All the reasons for why you shouldn’t consider buying a BMW with their camera-based Driving Assistant Plus system (5AT) using the KAFAS equipment. This system is offered for most 1-series, 2 series (including X1 and X2. Their vendors at least here in Denmark keep their mouth shut , even though customers specify that the Adaptive Cruise Control is essential to them (every time a new customer complaints about it to the vendor, they have never heard about the problem before, right) BMW themself don’t tell you about it. They even get upset, when one of the staff at the vendor passed the product sheet(link to it below) to me.

https://cartechnology.co.uk/uploads/201610/post_28126_1477853268_aad6d5beff24756e1d128a33126e0db6.attach

 

You won’t be able to use the Adaptive Cruise Control, when driving towards the sun. The system will shut down for several minutes if it gets too much light (personal record is 12 minutes, even though the car changed direction just after the Adaptive Cruise control deactivated. It can be deactivated by light reflections, shades from trees signs, bridges, traffic lights, light weather conditions etc.

 However that is just the comfort part of the system that don’t work. When it get’s to the safety features…..that’s really scary, the frontal collision warning / Automatic emergency brake, which is supposed to be of aid to the driver, e.g. the driver gets blinded by sunlight, so he/she misses a slowdown or complete stop in the traffic, well guess what, the camera is  really sensitive to the light so the system is most likely disabled if you would ever need some assistance. The FCW/AEB also have tendency to get activated with no obstacle’s miles ahead, hitting the brakes on the motorway, so going from 130 Km/h to losing speed and acceleration can be quite a shock for any cars behind you.

 

I tried to send the following e-mail to Oliver Zipse (oliver.zipse@bmw.de) the CEO of BMW, I was quite aware of that it would be filtered somewhere on the way so it was handled by the Customer support team, which does what BMW do best, stick their head in the ground, push it down in the organization leaving a useless response from a puppet in customer support, where nobody dares to state anything or commenting on anything.

 

Subject: The success of the BMW Group has always been based on long-term thinking and responsible action.....oder??

 

Sehr geehrte Herr Zipse,

 

.Do Long-term thinking and responsible action also relate to communication and how you treat your customers?

 

 

 

If so, please read on, if not you can stop here and go back to more important matters.

 

 

 

This will be the CEO recap, so after this section, you can leave the rest of this email to others, or just toss it into the bin:

 

I hope when you get to end, you can answer one simple question, that apparently no one at BMW Denmark or the BMW vendor wants to answer. There seems to be a philosophy to just ignore this basic question, I don’t know if it due to fear, ignorance, incompetence or just lack of plain decency.

So hopefully, as you’re the CEO, you should be able to answer this:

 

“Does BMW find it acceptable, according to their strategy and business plan, to sell Driving assistance systems like 5AT to customers, without providing the information in the attached product sheet?”

 

“BMW did a good job branding themself as a premier car maker. As a potential customer, you get a feeling of a brand that cares about security and reliability, making the need for mobility a pleasant journey.

I admit we did pick one from the entry-level, a 218d Gran Tourer, it seemed to fit all our needs and requirements. Due to the use by a disabled person, we had a some essential ones among those an Adaptive Cruise Control.

 

I see myself as an enlightened man, at least I don’t need someone to explicit tell me that I can’t dry my dog in the microwave oven, and I like to think we did some good research on the car before even entering the store of the authorized BMW vendor.

 

Almost everything is what we expected from a BMW, except product code 5AT, the camera-based Driving Assistant Plus option. Let’s just say that our experience with the system is well…. not so good 

I’ve attached BMW’s internal product sheet about the system. You might know of it, due to your long career at BMW. Point 4 in the sheet: The customer must be informed about the system conditions /system limits.

Nothing was mentioned during the sale, the Danish BMW website (or any other BMW localized websites for that matter) didn’t contain anything on the subject, so we had no reason to expect anything else than a system that would be working according to our requirements.

I’m quite realistic, we didn’t have an illusion of a 100% autopilot-driven car far from that, so just a plain Adaptive Cruise Control and the basic security features, AEB/FCW like all your competitors.

 

The response from the white-collar staff, sales manager, and the after sales manager at the vendor: Oh, we are so sorry, we didn’t know of the limitations, but we can offer you a trade-in on a radar-based model and then passed me on to the blue-collar guy. Let’s just say he knew the product and was honest about it.

I’m sorry to say, that I’m not the only one here in Denmark with that exact experience from the BMW vendor and the system itself., so at least it’s the same for everyone, so BMW got some kind of standard..

