I too haven't taken the time to check this in the Clarity. If it's like some other vehicles, it will simply dis-engage the LKA system.
Steering wheel warning when hands off
When in cruise control and you take your hands off the steering wheel, after a short period you will get a warning to put your hands back on the steering wheel. What happens if you do not put your hands back on the steering wheel? I just can’t get myself to keep from touching the steering wheel to find out the answer.
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Not long after the warning appears it disengages LKAS, and the car basically starts drifting. A slight nudge of the wheel reactivates it and you can go another twenty seconds or whatever.
I don't it all that often, and only when no other cars are around, but it is interesting to see the capabilities as well as limitations of the system. The warning seems to occur mainly when the car is centered and going straight for a period of time. I have found that I am much less likely to get the warning while the car is actively steering, for example when in a slight curve.
On a slight curve without hands on the wheel it will usually keep the car centered in the lane through the curve, and it usually pulls out of the turn okay by itself, although sometimes it's a little late straightening out and you wind up on the far side of the lane, but then it brings it back to center. On stronger curves you can tell right away that it's not going to be able to keep it centered, and as you drift outwards you usually either get a warning about putting your hands on the wheel or the road departure warning. After trying it a few times you get an idea of what type of curves it can handle.
On the curves that it does "support" it rarely gives the warning during the curve, usually only after it comes out of the curve and goes straight for a few seconds do I get the hands on wheel warning. On a road with slight back and forth curves and only short stretches of straight road before the next curve starts, I have gone as long as a minute hands free before it gives a warning. In the rare case that it deactivates during a curve, it's not sudden and it's not like the car just starts going straight, you have plenty of time to take over, especially since this only works on gentle curves anyway.
There are times when it simply "fails" i.e you start drifting to the side and it becomes apparent that it doesn't see the line, so you have to take over even though it didn't give a warning. Plenty of time to catch it before it goes past the line, but that's why I never do this if there are cars beside me. And a good reason to never become inattentive since you cannot rely on it 100%.
There is a company that makes add-on hardware which basically makes the Clarity self driving. It uses the existing turn motors and the radar. From the YouTube videos that I have seen it does a far better job of keeping the car centered than the existing system. And it will handle somewhat sharper curves than the existing system. It also disables the timeout. But it has a camera pointed at the driver and it disconnects if you take your eyes off the road for more than a few seconds. It does not use the existing camera for the lane keeping but uses its own camera, which looks sort of like a smartphone and you mount it where you would a dashcam. I'm not sure if it does dual duty as a dashcam however, but don't see why it wouldn't. Costs a little over $1,000 last time I checked. Only problem is Clarity isn't officially supported because our car has a non-standard CAN bus arrangement (used for communication between devices). But there is a value added vendor, apparently somewhat connected with the main company, that sells a version modified for the Clarity.
I don't it all that often, and only when no other cars are around, but it is interesting to see the capabilities as well as limitations of the system. The warning seems to occur mainly when the car is centered and going straight for a period of time. I have found that I am much less likely to get the warning while the car is actively steering, for example when in a slight curve.
On a slight curve without hands on the wheel it will usually keep the car centered in the lane through the curve, and it usually pulls out of the turn okay by itself, although sometimes it's a little late straightening out and you wind up on the far side of the lane, but then it brings it back to center. On stronger curves you can tell right away that it's not going to be able to keep it centered, and as you drift outwards you usually either get a warning about putting your hands on the wheel or the road departure warning. After trying it a few times you get an idea of what type of curves it can handle.
On the curves that it does "support" it rarely gives the warning during the curve, usually only after it comes out of the curve and goes straight for a few seconds do I get the hands on wheel warning. On a road with slight back and forth curves and only short stretches of straight road before the next curve starts, I have gone as long as a minute hands free before it gives a warning. In the rare case that it deactivates during a curve, it's not sudden and it's not like the car just starts going straight, you have plenty of time to take over, especially since this only works on gentle curves anyway.
There are times when it simply "fails" i.e you start drifting to the side and it becomes apparent that it doesn't see the line, so you have to take over even though it didn't give a warning. Plenty of time to catch it before it goes past the line, but that's why I never do this if there are cars beside me. And a good reason to never become inattentive since you cannot rely on it 100%.
