Ghost Brake?

[Kabish]

So this afternoon me and the wife went out to get some lunch. I was backing out our driveway, as I normally do, and then all the sudden the car brakes abruptly and I get the red flashing lights on both sides saying to brake. At first I thought maybe I missed something, although I'm pretty diligent when backing up our driveway. Dawned on me to check my Ring video to see if I missed like a dog running behind me or something, nothing to be seen..... (Yes my ring camera is going bad lol its old) The pause was me trying to figure out what the heck just happened lol

I do get the emergency brake every now and then towards the end of my driveway when it sees cars approaching from the right side. If I'm backing up quicker than it likes it will do emergency braking. My wife's Hyundai will also engaged emergency braking when backing out from time to time as well at the end of the driveway, so its common. However in this case I was NO WHERE near the street or any objects. It was a very abrupt brake although it does not look like it from the video. Then you can hear a very loud "thung" which I'm guessing is some physical device activating to stop the car?? I have no idea... I did not even hear it inside of the car, but then again my brains were being jolted and being pushed back into my seat as my seat belt had locked.

Just curious if anyone has had this issue or knows if that thud noise is normal.

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[Mach-Lee]

Looks like it's seeing the tree shadow as an object and stopping for it.

Thud sounds like another nearby noise, probably nothing to do with the car.

 

[Kabish]

Looks like it's seeing the tree shadow as an object and stopping for it.

I guess that could be it, but the car should be able to tell a shadow from an object I would hope. There are shadows everywhere, it kicking in emergency braking for that is a little......

I'm fairly sure the sound came from the car, it was way too loud on the camera to not have came from it. It seems to do it right after the car had came to a complete stop. Which is why I was curious if some physical device engages in emergency braking and that noise was it disengaging.

 

[Peaceowl]

Quite loud, like a brake release of sort? I could guess it spotted the wires stretching out off the pole? Or the pole. Not sure. Ask your dealer to take a look at your video.

 

[Kabish]

Quite loud, like a brake release of sort? I could guess it spotted the wires stretching out off the pole? Or the pole. Not sure. Ask your dealer to take a look at your video.

Ya, I have some small issues that I want the dealer to look at, sadly they keep stacking up.. But at the same time, they are small issues and do I REALLLLLLLLLY want them guess working on my car?? lol

I will be showing them this video though and see what they think. I've backed out of this driveway countless times and never had it brake mid driveway like that. There was no "warning" alert or anything like you would get when getting close to something. It was just me backing up and then BLAM emergency braking.

 

[Mach-Lee]

I guess that could be it, but the car should be able to tell a shadow from an object I would hope. There are shadows everywhere, it kicking in emergency braking for that is a little......

I'm fairly sure the sound came from the car, it was way too loud on the camera to not have came from it. It seems to do it right after the car had came to a complete stop. Which is why I was curious if some physical device engages in emergency braking and that noise was it disengaging.

Yes, ideally it shouldn't stop for shadows, but because your driveway is very light, the shadow is a very high contrast object to the camera so it might get confused. Try to pay attention to when it happens again and if there's a shadow or not on your driveway at the time.

The car brakes with the ABS system, which does not make any loud bangs like that. The noise happened after it was stopped and before you moved again, so it has to be another background noise (timing doesn't match the car movement). Probably a neighbor slamming a door or a dumpster.

 

[Kabish]

The noise happened after it was stopped and before you moved again,

Right, but if you watch the weight shifting of the car, you can see it full stop, rock, a click, followed by the thud. So its like it braked, a release clicks and then something retracts or disengages. I sat there for a few seconds trying to figure out what the heck just happened and to make sure things were safe for me to move again.

