Hi everyone, new to the forum and wanted to share a concerning experience I had with my VW’s Front Assist system. I’ve owned my Lapiz Blue DSG 3-door for about four months now and today I encountered a serious issue that led to an accident, thankfully without major consequences, but it could have been much worse.
I was driving southbound on the M6 and decided to pull into Corley Services. As I was entering the services road, taking a sweeping left bend at around 40-50mph, a plastic bag blew across the road about 10 yards in front of my car. Suddenly, the emergency Front Assist braking activated. This system slammed on my brakes, completely locking them up. There was no ABS intervention, and I ended up being pushed straight ahead with no steering control, directly into the large kerbs lining the entrance.
Luckily, there was no bodywork damage, but my Cadiz alloy wheel is completely destroyed, and the wishbone/subframe is bent, pushing the wheel significantly back into the arch – about three inches. I suspect there’s likely to be further damage as well. Adding to the stress, the lorry behind me narrowly avoided hitting me.
My question to the community is: has anyone else experienced similar issues with the automatic emergency braking or ABS in their VW? How did you approach Volkswagen with this? Are they aware of these potential problems with the Front Assist system being overly sensitive?
I’ve contacted the dealership, and they seem to be placing 100% of the blame on me, calling it an accident. However, I feel this is incredibly unfair. An overzealous safety system caused this incident – a minor crash, thankfully, but it could have been far more serious if the lorry hadn’t reacted quickly. I genuinely had no control as the brakes locked, and the car veered off course due to the Front Assist engaging.
I’m concerned about the repair costs and the potential fight with Volkswagen to take responsibility for what seems like a system malfunction. Any advice or shared experiences would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Joff
