Category Archives: cars

Collision Prevention Assist Plus Inoperative

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My first experience with Collision Prevention Assist was in my boss’ E-Class. It was a small red light on the dashboard which I figured out came on when I got too close to cars in front of me while driving.

Then I got an A-Class and learnt a bit more about it. It wasn’t so basic. If it thought you might not be paying attention it would beep loudly (shout in my terminology) at you to warn you that you might be about to crash.

Then I heard stories from a colleague who says he was driving on the highway, came up behind a car and all of a sudden his car automatically slammed on brakes. And this was also the fault of Collision Prevention Assistance Plus.

Now I’ve had it beep at me many times, and with my CLA it has also actually lightly engaged the brakes, but not once has it been in an instance of real danger. In my opinion. It happens most often when you’re driving behind a car and they turn off the road you’re on, slowing down considerably. I however maintain my speed because I’m driving straight. The car doesn’t know they’re turning and so warns you of your impending demise.

It is however an important safety feature, and the one time it saves you from an accident will be worth all the false-positives.

Not too unhappy am I then when I turn on my car a few weeks ago to be greeted by a yellow message saying “Collision Prevention Assist Plus Inoperative”. I check the manual and it says I must drive slowly and take the car to a dealer. This is 16h00 the day before I’m supposed to go on a 3,000km road trip. So what do I do? I find a dirt road, check the ABS and traction control are still functioning and decide to take my chances. As far as I can tell the car functioned exactly as normal besides the lack of this one function. And it was actually quite nice, because with it inoperative, it was unable to beep at me.

2015-09-09 08.16.50Eventually though, several weeks after it started warning me I took it in to the dealership. They kept it for the morning and told me they did a software update, now the message is gone, hopefully for good.

From what I’ve read on forums and discussed with other drivers, it’s not an altogether uncommon occurrence amongst CLA and GLA drivers. And in most cases a software update fixes the problem for good.

Discalimer: When I took the car in the service agent told me if they couldn’t fix it they would have to keep it overnight, as they can’t let me drive with one of the safety functions malfunctioning. Fair enough. What it does mean is that I (and you) should definitely not drive an additional 3,000 km before taking the car to be checked out.

2015 Mercedes-Benz CLA200 (C117)

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After 8 months with the A200, I’ve managed a switch to the CLA200. What is this? Well it’s the A-class that they made a bit longer and chopped the hatch off. Although it looks a bit like a sedan, Mercedes naming conventions have it down as a coupé. This is further aligned by the limited head-space for the rear seat passengers.

The CLA by name is not an A-Class, but by every other measure it is. Both cars share interior and exterior design features, have the same engine options and are based on the same platform. The CLA was introduced 8 months after the launch of the A-Class. A CLA station wagon (or shooting brake) has been released this year, looks beautiful, but is not yet available in South Africa.

Mercedes CLA Shooting Brake

Mercedes CLA Shooting Brake (this is not my car)

The specific cars (A and CLA) I drove have the identical engine, gearbox and FWD system. Sitting in the CLA feels exactly the same as sitting in the A-Class, besides the media screen’s thinner frame, and noticeable changes to the door due to the frameless doors on the CLA.

So I thought the A-Class I drove had no extras, but the CLA had even less. No ‘Mirror’ package, means the side mirrors don’t fold away (a nice visual cue for whether your car is locked or not) and also that the mirrors don’t auto dim when lights shine on them. Even with the lack of extras, the car still came with cruise-control, bluetooth and tyre pressure monitoring.

This is kinda like my car

This is kinda like my car

Outside, the bonnet has some extra styling lines, the side profile obviously differs with the boot instead of the hatch. Doors don’t have a window frame, and the stock 16″ wheels encourage an optional upgrade. Inside there are some minor design changes to the vents and trim, not specifically to my liking compared to the A-Class, but not bad. The rear seats do fold down, so I’ll still be able to get my bike in, which was something I was concerned about after the fixed rear seats of the old C-Class (split rear seats was an option).

this is my one

this is my one

The engine revving/noise seems to be tweaked slightly compared to the A-class, which means it doesn’t sound as strained. I also feel that the way it manages gears has also been tweaked slightly for the better, meaning I no longer have the issue of being in the wrong- or out of a gear when leaving a speed bump.

Although the CLA is marginally heavier (like 30kg) than the A-class, it still manages improved fuel-economy figures. Partially due to the car’s lower wind-resistance profile and partially due to an added ‘Charge’ fuel-saving feature. Only time will tell how accurate this is. Over the 18,810 km I did in the A-Class, I averaged 8.7 l/100km.2015-06-22 16.45.52

Overall I do like the CLA more. It’s a nicer looking car; I’ve always preferred a sedan shape to a hatchback (although the shooting brake really does take the cake) and I also feel it drives nicer than the A-Class. Suspension seems marginally stiffer, but this may be because I’m comparing a brand new CLA to an A-Class with several thousand Ks on the clock.2015-06-22 16.45.41

Another nice car, nothing amazing from Mercedes, but good looking, comfortable and decent handling. A very expensive car for what is a small sedan, but it is a premium brand, and the price is only marginally more than what you’d pay for the equivalent A3 sedan.

