Can somebody explain how the PCS (pre-collision system) works in real life? Thx
#1
Racer
Thread Starter
Can somebody explain how the PCS (pre-collision system) works in real life? Thx
Read all I could find folks, and nobody explains how exactly this thing works. Lexus' literature says system 'prepares' the brakes..... Then in another explanation it says 'system could apply the brakes'. So does it apply the freaking brakes by itself or not? And if yes, does it prevent hitting the other vehicle from behind, or merely slows you down? Trying to figure out if I should make this $500 option a deal-breaker. If the system can actually stop all by itself, then 100% yes. Now, if the system at least alerts you audibly loud enough, then I'd also make it a deal-breaker, since I'll never be doing something stupid while driving that I can't reach the brakes in an instant if alerted (like while picking up something from the floor, etc). Hitting something even at slow speed would result in more than $500 in damages.
My final 2 questions are: Do you have to have the radar cruise control on for this feature to work? If not, is there a switch to turn it on and off, or is it always on, no matter what? How about the audible sound? Finally, does the system have false alerts, like the SRT Grand Cherokee does when approaching an incoming car on a 2-lane highway on a right turn? Scared the crap out of me the first time. Now I simply don't use it unless 4-lane highway. By the way, does the radar cruise stops you to a halt, and then resume accelerating the car, or does it drop you around 25 mph like the Jeep? Just trying to find out the real life details about this option. Thank you folks.
Oh, wanted to ask you something: I'm set on waiting for a 2016, but with my trade, it'd complicate things. There's a 2015 black/red coming in a couple of weeks, but besides not wanting another black car while living here (dust galore), I thought this RC-F looks really bad in black. And it's rare a sporty car looks bad in black. Is it just me, or are there others? Since my car would have every option, the black C/F roof and black huge grille look spectacular when there's contrast IMO. They have a white/red sitting there for 2 months, but it's a demo (100 miles), and tons of people have sat on it in the showroom as well. And they're not dealing on that more than $5K. Never bought such a car in my life. And being already a year-old car, they'd have to offer it at the reported 7 to 8K discounts to even make it remotely attractive to me. And Albuquerque sold the one they had. I'd take my chances and wait to order a 2016. But I'd be in danger of getting an M5 or C63S Merc. Drove both today, and now I'm conflicted about the tranny again. Ha ha. Those cars shift lightningly quick. And the M5 actually shoves you on the seat at WOT on the sportiest of 4 tranny settings. Awesome. And both the B&O and Burmester stereos blow the ML out of the water. The Merc is actually comaprable to the RC-F. The M5/6 is not, and will probably eliminate it right now. Also want to buy my wife a new car ... so still might decide on the RC-F to buy her a better one. He he. Will keep you posted folks.
My final 2 questions are: Do you have to have the radar cruise control on for this feature to work? If not, is there a switch to turn it on and off, or is it always on, no matter what? How about the audible sound? Finally, does the system have false alerts, like the SRT Grand Cherokee does when approaching an incoming car on a 2-lane highway on a right turn? Scared the crap out of me the first time. Now I simply don't use it unless 4-lane highway. By the way, does the radar cruise stops you to a halt, and then resume accelerating the car, or does it drop you around 25 mph like the Jeep? Just trying to find out the real life details about this option. Thank you folks.
Oh, wanted to ask you something: I'm set on waiting for a 2016, but with my trade, it'd complicate things. There's a 2015 black/red coming in a couple of weeks, but besides not wanting another black car while living here (dust galore), I thought this RC-F looks really bad in black. And it's rare a sporty car looks bad in black. Is it just me, or are there others? Since my car would have every option, the black C/F roof and black huge grille look spectacular when there's contrast IMO. They have a white/red sitting there for 2 months, but it's a demo (100 miles), and tons of people have sat on it in the showroom as well. And they're not dealing on that more than $5K. Never bought such a car in my life. And being already a year-old car, they'd have to offer it at the reported 7 to 8K discounts to even make it remotely attractive to me. And Albuquerque sold the one they had. I'd take my chances and wait to order a 2016. But I'd be in danger of getting an M5 or C63S Merc. Drove both today, and now I'm conflicted about the tranny again. Ha ha. Those cars shift lightningly quick. And the M5 actually shoves you on the seat at WOT on the sportiest of 4 tranny settings. Awesome. And both the B&O and Burmester stereos blow the ML out of the water. The Merc is actually comaprable to the RC-F. The M5/6 is not, and will probably eliminate it right now. Also want to buy my wife a new car ... so still might decide on the RC-F to buy her a better one. He he. Will keep you posted folks.
