answer my question.

 

[Atlant]

Hi just jumping in.. .realizing the thread has piled on a bit but... regarding ACC. I had an "event" while on freeway driving in bumper2bumper conditions... the scenario is as we crept along, car i followed darted out to another lane... my ACC accelerated as if there's no car ahead for 50 yards... it nearly hit the next car ahead of me which was abt 4-5 car lengths... i had to step on my brakes and had to replay the scenario in my mind to make sense of it. I did ask this forum a while back and someone pointed out the ACC needs time to respond or register the next car ahead and before it does, it'll accelerate assuming there's no car in front. so it was a response time issue with the software/hardware. just be careful when using it. I think I dropped my ACC behavior from Sporty/aggressive to Normal in the driving mode/profile for custom.

This goes EXACTLY to the point I made elsewhere comparing the cognitive load on the driver for 1) just driving versus 2) monitoring the automation to make sure it doesn't f-up and kill you. I'm finding choice (1) to be more of “my happy place” although I use ACC quite extensively in relatively-smoothly moving traffic.