[ypsibird]

Questions:

1. Has anyone noticed brake assist in action?

2. What do you think of brake assist?

3. Do you think Honda is downplaying this feature due to public perception?

4. Does Honda engineer their own or buy it (Teves, Bosch, etc.)?

Observations:

I initially noticed "brake assist" merely listed in the 06 Coupe brochure. There was no explaination or description in the Safety for Everyone, applied pages. When I went to the web site I could only find a mention of the feature on the What's New page as follows: "vehicle stability assist with brake assist on V6 models". As stated, it's new on 06 V6's. I was curious. What is brake assist exactly?

I found out that it basically locks your brakes for you when it senses a panic stop. Check out

http://www.brakeassist.com/

for a detailed explaination.

Now I'll give you my answers/opinions to my own questions:

1. Never noticed it, but am not sure I've really had a hard enough stop to trigger it. I might try to trigger it sometime with a really fast, light move from gas to brake. Maybe in a parking lot or on an empty road, of course.

2. I initially didn't like the idea. My car is going to decide to lock the brakes for me? Upon reading more information it sounds like it's probably a good feature.

3. Yes.

4. Don't know.

 

[dads-car]

I think our '05 has that... Says that it will assist in situations where the foor is moved from the throttle to the brake very quickly... and where it thinks the driver wants to stop as quickly as possible.

Out in the country at 60mph not long ago, a rabbit ran out in front of the car and although Dad hadin't touched the brake pedal that hard, (for the deceleration), the car slowed down violently. I'd guess that was it in action.

 

[OwAce]

very very very very interesting. id like to know more about this.

 

[BenjiBoy650]

A few things

Real brake assist (found on Mercedes, BMW, etc) is basically a system which tracks the movements of the gas and brake pedals. It senses your inputs at all times and knows the average length of time it takes for you to transition from normal throttle to 0 throttle ie (how many milliseconds it takes for you to completely get off the gas). When it senses that you lift off the gas much quicker than normal (like in a panic), the system 1) brings the pads right up against the surface of the rotor for quicker response and 2) applies full braking pressure if you stomp on the pedal hard enough.

If the Accord really has this technology, it will not lock the wheels. What it will do is apply full brake force when it senses you have an emergency situation, but you didn't hit the pedal hard enough to get ABS to engage. That's all...

They could also be talking about EBD, the workings of which are fairly well know

 

[psyshack]

More nannyism. Just romp on the brake if you think your about to get hurt and drive the car into or thru.

 

[OwAce]

More nannyism. Just romp on the brake if you think your about to get hurt and drive the car into or thru.

forcefield activate?!! :lmao:

 

[ypsibird]

Good to see the input on this. Dads-car, I hope the outcome was good! This is the kind of situation I had in mind where you react quicky but hold back due to personal safety. I would readily sacrifice a rabbit (sorry) for my own safety in a slippery situation, etc. BTW us Americans only consider ourselves. I didn't consider if overseas or Canadian cars had this feature prior to 2006 (oops).

BenjiBoy650, I think you hit on why I'm asking questions about this system. Why don't we clearly know ("If the Accord really has this technology") how this system works? From what I can see it has little to do with EBD. Both systems are "listed" serarately. But there is no explanation of how brake assist works as opposed to details of how EBD operates.

After my original post I looked up brake assist in my 2006 owners manual. Nothing. Its seems to me that it shoud be explained. This is a system that can brake more than what you intend. I'm not trying to say that it is negative or doesn't work well. I don't know since there seems to be extremely little information about it! I thought the other comments were valid: nannyism, forcefield activate - kind of inline with my initial reaction to this system! Is Honda ashamed of this feature?

 

[BenjiBoy650]

As you mentioned, EBD and Brake Assist are completely different things. To complicate things, of course brochures are made by humans and thus are prone to error. Furthermore, "brake assist" could simply mean that the Vehicle Stability Assist utilizes the brakes to help control the car. There's a ton of things it could mean. The way I look at it, if "brake assist" is not capitalized and especially since there's no mention of it on the website, it's the latter case (VSA using the brakes).

