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Lane Keeping System... meh.


FusionDad
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11,000 miles on our Fusion Energi, just-completed 7,000 mile cross-country vacation trip, and both my son's and my conclusion is: the LKS is the one new techie feature that's not that awesome in the  end.  

 

I was slightly miffed one year ago when picking up our then-new Prius Plug-in Advanced model that this was the one gizmo feature the PiP Advanced lacks, even though other Toyotas have it.  Now, after using it a lot during the cross-country trip, on freeways and smaller roads, we both came to the conclusion that it results more in a driver's effort than a driver's benefit.  Lots of subtle "fighting the driver" which is a bit tiring.  Both of us feel that there are only a few ways of holding the steering wheel to really keep the system stable enough to avoid these constant micro-corrections - and who holds the steering wheel in exactly one position for hours & hours on end?  This is completely opposite of our warm feelings toward the Auto Cruise Control radar.

 

I'm interested in others' observations.

Edited by FusionDad
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I wanted the Lane Keeping System as a safety feature.  Seeing how it worked I thought it would be great during long distance driving.  I remember once it did steer me back into my lane which then made me pay attention more to my driving and less to the Empower or Engage screen in the dash.  I think this feature would help at night on longer drives.  

 

I let a friend drive my car and I noticed that he seemed to drive to the left side of his lane, whereas I think (I could be wrong) that I tend to stay more in the middle of my lane.  Well, a couple of times when he was driving the alert came on saying he should keep both hands on the wheel and once that he should stop for coffee.  That has never happened to me yet.  So I think the car must have been making those micro-corrections as you call them to keep him more towards the center of his lane.  He insists that he did not notice any corrections by the car so I really don't know what happened.

 

You and your son have logged a lot of miles so your opinions of the Lane Keeping System are very helpful.  I only have 2900 miles on my car so I will let you know if my feelings for this feature change over time/miles in the next few months.

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  • 2 weeks later...

It's the Driver Alert which defaults to On.  Look on page 188 of the owner's manual.  It came on when a friend was driving my car.  It chimes and I had no idea what that chime was, but in the left gauge is where the feature shows you an icon of a coffee cup and it will tell you to stop and rest depending how often the car thinks you're not paying attention.  It has never alerted me when I was driving so I do not remember exactly what the gauge says.

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I didn't think I would use it but when I notice that I'm sleepy I turn it on and it has helped me more than a few times.

 

How exactly does it work?  Sometimes it takes a while to figure out you are in a lane even when there are cars next to you, other times it figures it out when there are no cars anywhere in sight..

Edited by dlb92
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The camera looks for the lines on the edges of the lane. 

There has to be at least one line and you have to be at 40 mph or higher for it to work.

Going from memory

If you are below 40 mph the lane marks in the left display will be white.

At 40 or above they turn green if you are centered in the lane.

If you drift to one side the marker for that side will turn yellow.

If you keep drifting it will attempt to steer back into the lane.

If you hold the wheel and prevent it from correcting it will turn red and vibrate the steering wheel.

There are settings in the setup menus that allow some configuration of how you want it to work.

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  • 2 months later...

 He insists that he did not notice any corrections by the car so I really don't know what happened.

 

 

In the settings menu, you can set it to aide and alert, or only alert.  It is possible you have the vehicle set to only alert. . That may be why he insisted he did not feel any micro corrections from the lane keep assist

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In the settings menu, you can set it to aide and alert, or only alert.  It is possible you have the vehicle set to only alert. . That may be why he insisted he did not feel any micro corrections from the lane keep assist

At the time I had the feature set to Alert + Aid at Medium intensity.  My firend has driven my car since and he now knows what the vibration and the correction feels like.  I think he was just numb the first time!! :)

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  • 9 months later...

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