UK-POLOS.NET - THE VW Polo Forum

I discovered the other day that my Polo SE (2019) can operate the brakes if it thinks I'm not slowing down when approaching the rear of another vehicle!

It was a sudden stab at the brakes, just before I was about to. Admittedly I was approaching an island and a large van already there, quite quickly..

I'm not complaining at all (you can adjust the sensitivity) and if I had been nodding off on a motorway, who knows what it could have prevented. I just didn't know my Polo had any such capability; and on such a relatively humble model.

All current Polo models have this feature - Front Assist; it’s page 133 in my copy of the owner’s manual (Nov 2019 version).

Always worth reading - or at least scanning - through the owner’s manual. Not the most exciting read, but there may be other features your car has you’re currently unaware of. The owner’s manual may help you discover these features that could add to your overall ownership experience. At least you now know you have Front Assist and it works!

Thanks

I have been reading through the manual but you get references to things which may not be fitted and coming from the old Polo presumed it was a high end option.. LOL

still pleased on the whole.

I actually got hill start (brake hold) working and using it.. It is another world of experience from 2006

grazuncle2 wrote: ↑Sun Jun 13, 2021 11:30 pm Thanks

I have been reading through the manual but you get references to things which may not be fitted and coming from the old Polo presumed it was a high end option.. LOL

This is the Feb 2020 Polo price and spec brochure which gives details of the standard spec and which options were available on your SE model. As yours is a 2019 car, the spec of your car and the spec outlined in the brochure might be slightly different, although from memory, I don’t think there were any significant spec changes from 2019 to 2020.

https://www.volkswagen.co.uk/assets/com ... ochure.pdf

I hate it with a passion, I wish it could be switched off permanently.
It triggers too easily, it doesn't allow for sporty driving and it's too easily confused by snow.
I'd happily pay higher insurance premiums not to have it.

Andy Beats wrote: ↑Mon Jun 14, 2021 10:35 am I hate it with a passion, I wish it could be switched off permanently.
It triggers too easily, it doesn't allow for sporty driving and it's too easily confused by snow.
I'd happily pay higher insurance premiums not to have it.

Only had the warning symbol show up on the instrument display in conjunction with the audible warning 2 or 3 times in just over nine months of ownership. Never had the car auto-apply the brakes though.

SRGTD wrote: ↑Mon Jun 14, 2021 10:57 am

Only had the warning symbol show up on the instrument display in conjunction with the audible warning 2 or 3 times in just over nine months of ownership. Never had the car auto-apply the brakes though.

It's very unnerving, as once you get past the warning signal it absolutely slams the brakes on for a split second.

I used to get it all the time on my old route to work, where there was a kink in the road that made the car think you were deliberately heading towards a wall.
It would bypass the warning and do the brake-slam thing.
The only choice was to switch it off (big warning light on the dash for your entire journey), slow right down or keep your foot on the brake as you went through that part.
I've also had it slam the brakes on when going through a very narrow archway to a mate's flat courtyard.
Now that episode really annoyed me as the car was full of people and it really felt like I'd hit something.
Even i went "what the f...."
And it really doesn't take much snow at all for the sensor to ping up "sensor operation compromised" (or words to that effect).

Contrast this with my wife's Evoque which also has auto braking, but has never been triggered or compromised by snow.

Completely agree with Andy. I've had the brakes slam on at least 3 times for no reason.
I switch it off every time I get in the car.
As I'm always paying attention to what's in front of me I think it's more likely to cause an accident than prevent one.

johnparker wrote: ↑Mon Jun 14, 2021 4:08 pm
I switch it off every time I get in the car.

I got very good at that, it was like two flicks of the right thumb IIRC.
I can only think the algorithm is completely different in the GTi, as it's only really triggered once in 7 months.
Rushing down the same slip road on the way home in the GTi doesn't have the auto braking thinking I'm attempting suicide like it did in the 95Tsi.

This is my third VW with the front collision thing, my fourth car in a row with something like this, and I only ever had problems with the first car for a few months because the sensors were set at medium. Since I turned the sensors down to the minimum distance setting I rarely get the warning and it never slams on due to my driving. Done the same settings with my wife’s polo and dads troc and they’re the same, never have any issues since it was turned right down. Before I did this there were certain corners where it thought I was going to crash.

The one time the system applied the brakes on my last car, it stopped me having an accident because some buffoon jumped a red light and went across in front of me on a roundabout. I personally believe the system works if you turn the settings down from standard.

It’s never triggered accidentally for me, it helped once in a motorway and a few times in country lanes but activated at the same time I was pressing the brakes. It’s beeped a few times when I’m going around a corner and it may think I’m heading towards the wall but it doesn’t bother me, I like the feeling that it is always there just encase.