Tl* the contact owned a 2015 chevrolet tahoe. when the vehicle was shifted into drive, it independently accelerated. the vehicle sped from the contact's driveway into the front neighbor's yard before crashing into the neighbor's air conditioning unit. after the crash, the vehicle spun around until the passenger tire partially separated from the wheel well. in addition, the brakes failed at the time of the incident. there were deep skid marks visible on the neighbor's yard. the contact was transported from the scene via ambulance. the contact was treated for unknown injuries that required immediate medical attention. a police report was filed. the manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. the vehicle was destroyed. the failure mileage was 50. ma 10/14
upon purchase of a new 2015 tahoe i observed the possibility of a problem with the forward collision alert system (fca). i reported this to the service manager at chevrolet. on 9 april 2015 the service manager, assistant service manager, master technician, and i took the vehicle for a test drive. while driving the vehicle at moderate highway speeds i demonstrated the various phases and operation of vehicle detection. the fca has plenty of sensitivity and detects vehicles in excess of the specified distance in the owner's manual which is not an issue. at a moderate closing rate between vehicles the instrument cluster icon changes from green to amber-orange which appears nominal. however, the red alarm heads-up windshield display, rapid high-pitched beeps and red icon are never activated until a closing distance about ~3 feet before a collision. there is virtually zero reaction time for a driver to brake the vehicle at less than one car length before going to red. in addition, the system is supposed to disengage the adaptive cruise control (acc). considering time, rate, and distance this is ineffective as the mass and kinetic energy also needs to fully disengage before a potential collision. because of the danger of creating a traffic incident the vehicle was not tested to the level of a full collision. i was informed by the service manager that there are no service bulletins, adjustments, or software patches that may correct this deficiency by the dealer. gm stated that the system works as designed and delivered. the gm forward collision alarm (fca) delivered product appears to have a design deficiency and is an operational safety hazard waiting to happen. if the fca does not function properly then why introduce it to a consumer regardless of gm owner manual warnings about trusting alert systems. *tr
The forward collision alert system just doesn't work. i cannot make it produce a collision alert no matter what i do. for example it is advertised to provide a heads up visual warning as well as an audial warning if i approach the car in front of me to rapidly. it does not the system also a green automobile icon when you are following closer than about 200 feet to the vehicle in front of you. the green icon is advertised to turn yellow if you follow too close. it does not. the only time that i have ever seen the red heads up display is when it is a false alert. all and all, this system which was touted to be a great safety feature is totally worthless.