Advanced Safety Package

[wranglernoob2019]

If you are a daily driver who has to endure an hour of stop and go traffic. It is definitely worth it, the adaptive cruise control takes the stress off your daily drive . FCW , i have seen some warnings but it never braked on me . I feel those alerts are worthwhile because it is very easy to not pay attention when you are doing the same thing every day.

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[JEEPIDON]

Does anyone have any experience with the advanced safety package? Specifically whether it has stopped you from rear ending someone? I'm a fairly attentive driver and never had an accident, but would not mind paying extra for the package for additional piece of mind. However, after seeing some videos online, it does not appear that the system is very reliable. From what I saw, after sensing an obstacle (or not sensing the obstacle) it only brought the vehicle to a stop about 20% of the time. I know the package also comes with smart cruise control which would be somewhat useful to me. Any thoughts or input?

I have advanced safety on my Grand Cherokee SRT but not on my Jeep JL 2018. So I can share how well it works on the SRT: The variable cruise will pace the car in front of you very well. You can set the distance of how close you want to be and it'll keep it. The car will actually stop if there is a car in front of you and if he moves out within 3 seconds the car will accelerate again to the set speed or pace in back of the car. This is great in the city. Panic Stops: You have to work together as you could get a surprise like I did. There was a car pulled off the side of the road, part of it still sticking out. My SRT slowed down and I was ready to simply swerve around it (other lane was clear) when he decided to pull out without looking. My SRT came to a screeching halt....6 piston Brembo brakes work great! I wouldn't have caught this in time but the car did. I still think I would have been able to get around him but the SRT is not a mind reader! I also have this on my 2016 Hellcat and it works equally well.

The one thing that irritates me is driving on up and down small hills as it sometimes interprets the oncoming hill as a stopped object so it slows down until you're headed up and then has to downshift to get back up to speed.

Will it save you in certain cases....absolutely if someone unexpectedly changes lanes it will react quickly. Is it infallible...no, nothing that a human being touches is!

Anytime you can receive help it usually means a better outcome!
I can't say how it'll work on the JL, but the other two of my mopars have it and I love it.

Hope this helps from someone who actually has this, experienced this and not a non-owner speculator!!

Charlie

 

[Nutcracker]

My insurance agent says one reason rates are going up is the very high cost of accidents damaging the multiple parts embedded in bumpers, lights, grilles, etc. and drivers not paying attention to their driving.
Plus in a few years when they stop working are you going to pay the high price to repair/replace them?
Automation has made airline travel more dangerous according to some pilots because younger pilots depend too much on the automated technology but then don't have the knowledge or experience to handle emergencies.

I am also a Insurance Agent and agree. Two items I have heard are problems. 1) the sensor are in your windshield and not every windshield installer can calibrate a replacement windshield. 2) I heavy traffic if someone cuts in front of you it can cause a problem for the ACC.

 

[Chocolate Thunder]

So I finally got a chance to give ACC some seat time this past weekend. My Jeep was delivered with a faulty unit from day 1. It took a while to get a replacement part and get it installed.

My opinion is coming from someone who trains and instructs professional drivers in safe driving techniques and driver improvement as a part of my job for over 20 years so make of that what you want.

The fallacy that WE are more attentive, skilled, and safe drivers than everyone else are part of the issues I have to overcome before I can teach and train drivers. When asked, 91% of drivers rate themselves as at least better than average. See the problem there? Statistically, 41% are misleading themselves. They are often more dangerous than the bottom 50% because at least those folks know they’re not as good as they like to think. Many (not all) of those who hate “safety nannies” are “41 percenters”.

For example, if a properly designed and functioning FCW or emergency braking system “brakes for you” that is because your reaction to the situation wasn’t as fast as it should have been. In other words, it can react before you did in a situation that you should have already reacted to. You’re late. It’s not a nanny. It’s doing a better job of managing safety than you are, or else you’d have already applied the brakes or manipulated the vehicle into a position where braking isn’t needed. In the instance of a pedestrian or object or other vehicle that darts out immediately in front of you with no warning, it will brake faster than humanly possible and will apply those brakes harder than the vast majority of us will without locking up. Even if there’s a collision there will be a less severe injury or property damage than without the emergency braking. Don’t delude yourselves into thinking you’d deftly avoid it by steering around it while controlling the Jeep like you’re Lewis Hamilton. Chances are that if you even react in time and try that, you’re likely going to still collide or oversteer and cause a different collision with another object, or in a Jeep lose control altogether and possibly roll over. These are facts not opinion and feelings.

