Smart City Brake Support

TPBuff

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2016 Mazda CX5 Grand Touring w/ Nav
I tried to test my smart city brake support and let the car coast at about 12 mph(making sure I was under 18mph) towards another car. I kept my foot off the brake until I had no choice but to slam it on because the car did not start to do anything by itself. Has anyone had success testing the system this way? Wondering if I need to take to the dealer to have checked?
 
I also could not verify it, myself. I tried trash cans heaped together. Now, a non-believer i.e. someone who blindly believes in Mazda will say that there are conditions under which SCBS will not work and possibly that's what the case had been (big black plastic trash cans do not reflect radar, etc., etc.) but bottom-line is DO NOT RELY ON THIS. It's NOT only Mazda, even Volvo has videos showing failure. In fact, in earlier days dealerships used to showcase this by standing in front of the car. Did you know that Mazda has prohibited display of this technology now to dealers? Why? 'Cause someone got hurt in JP. You can go to the dealer (I did too) and all they did was run some diagnostic and tell me all okay. Can they prove it? Nope.
Proof it works: I enter daily the same garage around the same time. Few times the car stops by itself as it nears the far wall with dashboard lighting up SCBS Activated.
Proof its useless: Same scenario, same driver, same method of driving - nope, SCBS does NOT trigger. Thankfully, i have huge insulation padding on the wall so no harm to car. Of course someone hear will point out the Mazda emblem needs to be clean and yes: it's perfectly clean.

DO NOT DEPEND ON THIS. IT MAY WORK, MAY NOT WORK. WHEN IT DOES NOT WORK - you'll not have ANY idea WHY it did not work.
 
I can't imagine people "depending" on it (though having a padded wall in the garage....). Most everyone hopes to never use it.
 
You'll know it's working when you hear it. I've activated it twice (by being rather impatient with slow turning cars in front of me).
 
I've also noticed the rear traffic alert doesn't seem to pick up stationary objects. Might explain people's failed tests with inanimate objects and the safety systems.
 
Mine's activated a couple of times pulling into the garage when the door wasn't up quite far enough.
 
Excerpt from Mazda: "When driving at low speeds (approximately 4 - 30 km/h) a laser sensor mounted on the windsheild senses the car in front. If the system detects a risk of collision, it prepares the brake system to be ready to deliver maximum stopping power when the driver brakes. If the driver does not take evasive action such as braking or steering, the system simultaneously applies the brakes and reduces engine output, with the aim of avoiding the collision or reducing the severity of impact."

I don't think the sensor for the SCBS is housed within the front emblem, it should be the windshield. Also I'd imagine it "see's" objects based on many factors/conditions so having foam padding on a wall may throw off the readings from the sensor because it recognizes density. insulation padding is probably not dense enough for the sensor to get a good reading, something more solid would probably provide more consistent results.
 
Excerpt from Mazda: "When driving at low speeds (approximately 4 - 30 km/h) a laser sensor mounted on the windsheild senses the car in front. If the system detects a risk of collision, it prepares the brake system to be ready to deliver maximum stopping power when the driver brakes. If the driver does not take evasive action such as braking or steering, the system simultaneously applies the brakes and reduces engine output, with the aim of avoiding the collision or reducing the severity of impact."

I don't think the sensor for the SCBS is housed within the front emblem, it should be the windshield. Also I'd imagine it "see's" objects based on many factors/conditions so having foam padding on a wall may throw off the readings from the sensor because it recognizes density. insulation padding is probably not dense enough for the sensor to get a good reading, something more solid would probably provide more consistent results.

Yeah I'm thinking that's why I haven't been able to set mine off on purpose. I'll approach a car real close but I'm still braking on my own and I think the car recognizes that, and therefore doesn't go off. I think you'd have to be x distance away from a car without any braking or steering input, and the car recognizes that and preps to stop on it's own if you don't make a quick action to attempt to brake.
 
I was wondering about this too, but wasn't brave enough to test it out.
 
I accidentally triggered it pulling up the hill of my driveway and behind our other car. You will hear a beeping sound and a mechanical thumping.
 
IIRC... you are supposed to turn off when you go off-road as it could cause false positives on foliage... although I have never had mine do that.

I think there was some kind of test placard in the FSM one could use.....or it was listed in a TSB... can't remember now.
 
So if your foot is on the brake pedal it won't work? I've almost hit the car in front of me before because I got distracted while in LA traffic jams. Thought I'd stopped by was creeping forward...
 
So if your foot is on the brake pedal it won't work? I've almost hit the car in front of me before because I got distracted while in LA traffic jams. Thought I'd stopped by was creeping forward...

Yes, that's my understanding.

I also echo other comments above that it should not be expected to work in all situations or even identical situations (based on what Mazda says as well as my own experience/testing).
 
Pretty sure it activated for me today after I had already hit the brakes a split second before. Got too close to a car, hit the brakes and the scbs kicked in, slamming on the brakes harder (felt like it, at least) and safely stopped with the activation message on the dash.
 
That's awesome!

Its reassuring to know it works (albeit not all the time so we should not rely on it).
 
Mine's activated a couple of times pulling into the garage when the door wasn't up quite far enough.

Same here - it's happened twice to me.

IIHS upgraded the front crash prevention rating from advanced to superior if you have the iActive Sense pacakge - apparently with that package it works up to 22mph whereas with the tech package only passed the 12mph test.

I haven't tested it beyond the two times with the garage door though.

http://www.iihs.org/iihs/ratings/vehicle/v/mazda/cx-5-4-door-suv
 

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Currently looking at getting a Touring model. Would you say the Tech Package is worth it for this feature?


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