Last edited by JCtx; 08-27-15 at 10:26 PM.
#2
I have in in my RC F and had it in my IS.
Radar cruise and pre-collision detection both use the same radar. You can't order one without the other. Also, $500 is nothing compared to what it was in 2007. Back then it was a $2000+ option!
Pre-collision detection will apply the breaks when it feels a crash is imminent, reducing the severity of the crash. To keep you from getting into a crash, it will beep like hell if you come up on somebody too fast without applying the brakes, but it won't apply them for you.
I have never had any false alerts with radar cruise. I'm not sure if there is a regular cruise control mode if you have radar. It also won't completely stop the car. Again, it just beeps at you to get you to apply the brakes and take over.
Color is a personal preference, but I've always had and special ordered black cars. I think it looks great on the RC F and actually softens the blow of the spindle grill. Again, personal preference.
Radar cruise and pre-collision detection both use the same radar. You can't order one without the other. Also, $500 is nothing compared to what it was in 2007. Back then it was a $2000+ option!
Pre-collision detection will apply the breaks when it feels a crash is imminent, reducing the severity of the crash. To keep you from getting into a crash, it will beep like hell if you come up on somebody too fast without applying the brakes, but it won't apply them for you.
I have never had any false alerts with radar cruise. I'm not sure if there is a regular cruise control mode if you have radar. It also won't completely stop the car. Again, it just beeps at you to get you to apply the brakes and take over.
Color is a personal preference, but I've always had and special ordered black cars. I think it looks great on the RC F and actually softens the blow of the spindle grill. Again, personal preference.
#3
Personally, I would make it a deal breaker as it is the best $500 that could be spent. The system beeps, lights up and scares the living crap out of you when it senses a situation that the car is gaining on the vehicle in front at a far greater rate than it can slow down. I had someone cut me off on the highway and the system had applied the brakes while alerting me and slowed the crap out of the car.
It does not stop the car completely, however, it does a great job to slow it down.
Also, the cruise control with the radar is a dream. Set a speed and the car follows. It also shows when it detects a car in front of you and displays it.
It does not stop the car completely, however, it does a great job to slow it down.
Also, the cruise control with the radar is a dream. Set a speed and the car follows. It also shows when it detects a car in front of you and displays it.
#4
Rookie
iTrader: (1)
i love this feature. Honestly i wasn't even aware i had it on my car until one day i was cruising and looked down to check my phone ( i know bad me) and my car sent out a loud alert to hit the brakes because someone had stopped suddenly in front of me. If it helps you just ONCE then its worth every penny of that $500. Repairs/Insurance Rates aren't cheaper.