 

[ypsibird]

I think brake assist does what I initially explained and what http://www.brakeassist.com describes. It slams your brakes on full when it senses a panic stop. I don't think there is any error in the brochure where it's mentioned twice (but never explained or described). Again, brake assist is listed as a separate feature from VSA or EBD in the 2 page chart of of specifications and features. As noted, it is similiarly mentioned on their web site (but not explained or described). I question whether Honda wants to downplay this feature due to negative public perception or possibility even liability issues? I also believe that they should explain this feature to their customers, if not in their brochure, at least in the owner's manual. I think an owner should know that their car may decide to brake with much more force than they anticipated. I find it quite odd that any customer has to guess what this listed safety feature is, or how it works.

 

[jermy4]

Alright, who is going to go test this out on their ride? I would but I don't have a V6.

 

[CometVR4]

I actually experienced this on my Mothers old '04 TL.

I was driving he car home on some back roads and thanks to the bi-xenons the highbeams did a great job of illuminating the road but I see 2 deer crossing right in front of me....I paniced and quickly slammed on the brakes.....I noticed the ABS kicked in right away all I heard was CHIRP..CHIRP..CHIRP..CHIRP ....CHIRP.....CHIRP.........CHIRP.............CHIRP and I came to an almost stop without hitting anything. I knew it was brake assist b/c usually to get ABS to activate like that I'd have to push the brake to the floor but it seemed as though the car took over for me, I had to almost take my foot all the way off the brake until it went back into normal mode. Later that night i tried to duplicate it but nothing happend. I guess the car knows when I'm for real or not.

 

[Dreamacre]

Don't know if this is related, but I replaced my rear pads this weekend, cause they were worn more than the fronts, only after 30K. :dunno:

Every other car I have owned, the fronts wear out well before the rear.

 

[OwAce]

Don't know if this is related, but I replaced my rear pads this weekend, cause they were worn more than the fronts, only after 30K. :dunno:

Every other car I have owned, the fronts wear out well before the rear.

stop driving with your handbrake on. :nuts:

 

[ypsibird]

I don't think it's related. The brake assist is new for US V6 Accords as of 06.

I agree that I would normally expect the front pads to go 1st since they do most of the braking due to weight shift. However, I have found that 4 wheel disk vehicles normally wear their rears out 1st. I was pretty surprised the 1st time it happened to me too. I presume you have 4 wheel disks, since you said pads not shoes.

 

[ypsibird]

Well, I kind of got kind of an unexpected chance to test brake assist today.

A woodchuck ran in front of me when I was doing about 55 down a 2 lane blacktop. Reflexes made me jump on the brakes (only hit them about 1/2 to 2/3 force) and brake assist did nothing that I could detect. Excellent! I was concerned about brake assist going to full force (when not intended) in just this type of situation. The system must be very smart because I jumped from throttle to brake as fast as I possibly could. I guess I'll have to retract my initial skepticism.

BTW, the woodchuck was fine.

 

[mwmcginn]

Woodchuck? Who sees those on the road? All I see are turkeys and deer.

 

[snakehair]

Woodchuck on road

You are lucky you missed the critter. I hit on years ago going about 60 and it felt like the whole front end was going to come off. They are solid. Like running over a log.
In my rear view mirror I saw the little fella scamper off the road, but I figure he was running on nerves by then.

 

[ypsibird]

You are lucky you missed the critter. I hit one years ago going about 60 and it felt like the whole front end was going to come off. They are solid. Like running over a log.

Thanks. I'm glad I'm missed him too. Much less a turkey or deer!

I did feel reassured that brake assist didn't over react and lock me up when it wasn't necessary or intended in this circunstance. Though I jumped on the brakes real hard and fast, I had enough room to miss the little guy. My compliments to Honda for a system that isn't overly obtrusive.