I know what ABS feels like, this was not ABS doing the emergency stop, at least for backing up. My wife's car uses ABS, it gives more of a stutter stop, feels like your bottoming out the car, with the weird sound that ABS does. This car goes from moving to dead stop in .001 seconds regardless of throttle input. I use One Peddle so sometimes I think I go a bit too fast for the cars liking. I try to very slowly inch my way out, I live on a blind curve with a wall that blocks my vision as a bonus so I have to backup very slowly lol I have engaged the system many times at the end of the drive way, its very abrupt and immediate. I have also had it give the "intimate rear collision" warning or however it calls it the other day after backing up into the street. I had backed up, a car came around the corner at 50mph (its 35mph zone), and like a *$@& hat went around me. I had already placed the car in drive, was about where that fence is on my neighbors house then the alert went off... It was SUUUUUUUUUPER delayed. Luckily in that situation the car really had no action it could take.

the shadow is a very high contrast object to the camera so it might get confused

I was under the impression they used radar for object detection like that? I could 100% buy the fact the shadow caused it, it's stopping right before it got to it. To me though, that is a failure in the system that could lead to some real negative effects.

By the way, not trying to argue, just having a discussion and trying to explain what I'm seeing. At the end of the day, does not really matter too much. Was just sharing with the class the odd experience.

 

[Mach-Lee]

I know what ABS feels like, this was not ABS doing the emergency stop, at least for backing up. My wife's car uses ABS, it gives more of a stutter stop, feels like your bottoming out the car, with the weird sound that ABS does.

The brake system in the Mach-E is much different and more advanced than your wife's car. Without getting too technical, basically it can apply the brakes electronically at any time (more than just ABS), and this is different than what you're used to when feeling ABS engagement on normal cars. When you use one pedal and let off, it's applying the brakes at low speed the same way the car did there when it stopped. You won't feel or hear anything when it's applying brakes under normal circumstances such as that.

I was under the impression they used radar for object detection like that? I could 100% buy the fact the shadow caused it, it's stopping right before it got to it. To me though, that is a failure in the system that could lead to some real negative effects.

It uses the camera and the ultrasonic+radar sensors for Reverse Brake Assist.

 

[Gimme_my_MME]

GHOSTS!!!!

 

[JimmyMachE]

Wires from the pole might be the culprit indeed, esp. as radar field was moving downwards thus radar perceived the angled wires as object approaching your car. ACC radar is sometimes fooled by a bottom of a beer can.

Noise - maybe the parking brake engaged in such case?

 

[timbop]

The emergency backup braking is invoking, but it is unclear why. The fact that you have a light pole next to the end of the driveway might have something to do with it. It is not "ghost braking"; the auto backup safety feature is kicking in. If you have the backup camera coming on automatically you can look at that and see where it thinks the obstruction is that is causing it to stop (there will be a red overlay on the camera view).

I do have a similar thing happen when backing out of my driveway; we added a pad next to my driveway that is angled at the bottom because we didn't widen the driveway entrance. Sometimes if I don't cut the angle right and am headed for driving on the grass it will apply the brakes and alert me that there is an obstruction right where the grass is.

I think the thunk you hear is the brakes being released after the car slammed them on.

Talking to the dealer is a waste of time; you might as well ask your dog why the sun comes up in the east every morning

 

[Kabish]

So this morning while driving my kids to school I got another pre collision warning on my driver screen. Car behind me was a good 4 lengths back, car in front was about 2 1/2 maybe 3 with no cross traffic roads and doing a constant speed of about 45mph. Its pretty much just a straight shot street, absolutely no idea why it went off....

This afternoon while I was backing out of my driveway I noticed cars are pretty much directly behind me or passing me when the side traffic alert is going off. Normally it alerts the second the cars come around the corner.

I'm wondering if that super delayed collision warning I got a few days ago has bonked the system somehow. I did not have any of these issues till that event had happened.

Once again, another reason why we need a way to reboot a computer that is on wheels. Not just the main panel reboot, a full reboot that goes through and power cycles or re-initializes all the modules. Pulling the battery lead for 15 minutes is not a valid solution in my opinion, and apparently is frowned on by Ford...

 

[geftsnowball]

This exact thing just happened to me a couple hours ago... Backing out of a parking spot, nothing in view, and... sudden stop! It felt pretty jarring. Immediate dread and thought I somehow backed into something even though I didn't see anything in 360 cam. Got out to inspect what in the world I hit (clear view in backup cam) and... absolutely nothing within 10+ feet, just empty parking spaces.

Nighttime in a semi-lighted parking lot. There is dirt from snow/wet roads all over car so perhaps sensors got confused? Very strange. Seems like it was very similar to the video from OP.

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