Putting the A into AI

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In a recent episode of Top Gear (S22E06), the hosts got going about driverless cars and how one day these cars are going to being making decisions about whether they should kill a bunch of kids or let you die instead. And it’s a funny little skit they do, but many people seem to believe that this is a current issue.

What I find surprising, is that no one is actually worried about these things, until someone starts a conversation about it, and then it’s fun to joke about, but in a serious manner. It’s the same thing we saw in the movie adaptation of iRobot, where Will Smith hates robots because one chose to save his life over a child’s, because the odds were better. It’s also why during the rest of the movie the robots try to imprison us, for the ‘better good’.

But it’s called Artificial Intelligence for a reason, mainly because it’s not real. It’s true that we’re doubling the processing capabilities of computers on a very frequent basis, but we’re still decades away from being able to get a computer to take in and process enough data to be able to make that kind of decision, and then it’s still only making a decision based on what we’ve taught it, there is no intelligence in the true sense of the word. Nevermind who gets to make those decisions anyway? Is there an ISO standard which dictates the hierarchy of people. For example: two 20 year olds > one 50 year old? No. Not any time soon anyway. And I don’t know if I want my car making these kinds of decisions in any case. I don’t want it to know that much.

The sad (maybe) truth is that it’s really really hard for a computer to quickly recognise different kinds of objects. It can quite possibly recognise obstructions, but to differentiate what these all are in any usable time frame is nigh impossible. More likely the car will see it’s about to crash, will slam on brakes and determine if there is an area to its left (for RHD cars) that it can swerve and avoid hitting something else. This is where we are currently. And it’s great, because as much as we as people can analyse, people make bad decisions. More often than not though, the car will avoid being in situations where it has to make this kind of decision. It won’t be tailgaiting like humans do, it’ll have a nice following distance that gives it time to react. And it can react quicker than us.

I’ve written about autonomous vehicles before, the ‘Yay’, but ‘ahh’ feelings I have towards them. The biggest factor against them at the moment is the lack of regulations governing them. And no one really knows how to react to this. There are too many uncontrolled variables, which I don’t see being solved in the next 10 years, not on public roads in any case.

Some of my posts (such as this one), I’ll have the idea for the post, sketch out one or two paragraphs, but then it sits as a draft for almost 3 months. And as time goes on, more and more people write and speak about the topic, such as the below 2 articles which have al come out in this time :) It is an exciting time to be in, and I look forward to seeing how the rate of penetration increases. I’m not as optimistic as others may be, but agree that it is the future, and hope to be able to be a part of it.

Elon Musk mentioned it in a recent key note address

Another very relevant link: Self-driving cars and the Trolley problem

1996 Audi A4 (B5) 1.8

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Today I sold my car. It was a 1996 Audi A4 1.8 (the naturally aspirated one). It was a great car that I am going to miss tremendously. Even though I’ve only driven it very rarely in the last year, every time I did I would remember why I loved it. It was voted SA Car of the year in 1996 and for good reason. Even though it’s 19 years old, the car still goes well, has many features, and in my opinion is still a good car by current day standards.

beach_audiThe car used to belong to my grandfather who looked after it with impeccable care. When he passed away my parents bought the car for me, and I’ve had it for the past 7 years. I received it at around 140,000km, and have put an extra 70,000km onto it since then. During this time it has only failed me once, and that was when the fuel pump packed in late at night on the way home from a show in Cape Town. Besides that I’ve only had to perform standard wear and tear replacements.

party_audiThe 1.8l engine put out 96kw when it was new, and has retained majority of that grunt. Although not over the top, it allows for comfortable cruising, and dropping a gear gives you all you need for overtaking or maintaining speed up a hill. The front-wheel drive, 5 speed manual car under-steered predictably, and minor tyre squeal from the 15″ tyres on stock mags would always let you know how close to the limit you were. Lean on hard-cornering was quite noticeable, but understandable. The car was absent of any ESP or traction control, but did have all-round disc brakes with ABS.

road_trip_audiThe radio was a standard cassette/radio, a CD shuttle in the boot was a later option which my car lacked. The radio only gave me hassles when the battery died and I didn’t know what the code was. I later also installed an RF transmitter into the dashboard to allow for some more modern audio input. The car originally unlocked with an IR remote. This had stopped working by the time I got the car, but the central working still functioned. I thus installed a garage remote receiver in the boot and hooked it up to the central locking system, thus returning remote locking to the car.

scenic_audiThe car is spacious with a large boot and even a full-sized spare wheel. The car had one airbag in the steering wheel for the driver, and other models came with a second for the passenger. 3 point seat belts for 2 of the 3 seats in the back, with a waist belt for the 3rd. The climate control still worked perfectly along with the rest of the electronics I haven’t already specified. In its latter years the catalytic converter was removed which gave the Audi a bit of a raspy warble.

nowhere_audiIt’s a great car, and can be picked up relatively cheap at current rates. Condition of the vehicle will vary a fair amount, and if proper maintenance hasn’t been seen to, you could be in for costly repairs. At 200,000km the clutch and gearbox still worked perfectly, and the engine wasn’t burning or leaking any oil.