There is a company that makes add-on hardware which basically makes the Clarity self driving. It uses the existing turn motors and the radar. From the YouTube videos that I have seen it does a far better job of keeping the car centered than the existing system. And it will handle somewhat sharper curves than the existing system. It also disables the timeout. But it has a camera pointed at the driver and it disconnects if you take your eyes off the road for more than a few seconds. It does not use the existing camera for the lane keeping but uses its own camera, which looks sort of like a smartphone and you mount it where you would a dashcam. I'm not sure if it does dual duty as a dashcam however, but don't see why it wouldn't. Costs a little over $1,000 last time I checked. Only problem is Clarity isn't officially supported because our car has a non-standard CAN bus arrangement (used for communication between devices). But there is a value added vendor, apparently somewhat connected with the main company, that sells a version modified for the Clarity.
A couple of owners on the Bolt forum have used this system, to good results. Do note that the system is sold "as-is", with zero warranty on it's effectiveness and zero liability should things go sideways while using it.It disengages LKAS, and the car basically starts drifting. A slight nudge of the wheel reactivates it and you can go another twenty seconds or whatever. I have found that I rarely get a warning when it is actively steering, it seems to happen mainly when the car is centered and going straight for a period of time. It will keep the car centered in the lane on a slight curve, stronger curves it gives the warning as soon as you enter the curve.
On the curves that it does "support" it rarely gives the warning during the curve, only after I come out of the curve and go straight for a period of time. I've got some curves in my area that if there are no cars beside me I sometimes let go of the wheel and let it take the curve, and it usually comes out of the curve pretty good too. On a road with slight back and forth curves I have gone as long as a minute before it gives a warning. In the rare case that it deactivates during a curve, it's not sudden and it's not like the car just starts going straight, you have plenty of time to take over, especially since this only works on gentle curves anyway.
I don't it all that often, but it is interesting to see the capabilities and limitations of the system. There are times when it simply "fails" i.e you start drifting to the side and it becomes apparent that it doesn't see the line, so you have to take over even though it didn't give a warning. Plenty of time to catch it before it goes past the line, but that's why I never do this if there are cars beside me. And a good reason to never become inattentive since you cannot rely on it 100%.
There is a company that makes add hardware which basically makes it self driving. It uses the existing turn motors and the radar, from the YouTube videos that I have seen it does a far better job of keeping the car centered than the existing system. And it will handle somewhat sharper curves than the existing system. It also disables the timeout. But it has a camera pointed at the driver and it disconnects if you take your eyes off the road for more than a few seconds. It does not use the existing camera for the lane keeping but uses its own camera, which looks sort of like a smartphone and you mount it where you would a dashcam. I'm not sure if it does dual duty as a dashcam however, but don't see why it wouldn't. Costs a little over $1,000 last time I checked. Only problem is Clarity isn't officially supported because our car has a non-standard CAN bus arrangement (used for communication between devices). But there is a value added vendor, apparently somewhat connected with the main company, that sells a version modified for the Clarity.
I fully agree with your decision to not mention the device's manufacturer, nor provide a link to their website.
Haven't tried this before 😅When in cruise control and you take your hands off the steering wheel, after a short period you will get a warning to put your hands back on the steering wheel. What happens if you do not put your hands back on the steering wheel? I just can’t get myself to keep from touching the steering wheel to find out the answer.
The car keeps screaming at you.Haven't tried this before 😅
If you check 2002's response, above, he mentions that it will disengage the LKAS system, and simply drift out of the lane.Haven't tried this before 😅
It's not quite that dramatic. It's just one beep, and not as loud as some other warnings that the car makes. It disengages LKAS at the same moment that it makes the beep. If you jiggle the wheel a little bit the message goes away and LKAS resumes for another twenty seconds or so then it beeps and disengages again.The car keeps screaming at you.
I find it pretty annoying, when I'm relaxing on a nice straight stretch of highway (with both hands on the wheel), and the car yells at me to take the wheel.It's not quite that dramatic. It's just one beep, and not as loud as some other warnings that the car makes. It disengages LKAS at the same moment that it makes the beep. If you jiggle the wheel a little bit the message goes away and LKAS resumes for another twenty seconds or so then it beeps and disengages again.
I have never had that happen even once in three years of ownership. Might bring it up with the dealer while still under warranty, in the off chance that there is some part that could be replaced. Or I guess they might replace the whole steering wheel.I find it pretty annoying, when I'm relaxing on a nice straight stretch of highway (with both hands on the wheel), and the car yells at me to take the wheel.