At the risk of sounding a bit harsh, after almost two years of ownership, I can’t even believe that BMW sells this system, it can only cause disappointed customers and occasionally extremely dangerous situations in the traffic. 2021 and still branding and selling a product that can’t be used when driving towards the sun, a system that deactivates randomly, due to shades from trees/signs/reflections or something else. a system that numerous times activates the FCW on the autobahn, losing acceleration and speed, with no obstacles within miles, occasionally fails to detect trucks and tractors, gets deactivated for up to 12 minutes due to “disturbing influences” and so on and on.

 

At least let the customers have a choice, by making sure that BMW’s authorized selected vendors do their job, by providing the required information, so they know what to expect. You even have a product sheet stating that it’s a requirement and from personal experience, even though the product sheet is 5 years old, nothing has changed despite I’ve been told that BMW continues the development of the system.

I do admit that we wouldn’t have bought the car if the information had been presented to us at that time, so I guess on a short-term thinking it might make sense to not say anything and sell one car, on the long-term well…. I’m not sure that’s the best strategy.

 

 

I wonder, whoever did a cost-benefit analysis on the decision to save a few bucks by using only a camera as a sensor, were they only looking on the benefits side and missing the entire cost side?

 

·         People tend to get disappointed when their expectations aren’t met. It’s always easier/cheaper to make an existing customer buy another of a company’s products than convincing a potential customer satisfied using the product from a competitive company to make a switch.

·         The white-collars guys will have to either lie (having the knowledge but not telling is lying according to my code of conduct as well) /or being incompetent to sell a product with so many conditions and limitations. Neither explanation makes it right to start blaming the customer for having false expectations. The sales material states an Adaptive Cruise Control, not an Adaptive Cruise Cancellation. It’s not a solution to tell the user to use the normal cruise control or say: “Thank you for help improving our driver assistance system, it’s because of customers like you, that one day, we can be a passenger in our own auto driven car”.   

·         The blue-collar guys waste quite a few hours on every complaining customer, by replacing camera’s, windshields, updating the software or the hardware controller (an everything is a secret, even the blue-collar guys don’t always know what the updates are supposed to fix) that must be quite an expense, but I guess that has been calculated in the price of the car. From my point of view, that expense could have been better spent on including a radar-based solution instead in the first place.

·         The ACC/FCW/AEB, driving assistance systems in general are supposed to assist the driver. Two of the most frequent reasons for accidents are distractions, the driver is losing concentration, or that the driver’s line of sight gets obfuscated, e.g., blinded by the sun and miss that the cars ahead have slowed down or come to a complete stop. Well guess what? 5AT makes sure that the driver gets distracted, by cancelling the adaptive cruise control due to numerous reasons and even worse, due to the limitations of 5AT, the driver and the family are sittings ducks, should the need for life-threatening assistance occur if the sun is shining, when ACC/FCW/AEB is disabled due to sunlight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Despite my current ambivalent feeling towards BMW, You do produce some very nice cars and I’m quite positive about the rapid move BMW has done towards electric-driven vehicles….just….please from the bottom of my heart get rid of 5AT. If you can’t make it, don’t fake it, it’s essential critical safety equipment, don’t differ on the level of basic security between customers for entry and high-level models.   Or at least put it back in the lab, don’t make customers pay 60000 euros for being part of a test, they’re not aware of participating in. Human lab rats usually get paid for participating and are informed about the test process.  When BMW thinks they’re done in lab….You can start test the system in real life, in all weather conditions, 24/7/365,  in real traffic scenarios(with trees, signs, bridges, trafficlights, billboards, other cars etc. etc.), in different geographic locations(the position of the sun might affect the system), using test persons that have agreed upon being potential crash test dummies should the system come to short.

 

The product sheet fails on being completely straight in one place:

“Generally, this takes place when the human eye also approaches its limits”

Whoever in marketing that made that one-liner up, should get a temporary driving ban, go see a doctor and have their eyesight checked. Generally, I hope that any driver with a vision that bad would have their driver’s license revoked right away.

 

 

Let me rephrase my question from the beginning…Would You yourself ever even have considered buying a car providing the  5AT option, if  the information in the productsheet was made available during pre-sales?. I know for sure I wouldn’t(and I know of a few others that wouldn’t either), because I care about my family and my fellow road users.

A system with so many documented  conditions/limitations that should make it obviously that the system wouldn’t work in real life. It’s a cover-my-ass document so you can refer to it: It’s a feature, or it’s working within the conditions of the system when customers are complaining. But none of these features or conditions have been accepted by the customer, unless you provide the information during pre-sale.