Now as far as the system itself, I’ve got personal experience with dozens of them from different manufacturers. The one in the Wrangler is good to very good, not great. Application of braking and acceleration in the advanced cruise control isn’t refined. It tends to do both too abruptly in some circumstances. But this is how most systems perform. As a driver after you’ve familiarized yourself with this, it’s incumbent on you as a good driver to intervene when necessary to prevent this. Earlier self braking, cancel/resume buttons, and looking farther down the road and avoiding coming into these conflicts by maneuvering/acceleration/braking before system intervention is the key to that. Without any driver brake or accelerator input it can slow the vehicle to a complete stop, give a warning that the system will deactivate if you don’t move forward in a few seconds, then shut off the cruise. When it deactivates it’ll idle forward unless brakes are applied. Acceleration when the path is clear can be a bit quick if there’s a big differential between vehicle speed and set speed. So if you’re set at 65 and the system slows you down to 40 behind a slower car, when they turn off or your go around it will accelerate fairly briskly.

I’ve yet to encounter a situation that enabled the FCW. This is something that’s not easy to test (you shouldn’t on public streets) and you have to trust that it works while doing everything in your power as a driver to never need it.

Used as a driver aid it is a great convenience in many but not all driving circumstances. Obviously it’s not designed for you to not pay attention and “let the car drive for you” as some mischaracterize it. I tend to have to drive MORE attentively when I use it but not everyone will be able to comprehend that or believe it. So they can save themselves almost $1000 by skipping it and thinking what they want to think. But remember that people had the same reaction to every automotive safety technology that has come around. Automatic transmissions, windshield wipers, disc brakes, seat belts, antilock braking systems, HID/LED headlights, rear view cameras, etc.

 

[CharlieS3]

I have the ACC and FCW system. I can address many of the issues raised here as well, since I am also a rated Airline Transport Pilot, as well as a paramedic. Flying, as well as driving, should be an exercise in risk management. This simply means that, weighing the odds of various actions and options, you should always choose the course that maximizes survival and minimizes risk to life and property. Sure, you don't have to wear seat belts and you can smoke, but both of those actions will add a high probability of shortening your life span. In the same way, you don't have to have ACC or FCW, along with other safety options that are coming out in vehicles, but these will clearly further minimize risk. Far from being "dumb" as some posters have commented, it is quite smart to use these features. In fact, the opposite is true, it is simply dumb to not recognize that ACC, FCW, seat belts, compressible frame structures, lane awareness features, will all reduce the overall risk of driving and increase the safety factor for not only you, but your family/friends/children who may be passengers in your vehicle, as well as the general public who may be affected by the accident you create by not utilizing the newer safety systems.

However, like others have pointed out in regards to airline pilots, it is important to understand precisely how these features operate and how they may change the way you drive (or fly). However, this requires an active effort to educate yourself, which is why professional pilots are required to routinely go through recurrent simulator training.

Sure, there are the rare occasions, like with seat belts, when these systems may create a worse condition. However, the odds are much, much, greater that they will create a safer condition than a worse. It's like drawing to an inside straight when your opponent is showing a full house. Bad odds. As a paramedic, we rarely pull fatalities from accidents where the occupants wore seat belts. Non-belted, a different story. Drive smart, fly smart, the new technology can save your life.

Charlie

 

[PGFDE121]

I have the ACC and FCW system. I can address many of the issues raised here as well, since I am also a rated Airline Transport Pilot, as well as a paramedic.
Charlie

Nice, I was a fire medic and flew Cessnas...where in VA are you? I'm up in Arlington.

 

[Dreamer]

My insurance agent says one reason rates are going up is the very high cost of accidents damaging the multiple parts embedded in bumpers, lights, grilles, etc. and drivers not paying attention to their driving.
Plus in a few years when they stop working are you going to pay the high price to repair/replace them?
Automation has made airline travel more dangerous according to some pilots because younger pilots depend too much on the automated technology but then don't have the knowledge or experience to handle emergencies.

I see it the other way. Air travel is the safest ever today, And technologies play a big part in it. ASP will help us, not just us the drivers but the other parties that we end up not hitting. I don't believe anyone would think because my JL has ASP, I can text and drive at the same time or because I don't have ASP, I will pay more attention to the road. We are human and we make mistakes. ASP is there to help us avoid making some of those mistakes.

