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FCW Caused Accident! - Forward Collision Warning Malfunction?

Rammed1

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Hello,
I wanted to know if anyone has had this issue. It resulted in a bad accident for me on the freeway yesterday.

I was in moderate to heavy traffic, and I was merging lanes from a congested lane to an open lane. As I was merging into the open/clear lane at ~20mph, I’m not sure if the car in front of me slammed on its brakes or not, but the FCW took over and provided brake warnings. I was still able to see the cars rear tires in front of me in the lane I was departing as I moved to the open lane, clearing the car. I estimate I still had 6 or more feet of distance to that car. As soon as I got in the open lane, the FCW applied full braking. I immediately pressed the gas pedal a couple times, but the system must have shut off the throttle and the truck came to a full stop. I was then rear ended by a semi-truck in the open lane traveling 20-25mph. I did not impact the car in front of me because I was now in the open lane with no cars in front. During this time, the seat pretensioner system activated the pyrotechnics and locked my seatbelt, expelling the gas that’s used to do so into the cabin. The SRS immediately started flashing its alerts. I’m not sure if this happened before the collision or as a result of the collision. After the impact, I was able to drive the truck to the side of the highway.

My questions are:

1) Has the FCW ever applied full braking when you had room to maneuver? My FCW is set to “far”.
2) Has the seat pretensioner activated with no front end collision? (The Insurance recommend collision repair shop said that these are not supposed to activate with a rear end collision, only a forward collision.)

I’m just trying to understand if the FCW malfunctioned and caused me to be rear ended.

Thanks for any insight you can provide.

Truck: 2019 RAM 1500 Limited 4x4 6’4” box w/ air suspension, no aftermarket mods.

Thanks!
 
Glad u ok that forward and rear braking assist stuff is crap but great. I had a 1500 limited will all the bells and ****. Backing out the freaking driveway at 2 to 3 mph it would lock up the freaking brakes when there wasn't anything there it freak me out the first time second time it scared the **** out my kid then one time it made the wife **** then I just turn it of when ever I pulled out the driveway. It did that front **** on me also those stupid sensors are freaking hella sensitive on my 2500 it tells me to clean it since it had bug juice on it but not braking on the 2500 that God.

Check out YouTube there are vids on the **** good luck

Sent from my SM-T830 using Tapatalk
 
I wouldn't call ~6 feet "room to maneuver." Sounds like you attempted an unsafe lane change while the auto braking system was sensing your proximity to the vehicle in front of you.
When I started the lane change, I was at least a car length behind. But when the FCW started sounding I was closer but also more than halfway into the next lane. Traffic was stop and go.
 
I don’t have any of that on my Ram ( wife’s ) for that reason. I have all of that on my other vehicle and if I try and do anything remotely like I would in the truck, it shuts me down. That’s the reason why I opted to keep the truck old school, you know like in the days when the driver was responsible for safety.
OP I pray that you are ok and will not suffer any physical trauma due to this.
 
Or you can opt for a Tradesman and keep it simple. Even though I have a Laramie, I opted to not add any problems by keeping my build very basic.
 
I have a 2008 1500 Lone Star, and have passively been shopping for a 5th gen. My 08 is about as simple as you can get. The more stories I read about FCW errors, ESC, ESP, touchscreen, etc. The more I think, maybe I should just keep my 08.

You can turn it off in the gen 5's. Just 2 little toggle buttons in my truck, one for front, one for rear, and they stay off when the ignition is turned back off/on again. It's a non issue if you're worried about that.

I also understand it's possible to just have the warning sound and dash notification, without the truck actually braking? I could be wrong about this part, I haven't played with my settings enough. But the 2 toggle switches definitely work as described above.
 
You can turn it off in the gen 5's. Just 2 little toggle buttons in my truck, one for front, one for rear, and they stay off when the ignition is turned back off/on again. It's a non issue if you're worried about that.

I also understand it's possible to just have the warning sound and dash notification, without the truck actually braking? I could be wrong about this part, I haven't played with my settings enough. But the 2 toggle switches definitely work as described above.
Yes you can have the warning only with no braking. You can also adjust the sensitivity.
No offense OP but it sounds like driver error to me. Glad you're ok.
 
These systems seem to have a bit of lag. Even in my 2015 Chrysler 200 (same safety systems) if I change lanes while too close to someone or while going around a curve the system will freak out and start showing "BRAKE ! ! !" on the dash while blaring an alarm at me even though there's nothing in front of me at that point.

I'm pretty sure it will only automatically brake for you when you're going under a certain speed (20 MPH maybe?), otherwise it just primes the brake (ready to be stomped on). Not sure if the Rams are similar.
 
Was the driver who hit you ticketed or were you?

I would suspect that your insurance carrier will be looking to subrogate against the carrier for the tractor that hit you from behind unless you were ticketed for failure to yield?

Hope you are ok - metal and paint can be repaired.
 
That braking system needs to be inspected by someone I remember that stupid crap coming on but not braking on me the sensors are way off

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That braking system needs to be inspected by someone I remember that stupid crap coming on but not braking on me the sensors are way off

Sent from my SM-T830 using Tapatalk
Or you have the sensitivity set to high.
 
I absolutely despise all these advanced safety features on some of the newer vehicles and I hate driving my wife’s Lexus. The stupid adaptive cruise control that you cant disable, the lane assist won’t let you leave your lane unless you signal , way too much crap to just drive a vehicle. Some Toyota’s you can’t buy in any trim level without all that crap. I was so relieved when I was shopping that I could get a Big Horn without all that stuff. I’m almost 50 years old, been driving for 34 years and never needed a robot car to keep me from crashing into other vehicles and the systems are not user friendly unless you are a sheep and follow directly behind the car in front of you and do not actually drive the vehicle. I feel for you OP.
 
After having other vehicles lock up on me I find that I drive much more conservative with any anti-collision system turned on. The systems just don't like any aggressive driving at all. I once had a road rage dope go ballistic because he thought i brake-checked him.
 
Or you have the sensitivity set to high.
Nope had it on low and far. At times in my opinion that system is confused. I traded in my 1500 for a 2500 pw and I have no issues backing out the drive way I'm going to have stealership check the front ones sometimes it beeps and and tells me to clean the sensor but all I saw on the sensor was dead bugs

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I'm going to have stealership check the front ones sometimes it beeps and and tells me to clean the sensor but all I saw on the sensor was dead bugs

So instead of just wiping the bugs off, you bring it to the dealer instead??? :unsure:
 
I have had similar warnings, as a I make a tight lane change. This honestly sounds like you made a lane change too close to the car in front of you, and with a Semi not that far behind you. I have had it hit the brakes on me once and I was only a few feet away from a guy turning right. I came to completely stop and had no throttle - so yes that is normal. If you are going to drive aggressively - turn the system off.
 
There is a way to completely turn off the auto braking feature in the settings menu (which I have done) and your truck will only give you an audible warning. I park my truck in a parking garage at work and it would auto break as I was making circular turns to head up to the next level. The first few times it scared the crap out of me (if someone was behind me they probably would have hit me also as there was no reason for me to completely stop). If i'm going to get into an accident I want it to be my fault not because my truck is braking for me when it shouldn't be. I have never had any problems with the adaptive cruise control or park assist features.
 
ive had the warning alarm (but not actual braking) happen on a turn where there was a telephone pole pretty close to the side of the road during the turn. Although it wasnt directly in front of me, it still flashed the warning.
 

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