 

 

 

 

End of CEO recap.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a small story, describing our experience with a BMW vendor and implicit BMW Denmark.

 

Back in September 2019, we ordered a BMW 218d at one of your authorized dealers here in Denmark. We were very happy when the deal was signed, the hunt for the right car had lasted a year (several cars were studied and tested during that time😊. I did read quite a few reviews on the 218d as well, so I like to believe that I did what I could to do my part to act as a responsible customer, catching any pros/cons about the model.

 

We had some quite essential requirements for our new car, due to the disabilities of my wife, she is born without fingers and toes, that kinds of wear on the body after nearly 50 years.

So we wanted a car with a lot of adjustment options (seat, steering wheel, easy to get in and out, etc), adaptive cruise control, automatic transmission,  in the MPV segment and the car would be registered as a service car for a disabled user, so the vendor was very well aware of the importance of our requirements. The only thing stated in the danish list of options about the driving assistance system at that time was that it was camera-based and it would work in the range of 30-140 km/h.

 

And so we lived happily ever after………….what could possibly go wrong,,,,, we bought a car from a carmaker that likes to brand themself as Premium….

.

 

Well, we had no expectation of a self-driven car, the autopilot thing still needs a bit of work, and the driver is solely responsible despite any driving assistant systems,  soon we would know a thing or two about the difference between BMW’s camera and radar-based driving assistance systems. I know very well that radar-based solutions aren’t flawless either.

At first, we thought it was malfunctioning and just needed some re-adjustments.

 

Little would we know, we went to the vendor a couple of times for adjustments but it didn’t change anything. My BMW blue-collar technician did reveal a few truths about the system on these Rendez-Vous. I wasn’t happy at that time. That was so far from what we had expected and required.  I like to think  that unless I’m  told otherwise in the sales process, it’s fair  to expect a system that would work for daily use:

 

Not:

 

·         Being limited by the position of the sun (only being able to use the adaptive cruise control while driving in three directions)

·         Occasionally fails to detect tractors and trucks. It really makes you feel safe since the Front Collision Warning /AEB uses the same camera to know went to kick-in if needed

·         Shades from tree /sign etc. deactivates the system.

·         FCW/AEB comes to short when the sun is shining

·         And the list goes on and on and……………….

 

 

Confronting the sales manager didn’t change a lot, besides he was fast to offer us a trade-in for a radar-based model though. I wasn’t too keen on the idea of having to spend more money on something that I thought that I already bought in the first place.

 

He stated right away that he wasn’t familiar with any general issues with the system and passed me on to the aftersalest manager, who also claimed that he didn’t have any knowledge of the system, and then passed me on to my regular BMW blue-collar guy, and he was kind enough to pass me the attached pdf document, as he added later on, ”it’s only fair that the customer knows what they bought”. Passing me the document apparently upset management at BMW Denmark and the management of the vendor. I wonder why? How dare BMW to pick on the blue-collar guy?, he acted the way that  I would have expected from a premier car brand and any serious authorized vendor. He should be in sales, might not be  the best idea when it comes to  short-term thinking, missing a sale,  but people tend to return to vendors the next time they’re looking for a car with different requirement, if staff  acted honest and responsible on their first visit.

 

The information in the product sheet is easy to understand, and any freshman car sales trainee should be able to provide the information to the customer during the sale process, and any serious sales organization should be able to make sure that their selected vendors have the knowledge. I guess the sales manager was honest with me when I mention the lack of information, his response: “then they probably wouldn’t sell many using this technology”. I find it hard to believe that the information in the productsheet is unknown to all the white-collar people at the vendor and BMW Denmark. I can only draw my own conclusion if somebody is lying or are completely incompetent.

 

 

Apart from the snow scenario, we have had all the experiences multiple times. It’s BMW's product sheet on the camera-based system. It’s 5 years old and based on our own experience, I’m sorry to reveal to you that the continuous development by BMW got them nowhere.

-

Please look a point 4. I like to think that BMW wants the customer to be informed about the limits before the sale, to avoid false expectations, and unhappy customers.

I know a sales agent has a personal interest in selling me a car, and yes We would never have bought the car if the information had been presented to us at that time, but that would have been a responsible action from a premium car maker. I know the vendors are independent, and the BMW Group is not responsible for the way they run their business. But a sign of long-term thinking would be to make sure that the vendors sell the products fair and square and respect the BMW brand. Of course, it would also require that  BMW themselves would be open about their solutions, Volvo has an entire section on their website describing their use of radar/camera-based solutions and the pro/cons of them, unfortunately, we weren’t looking at Volvo during our car hunt, otherwise, we would have acquired the knowledge ourselves of what BMW likes to keep a secret.