#5
Pole Position
I like the Dynamic Radar Cruise Control (DRCC) and with a speed set especially for long road trips. I also like PCS. I like to think of PCS as a 2nd system. By the way I now turn PCS completely off for aggressive canyon/mountain driving since it will give warning beeps on corners (when the car is pointed to a side of the canyon and close by and directly ahead). These beeps I got were from PCS not DRCC. Had several beeps before I started turning it completely off in canyons. You also can get a RED pop up that says BRAKE when you approach is very close and your speed requires hard braking. (had 2 of these, hard to know how much PCS was helping). I did not test what would happen if I did not apply the brakes. Remember this is Pre Collision System detection not Dynamic radar cruise control. (they use the same radar sensor I assume)
Others are correct: Dynamic radar cruise control with a speed set does not stop the car and I assume PCS does not as well. But I think it has 2 braking rates so it increases brake pressure the closer you get. It will sometimes false trigger and slow down on a steep terrain change that is ahead for only for a small instant (does not put on an alarm). (had several in 9k miles). Page 243 gives the other situation unsuitable for DRCC. I like the way it does nothing if a faster car passes and pulls right in front of you without slowing down. It has 3 distance thresholds you can set and I use this based on traffic congestion. You have to learn this distance as you come up on a slower car. If you wait too long to pass and your the type that gets too close before getting in the passing lane then you can get a PCS slow down that dont expect. So you learn radar set distance and know when to get over when you come up on a slow car to avoid any automatic slow down. I have tested Dynamic radar cruise control's slow down several times with my left foot ready to jam on the brake as I come up to stopped cars. It does the slow down but at some point the alarm goes and it stops braking and you better be ready to brake with your foot but its doing slow enough you dont have to brake that hard to stop 2x farther away than needed.
Wish the user manual was clearer about PCS's character. The manual is weak here and I dont want to test the statement: If the system determines that a collision is unavoidable, the brakes are automatically applied to reduce the collision speed. Maybe Lexus does not want to be
detailed here for legal reasons.
Others are correct: Dynamic radar cruise control with a speed set does not stop the car and I assume PCS does not as well. But I think it has 2 braking rates so it increases brake pressure the closer you get. It will sometimes false trigger and slow down on a steep terrain change that is ahead for only for a small instant (does not put on an alarm). (had several in 9k miles). Page 243 gives the other situation unsuitable for DRCC. I like the way it does nothing if a faster car passes and pulls right in front of you without slowing down. It has 3 distance thresholds you can set and I use this based on traffic congestion. You have to learn this distance as you come up on a slower car. If you wait too long to pass and your the type that gets too close before getting in the passing lane then you can get a PCS slow down that dont expect. So you learn radar set distance and know when to get over when you come up on a slow car to avoid any automatic slow down. I have tested Dynamic radar cruise control's slow down several times with my left foot ready to jam on the brake as I come up to stopped cars. It does the slow down but at some point the alarm goes and it stops braking and you better be ready to brake with your foot but its doing slow enough you dont have to brake that hard to stop 2x farther away than needed.
Wish the user manual was clearer about PCS's character. The manual is weak here and I dont want to test the statement: If the system determines that a collision is unavoidable, the brakes are automatically applied to reduce the collision speed. Maybe Lexus does not want to be
detailed here for legal reasons.
#6
Racer
Thread Starter
Thanks a million folks. And yes, I know they're 2 separate systems relying on the same radar. Okay, the black new car doesn't have it, and it'd arrive in 6 weeks, so had to close the deal on the car with 76 miles, unfortunately. It's supposedly immaculate, and will pick it up in a few moments. The C63S AMG was interesting, but there're none to test-drive. And it'd take 5 months to get one if ordered (at MSRP). So jumped at this white/red, and couldn't be happier. Even though PCS doesn't prevent an accident, it's exactly what I expect, TO ALERT ME. And that applies the brakes some is icing on the cake. By the way, where do you shut it down? On the mountains around here, I can see it squawking at me too, so would have to turn it off. And not slowing to a halt in cruise mode is also fine with me, although for heavy traffic, that feature is awesome. Tried yesterday on an S-class, and the stupid car drives for you below 10 mph, and you can be texting or doing whatever you want (I never do that anyway, but nice to have). At the end, I also consider this option a deal-breaker, so bought the white car with every option. Thanks a million for all your help gang, and happy to officially be part of the Lexus family again.
