ADAC: Active lane-keeping systems - mostly helpful, sometimes dangerous

The ADAC has issued a warning regarding the poor tuning of some lane-keeping assistance systems in the context of their mandatory introduction in new vehicles since July 7. While the club generally welcomes the mandatory introduction and sees great potential in the technology to prevent accidents and save lives, various tests of the lane-keeping assistants have also revealed the system's weaknesses. It can occasionally happen that a car almost steers into oncoming traffic. The reason for this is the comparatively high steering forces with which the system operates in some cases. Combined with imperfect system tuning, such misregulations can occur.

According to the legislature, the steering forces may be up to 50 Newtons (approximately equivalent to five kilograms of weight). From the perspective of the consumer protection organization Euro NCAP, this is often not necessary. The maximum force should rather be situation-dependent, according to their plea. The tuning goal must be that the systems not only deliver good safety assessment results in consumer protection tests but also function well in everyday use.