Distance Recognition Support System- why no audio warning?

Hello. I just bought a 2016 CX-5 with both safety electronics packages. I love the car and everything is great. But something is baffling me here. Why is there no audio warning option with the DRSS when you are getting too close to the car in front of you (unless a collision is imminent)? I had a MobilEye on my last car and you could have it chime when you were within, say, 2 seconds of the car in front and it got your attention so you could slow down and allow more space. This does the same thing, but unlike the other safety options, there is no audible alarm option and it only displays a ridiculous graphic to the right of the speedometer. It's absolutely useless. Why would you be looking there to find out how close you are to the car in front out you? It would have been trivial to add an audio option. The MobilEye was great to have when you're looking in your blind spot and someone changes lanes closely in front you. "Chime"- you look forward and see that you're getting too close to someone.

I called Mazda and the woman I talked to agreed that it made no sense, but said it was unlikely there would be a software update to add the option. The other (trivial to do) thing I'd like would be for the navigation system to tell you that you're speed even when you haven't programmed a route.

This car seems to be very well thought out, but the DRSS situation really bothers me and I may end up adding a MobilEye anyhow, which I never would have though necessary with all the other great stuff on this car. Can anyone think of a logical reason they'd leave audio off this particular feature?

Thanks!
Brian

Brian Matchick said:

This car seems to be very well thought out, but the DRSS situation really bothers me and I may end up adding a MobilEye anyhow, which I never would have though necessary with all the other great stuff on this car. Can anyone think of a logical reason they'd leave audio off this particular feature?

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Just a guess but probably because an audio warning that far in advance would just be annoying. I mean, as long as you're looking out your windshield you can see if you're approaching a car too fast, this safety system is more of a last minute save feature for when the unexpected happens and human reflexes are too slow. Mazda's research and data probably showed that this wasn't the problem and the annoyance of it constantly going off wasn't worth the rare instance where it might help.

That's a good point, and you're probably right. However, having it default to OFF and giving the driver the option to turn it on is trivial. As I said, audio warnings are very useful for me. Why would they bother to engineer that ridiculous graphic display at all? It's much less useful than an audio warning- in face, it's useless.

I want to make one correction regarding warnings about speeding. Today the car told me I was speeding even though I wasn't in an active route. I hadn't done that before. Not sure what's going on, but maybe I was wrong about that. Only had it for two days so I'm still trying to figure it out.

If I remember correctly: (a) in the 3 instances it did kick in, there was some sort of audible beep-beep. But it happens with SCBS/SBS (b) Check your settings - I think there are options there.

Mazda is correct, if you are driving and come to close it should NOT beep. It'll be immensely frustrating, at least for me.

Brian Matchick said:

That's a good point, and you're probably right. However, having it default to OFF and giving the driver the option to turn it on is trivial. As I said, audio warnings are very useful for me. Why would they bother to engineer that ridiculous graphic display at all? It's much less useful than an audio warning- in face, it's useless.

I want to make one correction regarding warnings about speeding. Today the car told me I was speeding even though I wasn't in an active route. I hadn't done that before. Not sure what's going on, but maybe I was wrong about that. Only had it for two days so I'm still trying to figure it out.

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That's because the Nav interface has speed cameras. It'll only audible warn you to reduce speed if there's a speed camera. Please read your user manual, everything's there.

The Tom Tom system doesn't have nearly the speed limit database a Garmin has. Most of the time mine never knows what the speed limit is, so it can't tell me I'm speeding. Not that I would care.

Has Mazda updated the DRSS system to give an audio warning? My CX-5 doesn't come with DRSS and I am considering of getting the parts for the system and install them. I'm deciding between this and the MobilEye system.

Another question, I saw in the manual a table of the set distance for each DRSS range (see below). As I understand from the table, when the speed of our vehicle is 50mph and the DRSS range is set to "extremely short", the DRSS will give a warning when the distance to the vehicle ahead is nearer than 25meter. Is this correct? Isn't this distance a bit large? In the country where I'm from, it's common for two cars running at the same speed of 50mph to have a gap between the first and the second cars at around 10meter or below. Does the DRSS system take into account the speed of the vehicle ahead? Shouldn't the system use the difference in the speeds of the two vehicles instead of just the absolute speed of our vehicle for the DRSS calculation?

Perhaps I turned it off in options but mine does not beep but it indicates on the right part of the dash.

50 mph is roughly 22.x meters per sec. The standard 2-sec safe following distance rule therefore suggests 44.x meters of clearance, which Mazda has mapped to "medium" in the above table. So it looks right.

I believe the safe distance concept has nothing to do with speed differential from vehicle in front, but your own absolute speed only. Bottom line is, if preceding car stops abruptly (regardless of its speed), would you have sufficient time to react (given your own absolute speed).

mazdafollower said:

50 mph is roughly 22.x meters per sec. The standard 2-sec safe following distance rule therefore suggests 44.x meters of clearance, which Mazda has mapped to "medium" in the above table. So it looks right.

I believe the safe distance concept has nothing to do with speed differential from vehicle in front, but your own absolute speed only. Bottom line is, if preceding car stops abruptly (regardless of its speed), would you have sufficient time to react (given your own absolute speed).

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GiantIguana, despite what I've said above, I agree that the speed difference between two vehicles (that you've pointed out) does have safety implications. Note that while this data is not being used in DRSS, it is pivotal to SBC (Smart Brake Support), provided your CX-5 has the necessary Technology/iActivSense package.

Speed difference (among other metrics incl. relative distance) allows SBC to predict how imminent a collision is, hence when it's time for it to take control of the brake system.

On the other hand, DRSS's mandate is not to detect an imminent collision. It instead simply tries to promote good practices around safe following distance to prepare driver for unexpected changes in traffic flow ahead.

mazdafollower said:

GiantIguana, despite what I've said above, I agree that the speed difference between two vehicles (that you've pointed out) does have safety implications. Note that while this data is not being used in DRSS, it is pivotal to SBC (Smart Brake Support), provided your CX-5 has the necessary Technology/iActivSense package.

Speed difference (among other metrics incl. relative distance) allows SBC to predict how imminent a collision is, hence when it's time for it to take control of the brake system.

On the other hand, DRSS's mandate is not to detect an imminent collision. It instead simply tries to promote good practices around safe following distance to prepare driver for unexpected changes in traffic flow ahead.

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Need to correct myself: meant to type SBS (not SBC) above, although this must be obvious to everyone.

bmninada said:

If I remember correctly: (a) in the 3 instances it did kick in, there was some sort of audible beep-beep. But it happens with SCBS/SBS (b) Check your settings - I think there are options there.

Mazda is correct, if you are driving and come to close it should NOT beep. It'll be immensely frustrating, at least for me.

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It's not annoying in Mom's Cadillac. But, it doesn't go off often.