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Serious concerns with lane assist technology

Have you experienced the unpleasant "tug effect" you get with a lane assist option on a modern car? See the Which? magazine article which highlights the issue and possible dangers. More

Updated:240704
Posted: 240630

Deactivating lane assist
As an example of how lane assist technology can be deactivated in a modern car, we have illustrated guide. Unfortunately whenever the engine is turned off and restarted the lane assist function is on again and needs the application of the deactivation routine. Guide

Update - useful feedback from Chris Hunt-Cooke
Chris finds "Lane Assist is rather irritating and alarming when you experience it for the first time, and there are so many warning noises of different types going off in modern cars that it gets confusing trying to work out what's going on. What I think might have real disadvantages is Automated Lane Keeping Systems (ALKS) which will be the first step to self-driving cars, usable only on motorways. These systems will automatically keep you in lane at a safe distance from the vehicle in front, at a speed not exceeding 37mph (60km/h). As the system cannot of course do any overtaking, I can foresee trains of cars building up, making it quite difficult for other traffic from outer faster moving lanes to join the train of vehicles and thus shielding the other traffic from the lane and also making exits at motorway junctions when required. If other traffic forces its way in, there will be sudden harsh braking from the ALKS to reestablish a safe distance between vehicles, which will ripple backwards down the train, leading to emergency braking which may not in fact be sufficient. We shall see if my concerns are justified".

Update - useful comments from Steve Bowley
Steve's response to the article is "We own two cars with "lane keep assist". Our 2018 Discovery Sport has this option but it's a gentle vibration of the steering wheel to make you aware that the car is perhaps too near the white line. This option can be turned off and will stay off until the driver enables the function.

Our 2023 MG4 Trophy has a very aggressive LKA system - the tug was very pronounced but has been turned down with a software update. As mentioned in the article, LKA can be switched off on the MG4 but will switch back on again on the next start up. One of the reasons it switches back on may be to ensure that the car ticked the boxes on the Euro NCAP test".
Euro NCAP

As a long term Which? magazine subscriber Victor Smith gets regular online articles from Which? and the latest is one about their report on "serious concerns with lane assist technology on an MG4". He has experienced the unpleasant "tug effect" you get with a lane assist option on a modern car - for example on a new Skoda Fabia which was purchased at the end of 2023 to replace a 20 year old Toyota Corolla hatchback which had been a reliable and pleasant car which the family had enjoyed a great deal.

When you get the "tug" and the sensation of the car being pulled away from or over a white line on the road or motorway it's a shock for the first time and subsequently an irritation. From the Which? article it seems that if you can navigate the complicated "infotainment screen" and then the lane assist feature can be disengaged so he plans to do that. But it seems that disengagement is not permanent and the procedure will have to be repeated each time to car is started up. With many of the sophisticated systems in modern cars which you have to to set or adjust via the "infotainment screen", it feels as though a single button would be a very good idea for longstanding drivers which could be pressed to remove all the frustrating settings - maybe an "old farts' button"!

A PDF copy of the article is available via the link alongside. Have any V8 members had the lane assist "tug effect"? Do contact the V8 Webmaster with your views on the issue. Contact

Response from Ron Gammons
"I don't think the MG4 is much different to many of the other cars on the road, but MG have clearly identified a problem and are about to put it right. Having driven the MG4 I would comment that I didn't notice any real problems, but I agree the lane assist is a pain and can catch you unawares
distracting your attention from other aspects. The bad news is that although on many cars the lane assist can be disabled but that every time you switch on you have to go through the procedure of disabling it - probably more irritating than the lane assist itself. I believe that is the case on the MG4, I don't know whether it's the same with the Skoda Fabia.

It's all part of the "Big Brother" approach that you have to be protected from yourself and that "Nanny knows best". I's not just lane assist though, there are a number of irritations - seat belt warnings, distance control to the vehicle ahead and so on. There are now a significant number of people who are either obtaining or keeping older vehicles without the gizmos - and probably the gizmos are a factor in their decision. With EVs charging and range is another factor, some manufacturers are opting for hybrid to keep a foot in both camps, but they still have the gizmos. But the gizmos are here to stay and each time somebody finds a way to disable them somebody will plan to prevent it!"