#7
Thanks a million folks. And yes, I know they're 2 separate systems relying on the same radar. Okay, the black new car doesn't have it, and it'd arrive in 6 weeks, so had to close the deal on the car with 76 miles, unfortunately. It's supposedly immaculate, and will pick it up in a few moments. The C63S AMG was interesting, but there're none to test-drive. And it'd take 5 months to get one if ordered (at MSRP). So jumped at this white/red, and couldn't be happier. Even though PCS doesn't prevent an accident, it's exactly what I expect, TO ALERT ME. And that applies the brakes some is icing on the cake. By the way, where do you shut it down? On the mountains around here, I can see it squawking at me too, so would have to turn it off. And not slowing to a halt in cruise mode is also fine with me, although for heavy traffic, that feature is awesome. Tried yesterday on an S-class, and the stupid car drives for you below 10 mph, and you can be texting or doing whatever you want (I never do that anyway, but nice to have). At the end, I also consider this option a deal-breaker, so bought the white car with every option. Thanks a million for all your help gang, and happy to officially be part of the Lexus family again.
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#8
Racer
Thread Starter
Thanks, but the only 2 buttons are the blind-spot one and parking sensors. And the TPMS reset right under the steering column, down below. And my car has every option. Am I missing something?
#9
Pole Position
Farther down. You can not see it from the seated position. No label.
Feel around, below the center of the steering wheel, about the left of
the parking brake pedal.
#10
Pole Position
Had to bring this back from the dead...since it almost did that to me today, die. Got thrown back from the PC this morning without even cutting close to the car from me. So my question is, who drives with this thing on/off and has anyone else experienced it braking?
#11
Pole Position
iTrader: (1)
Everyone pretty much hit the PCS on the head. I've had it apply the brakes on me when I approached a car to closely from the rear doing about 70+. The radar cruise control works like everybody else's, except it DOES NOT come to a stop and resume. It shuts off at 25 mph, which is useless in stop and go traffic. My FX has Intelligent cruise control and it will go to 0 mph and won't shut off if the car in front of you moves within 10 seconds. If traffic is crawling at 5 mph, it will simply follow the vehicle in front, maintain the distance and stop when it stops.
#12
Pole Position
So the RCF PCS works the same as my 2013 LX570 with PCS.
I find it useful only for high speed cruising. But in heavy traffic I find it brake a lot instead of down shift to slow down.
I find it useful only for high speed cruising. But in heavy traffic I find it brake a lot instead of down shift to slow down.
Everyone pretty much hit the PCS on the head. I've had it apply the brakes on me when I approached a car to closely from the rear doing about 70+. The radar cruise control works like everybody else's, except it DOES NOT come to a stop and resume. It shuts off at 25 mph, which is useless in stop and go traffic. My FX has Intelligent cruise control and it will go to 0 mph and won't shut off if the car in front of you moves within 10 seconds. If traffic is crawling at 5 mph, it will simply follow the vehicle in front, maintain the distance and stop when it stops.
#13
Driver School Candidate
Hate to beat an old thread, but I recently found out that I may have to replace my grille emblem and the shop is asking whether I have pre collision.
I'd check under the steering wheel for the button but my vehicle is currently in another city. From what I understand you need to have the radar cruise control option (with the extra button on the steering wheel) in order to have pre collision. Is that correct?
I'd check under the steering wheel for the button but my vehicle is currently in another city. From what I understand you need to have the radar cruise control option (with the extra button on the steering wheel) in order to have pre collision. Is that correct?
#14
Pole Position
I believe you are correct.
Just give them your VIN# which is on your insurance papers or you can call your insurance agent and get it. They can check against your VIN# to make sure that they order the right part. UNLESS of course, you are doing it "off books" so not to show up later on any "reports".
Just give them your VIN# which is on your insurance papers or you can call your insurance agent and get it. They can check against your VIN# to make sure that they order the right part. UNLESS of course, you are doing it "off books" so not to show up later on any "reports".
Hate to beat an old thread, but I recently found out that I may have to replace my grille emblem and the shop is asking whether I have pre collision.
I'd check under the steering wheel for the button but my vehicle is currently in another city. From what I understand you need to have the radar cruise control option (with the extra button on the steering wheel) in order to have pre collision. Is that correct?
I'd check under the steering wheel for the button but my vehicle is currently in another city. From what I understand you need to have the radar cruise control option (with the extra button on the steering wheel) in order to have pre collision. Is that correct?
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