 

[iznthesky]

I personally love the ACC. I had to drive through Orlando in heavy traffic a couple weeks ago and the ACC paced well, stopped my Jeep for a short period and even started back up. If you are stopped for more than a couple seconds the ACC disengages. I have had a couple occasions when traffic slams to a stop and the forward collision avoidance alarm sounds...I have not yet have the braking activate.

Overall I am pleased...for a Jeep...this very advanced and more than I expected.

I like JohnnyJLUR’s post; he is articulating REAL world experience with the ACC. Not opinions, not theories. If you can afford to add it.....do it. For me I was on a strict budget and I didn’t get it. If I could do it over again.... I would not have purchased the Steel Bumpers....and instead I would have allocated the $ $ to the Saftey technology.

 

[nerubi]

I see it the other way. Air travel is the safest ever today, And technologies play a big part in it. ACC will help us, not just us the drivers but the other parties that we end up not hitting. I don't believe anyone would think because my JL has ACC, I can text and drive at the same time or because I don't have ACC, I will pay more attention to the road. We are human and we make mistakes. ACC is there to help us avoid making some of those mistakes.

You haven't met most drivers. Distracted driving including texting is a big problem including all the electronics we have in the JLs. And since most drivers don't read the owners manual to know how their safety devices work or don't work they are dangerous. A recent survey, I think by AAA, showed 40% didn't know what capabilities or limitations their vehicle safety devices have. Many thought they had total capability.

 

[Dingus]

I love the adaptive cruise control - I'm able to let the car come to a smooth stop in bad traffic and it's able to start back up if it's a momentary stop. If the car is stopped for more than a few seconds, it beeps and lets you know it's been disabled.

When driving, I've had someone cut me off and it reacted with heavy (but not excessive) braking. This gave me confidence that it'd be able to handle most common emergency stops - or, at the very least, give you early warning so you could intervene.

However, on two occasions, I've had an emergency alarm go off (loudly) with a message in the center screen warning of an imminent collision. One, I was passing a car stopped on the edge of the road and the other last night on the freeway with empty road ahead of me. The first, I can understand and appreciate - last night's just scared the crap out of me for no reason.

Overall, absolutely one of my favorite features for on-road convenience.

 

[alrola]

I have it on my Dodge Durango and love it. I do a great deal of highway driving and, despite my best attention on the road, I am not infallable so I actually waited for the 2019 as opposed to the 2018 just to have that feature. To me, it was worth the wait.
Best of luck.

 

[TexasNate]

I had FCW, ACC, and Lane Sense on my Trailhawk. I won't have another vehicle without FCW and ACC. I do miss Lane Sense on my JLUR. It gave me a sense of being on a rail while driving down the highway. I'm certain all of these features will be required on all vehicles at some point and we'll all be safer because of it.

 

[biggprikk]

I had this on my Grand Cherokee and ordered it on my JLU and I wouldn't want a vehicle w/o it. It absolutely can save you and if it helps prevent one rear-end accident while I have it, it's paid for itself and then some! The nightmare of paying for damage to your vehicle, another vehicle, bodily injury, and not to mention being potentially sued.. seems like a no-brainer.

I think it's funny that some on here are just saying you need to be alert, the thing with accidents is they happen to the best of us and why not have the insurance to prevent you from getting in one? I know plenty of alert drivers that have had accidents. That's why we are all required to have insurance in the first place... this is just one extra layer of protection IMO.

It saved me a few times with crazy surprises, glad I had it and will have it on my Wrangler!

Just carry body bags with Jeep logo

 

[jellis4148]

I love Adaptive Cruise. I am an experienced driver. Been to racing school, and consider myself pretty defensive, when it comes to driving. That being said, the ACC just makes life easier, and your drive less stressful. If used properly, it is so much better. I get on the highway, and turn it on to desired speed. I get behind cars, and let them slow me down when I get into a town with slower speeds. It's not perfect, and you need to learn the in's and out's of it. The people that like to cut people off of and tailgate other people. Those are the majority that don't like the system. It's designed to be a safe driving system, not a cut people off, and pass everyone in sight, regardless of how fast they are going. I've learned over the years, that doing 65 and passing the car doing 65 just to be in front of them wastes a lot of gas, and gets you to your destination .5 seconds faster. Set the cruise to 65, if you roll up on a car doing 50 or even 60, override the system by hitting the gas, and then let off after you go around them, and go back to your happy place. The crazy bastards that have to pass everyone, cut everybody off, that fly past you doing 80 just to pass 10 cars to get into turn lane before them. They need to use the cruise more than anyone. They are the ones that cause accidents, but think they are the greatest drivers in the world.

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