Studies find automatic braking can cut crashes over 40%
Oof, my experience with with auto-brake in a 2021 Subaru Crosstrek (anecdotal, sample size of one, all that good stuff) is much the opposite. It&#x27;s too sensitive and tends to brake shockingly hard during fairly mundane maneuvers.<p>When backing up near a wall&#x2F;obstacle, the auto-brake seems to kick in when anything is closer than three or four feet away from the bumper. I use my mirrors and have an accurate impression of where the four corners of the vehicle are - I don&#x27;t need the computer slamming on the brakes when I am reversing in a tight spot. It feels _more_ dangerous and I fear that one day, my knee-jerk reaction will be to fight the machine (press the gas harder, or get distracted looking at the console which emits lights and sounds every single time auto-brake kicks in) and wind up wrecking with even more force than I might have otherwise.<p>Also, in traffic, I&#x27;ll often take my foot off the gas and coast&#x2F;idle, letting the vehicle slow down naturally. I try to do this instead of braking sometimes as I believe it assists with keeping the flow of traffic predictable for others. Usually this is no problem because I follow the next person at a safe distance.<p>Sometimes, while decelerating as described above, I will allow the distance between myself and the next car to close, for example, if they&#x27;re turning and will be gone in a second anyway. The Subaru then ruins my slowdown maneuver by slamming on the brakes because it thinks I&#x27;m approaching the vehicle ahead of me too quickly. Well, yes, maybe, but they&#x27;re also halfway out of the lane already so it&#x27;s not terribly significant that I&#x27;m closing the distance. Another half-second and they&#x27;ll be gone, restoring my follow distance. (This has only happened once or twice but I imagine it gives the person behind me quite the unnecessary shock.)<p>I wish there was a way to fine-tune the sensitivity, or at least an option to say &quot;I am an attentive driver, please switch auto-brake to a lower sensitivity level.&quot; Currently the only option is to disable it each time the engine starts, which feels wrong to do...