Second time this happened where I was in the middle of a tight lane change and the PCS kicked on and it literally feels like the car automatically slammed on the brakes even though I had my foot on the gas pedal. Kinda dangerous in those situations.

 

Yeah, not a nice feature when driving aggressively. You can deactivate it with the button right under the steering column. It's a toggle switch; don't confuse it with the momentary switch to reset TPMS, which is a little bit to the left and further behind. But the easiest way to deactivate PCS if you don't want to d*ck with the switch, is by turning 'expert' mode on, which is done by touching the traction control button while on sport+ mode. I do it that way since it's quick and easy. If you see a situation where you might encounter what happened to you (or in tight right-hand twisties, or when passing on 2-lane highways), you NEED to disable it, or you risk having an accident. In the case of an aggressive 2-lane highway pass (misjudging oncoming car speed), it could mean a head-on collision if the stupid car slams on the brakes when you're going to barely make it. Oh, and keep in mind the dash would still light up red (and maybe beep... if it does), but the car won't apply the brakes at all. Hope this helps.

And while on the subject, I was surprised you cannot alter the following distance while in radar cruise with a switch, like all other freaking cars. Tried everything, and nothing worked. You have to set it to one of the 3 distances prior to using it. Lame.

 

I retired 5 years ago from auto sales...right when collision mitigation was starting to show up as an option I still do some errands for the dealership like doing trades with other dealers...so I have played with it in several makes of cars and I get freaked out every time I use it. Hate it..and these days when I drive a car equipped with it...the first thing I do is turn it off!

 

That's crazy. I have DRCC/PCS on my RX and you can change the distance setting at any time, including when it's set and a car is detected in front of you.

 

How exactly do you change it with cruise engaged? Will read the manual again in case I missed something, but tried everything. And as an FYI: it doesn't work in manual mode. Thought something was wrong with my cruise, as it didn't engage in manual mode regardless of radar or normal. But quickly realized it could be the manual mode, and it was. But no dice on changing the distance. Will check manual again to see if I missed something. By the way, the manual on this car is the worst I've ever had. Lots of missing details, and very poorly translated.