EDIT: After thinking about it some more I don't think the problem would be in the steering wheel itself, as I am pretty sure it's not using touch sensors to determine if you have your hands on the wheel. When I get the warning, just putting my hands on the wheel doesn't make the message go away, I have to jiggle the wheel a little bit. So it seems to be detecting steering wheel movement. If so that would be using the wheel position sensor which I assume is somewhere down in the steering column. I would guess that it uses the sensor that is already being used by Electronic Stability Control (Honda calls their version Vehicle Stability Assist). These systems prevent skidding by detecting when the vehicle is not going in the same direction indicated by the steering wheel, in which case they apply the brakes on one side of the car as a way to steer the car in the direction the driver is trying to go. So I would think that sensor is probably doing double duty by detecting steering wheel movement for LKAS.
As far as I can tell the only time the warning should occur is if there has been absolutely no steering wheel movement for 15-20 seconds. Which at least for me never seems to happen, even on straight roads, there will always be a small amount of wheel movement. But I'm pretty sure it also detects what I would call resistance to movement, meaning if the car drifts toward say the left side of the lane, and then turns the steering wheel a tiny bit to the right to get back centered, the weight of your hand on the wheel will give some resistance to the steering wheel movement being performed by LKAS, which lets it know you are still there.
When I'm driving with LKAS enabled I sometimes feel the steering wheel nudging even when I am actively driving if I let the car drift a little too much off center. Does yours do that? I still think based on the varying opinions of LKAS that not all of them are calibrated the same. Have you tried a hands off test to see how well it keeps the car centered?
But I also think a difference could be road markings. Most of the roads that I drive on it can usually see the markings pretty well (the LKAS display shows when it detects markings). However some areas it may not detect the markings as well. In which case it would not be actively steering all the time, and so it would not have the opportunity to detect resistance to its movements. Maybe that increases the chances of triggering the warning.
But anyway I would suggest try and notice if there are stretches of highway where you make absolutely no wheel movements for 15-20 seconds and if that is when the warning is triggering. If so there's likely nothing that can be done about it.
Good ideas. I'll try to make it happen on stretches of road with (and without) poor markings, to see if that's a trigger. The issue has only happened a couple of times, on the 5 freeway, North of the Tejon Pass, near Buttonwillow.I have never had that happen even once in three years of ownership. Might bring it up with the dealer while still under warranty, in the off chance that there is some part that could be replaced. Or I guess they might replace the whole steering wheel.
EDIT: After thinking about it some more I don't think the problem would be in the steering wheel itself, as I am pretty sure it's not using touch sensors to determine if you have your hands on the wheel. When I get the warning, just putting my hands on the wheel doesn't make the message go away, I have to jiggle the wheel a little bit. So it seems to be detecting steering wheel movement. If so that would be using the wheel position sensor which I assume is somewhere down in the steering column. I would guess that it uses the sensor that is already being used by Electronic Stability Control (Honda calls their version Vehicle Stability Assist). These systems prevent skidding by detecting when the vehicle is not going in the same direction indicated by the steering wheel, in which case they apply the brakes on one side of the car as a way to steer the car in the direction the driver is trying to go. So I would think that sensor is probably doing double duty by detecting steering wheel movement for LKAS.
As far as I can tell the only time the warning should occur is if there has been absolutely no steering wheel movement for 15-20 seconds. Which at least for me never seems to happen, even on straight roads, there will always be a small amount of wheel movement. But I'm pretty sure it also detects what I would call resistance to movement, meaning if the car drifts toward say the left side of the lane, and then turns the steering wheel a tiny bit to the right to get back centered, the weight of your hand on the wheel will give some resistance to the steering wheel movement being performed by LKAS, which lets it know you are still there.
When I'm driving with LKAS enabled I sometimes feel the steering wheel nudging even when I am actively driving if I let the car drift a little too much off center. Does yours do that? I still think based on the varying opinions of LKAS that not all of them are calibrated the same. Have you tried a hands off test to see how well it keeps the car centered?
But I also think a difference could be road markings. Most of the roads that I drive on it can usually see the markings pretty well (the LKAS display shows when it detects markings). However some areas it may not detect the markings as well. In which case it would not be actively steering all the time, and so it would not have the opportunity to detect resistance to its movements. Maybe that increases the chances of triggering the warning.
But anyway I would suggest try and notice if there are stretches of highway where you make absolutely no wheel movements for 15-20 seconds and if that is when the warning is triggering. If so there's likely nothing that can be done about it.
I've actually daydreamed about a little battery-operated doohickey that clamps to the steering wheel, that triggers a little spring solenoid (mounted tangentially) every fifteen seconds or so. It would allow hands-off driving. Like I said, that stretch of road is really boring, and the mind wanders.
But that would be irresponsible!
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