 

BMW Denmark even stated for several months last year on their websites that the 218d did contain 5AT and 5DF (the radar-based solution) and even though passing this error directly on to the sales director of BMW Denmark nothing happened.

I don’t know the intentions of what BMW Group was trying to gain by establishing their own organization in Denmark back in 2003, and consolidating the vendors, apart from demanding fancy shiny vendor shops. I don’t think I have ever met a car brand that tries so hard to keep their customers at a distance by referring to their vendors for any complaints, questions, interactions, or how they act on social media platforms.

 

 

Of course, you wouldn’t have to tell the customer about conditions and limitations, if you can just say sorry, as an authorized BMW vendor, that you did not know of it, and then just point back to the customer and say that they’re sorry that you had false expectations. That approach seems to be quite commonly used, based on the communication I have had with other BMW owners here in Denmark on this matter, who also stated that the Adaptive Cruise control was very essential to them.

 

Unfortunately according to FDM (the equaliant to ADAC here in Denmark) it’s legit, not saying anything, since you’re not obliged to talk badly about your product. Even though it affects the security of those for whom you care, otherwise I would kindly have asked for a refund.

 

Already over budget(and with the degrading health of my wife, yes she really won the lottery when she was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease earlier this year), we had to turn down the in-place-upgrade.

 

So we did another round of hardware troubleshooting:

After the camera was replaced during troubleshooting  we experienced for the first time:

·         that the FCW/AEB system gets activated on numerous occasions while driving on the autobahn with no obstacles ahead of the car. That could be exciting one day!!

·         That a traffic light/billboards can deactivate the Adaptive Cruise Control, and disable the system for 5 minutes.

 

After experiencing the AEB/FWC just kicking in for no reason, it felt like a gun to my head, so yes we decided to re-open the possibility of a trade-in, not voluntary though, but what kind of family guy would ever dare to risk the life of their loved ones, because of technical “features”. Unfortunately due to the facelift of the X3 and the pandemic, we haven’t been able to get a trade-in price for the last 8 months. As time goes by  we’ve come to  the conclusion that the 60000 euros we paid for a so-called premier car was our upper limit.

How can BMW and the sales organization claim that the customer has false expectations and the system is working as expected, when they at the same time claim, they weren’t aware of these “features” themself. In what other situations would it be fair, in a B2C scenario that the customer knows more than the vendor of a product, and the vendor find it reasonably to settled it by requiring the customer, to put more money on the table to replace it with another vehicle that doesn’t fit their needs, when the original deal would never have taken place if the vendor/maker had taken their counseling and responsibility seriously.

 

 

As the system is so unreliable, I even dare to say useless in its current state and since it apparently gets too complex for your vendors to keep track of the fact that BMW uses two different systems,  please consider skipping the solely camera-based solution even though it makes BMW  able to offer the customer a competitive system(might be on the price but then again…), and stick with the radar/camera-based combined solution for now.

 

I know Elon skipped the radar-based solution and started using a camera-based only solution for two Tesla models on the North American market earlier this year, I don’t know what it takes to get to that point, better cameras? improved software? maybe Tesla will have the same flaws just a matter of company branding, people tend to accept  “features” from a first-mover company. Despite Tesla’s known low assembly quality they seem to be doing quite well.

BMW is no such company.  It obliges to be a Premier carmaker, it requires solid well-tested solutions and that the customers feel they are treated with honesty and respect, and by that BMW gains loyalty from existing and new customers. 

But then again  what do I know?, I’m not a car expert,  just a disappointed BMW owner due to my wrong expectations about what BMW stands for.

 

If this kind of behavior is BMW’s definition of Long-term thinking and responsible actions, well..good luck. I’m sure that the rocket guy at Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg would be happy to take the lead towards providing good honest cars that you can trust.It will take a few years I know, Tesla needs to pick up a bit of the well known german saying: “ordnung muss sein”, that some other car-makers seems to have left in gutter in the hunt for innovation and fancy words like long-term thinking and responsible actions.

 

If you managed to stick to the very end, Thank you for your time. I sincerely hope that BMW’s code of conduct, definition of long-term thinking, and responsible actions, is very different from what we and other BMW owners have experienced.

 

 

One final wish, probably impossible, but since  christmas is coming up soon , please consider releasing a affordable retrofit radar-based solution upgrade for the  2 series. We love the rest of the car, it’s just the “minor” comfort and security issues that annoys us😊

 

 

 

 

 

I wish you a pleasant day

 

 

mit freundlichen Grüßen

 

Jakob Svarrer

 

 

The response from BMW:

 

 

 

Dear Jakob,

Thank you for taking the time to reach out to us.

The Driving assistance system serves as a support to the driver. Nevertheless, the driver must always be attentive and be able to intervene in the process at any time.

Information about the Driving assistance system is provided in the User’s manual. We are however sorry to hear that you feel dissatisfied with the information provided to you when you purchased the car. This feedback will be forwarded to concerned department since all feedback from our customers can help us become better.

Reaching out to our authorized dealer or workshop is the correct thing to do whenever you have any concerns regarding your car. We work closely together with our dealers and for us, it is important that you feel the same confidence in them that we do.

In your feedback you mention that the dealer has offered you to trade-in your car. If that is manageable, we kindly ask you to continue the discussion with your dealer regarding your options. 

BMW cars are manufactured in the highest possible quality and we are constantly developing our products. We are glad to read your positive attitude towards BMW’s rapid development in electric vehicles.  

Thank you once again for sharing your experiences with us.

 

Best regards,

BMW Group Northern Europe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Original Trustpilot review in Danish

Og så levede de lykkeligt derefter….aber dabei

 

Resume( ”Så slipper du for a læse de næste 5 siders selvynk og forsøg på at flytte ansvaret):

”Midaldrende lettere overvægtig bilanalfabet i en midtvejskrise, fundere over sit seneste bilkøb og prøver at projektere ansvaret for misforståelser og manglende teknisk indsigt over på forhandler og anerkendt bilmærke. ”, eller måske er det ikke helt selvforskyldt alligevel

 

Da jeg lavede min oprindelige anmeldelse af henholdsvis BAG og BMW lå de på 4 stjerner, røg op 5 stjerner, da de gav den lidt ekstra, som de ikke var forpligtet til. Det var sådan set købsoplevelsen, men når vi så oplever nogle uhensigtsmæssigheder under brug, som sådan set kunne have været undgå på en forholdsvis nem måde under købsprocessen, så må der nødvendigvis revurderes.

 

Jeg mener selv, at  jeg efter bedste evne, og hvad der kan forventes af en almen bilkøber, lavede det forventelige indledende arbejde med at læse test/anmeldelser af 218d Gran Tourer, for at fange plusser og minusser med modellen, inden vi kontaktede forhandleren.

 

Indledningsvis: Jeg har haft en fin  dialog med salgschefen hos BAG Århus, som  har beklaget hvis jeg føler jeg har fået en mangelfuld rådgivning, og han tager min kritik til efterretning og vil tage det med i de løbende overvejelser omkring den måde, hvorpå man  afvikler deres kunderådgivning i huset.

 Han var ligeledes  hurtig til at tilbyde muligheden for en indbytningspris, den mulighed tænker jeg så reelt set at alle har mulighed for uanset baggrunden, og en sælger går vel aldrig af vejen for en ekstra handel. Vores økonomi er ej heller til 2 bilskift inden for et år, derudover har BMW ej  en anden bilmodel som passer til vores behov, i hvert fald ikke inden for vores budget😊, så det er ej en løsning vi kan bruge til noget.

Nedenstående er min egen personlige subjektive holdning til, hvad der er god rådgivning/hvad jeg som almen forbruger mener jeg kan forvente af en forhandler/importør/producent af et Premium bilmærke. Evt. tekniske konklusioner er helt mine egne, og jeg er ikke bilkyndig, så opsøg den rette faglige kompetence for assistance.

Med fare for at stille  min ringe viden om biler til offentlig skue kommer vi nu til sagens kerne:

 

Kære BMW Danmark, Kære BAG og ikke mindst kommende/nuværende  kunder til BMW’s kamerabaseret Driving Assistant Plus

 

Efter at  have tilbagelagt små 20000 km, og efterhånden alle 4 årstider i vores Gran Tourer 218d, to besøg på værkstedet for at rette op på et par småting, som blev løst til UG+ af vores BAG mekaniker, er der kun vores smertensbarn tilbage:

Det kamerabaserede Driving Assistant Plus system, som blandt inkludere den adaptive fartpilot, den ”automatisk nødbremse” (Approach control/Front Collision warning with light breaking function) mv.

Lad os starte med et par af mine forventninger til et førerassistent system

 

-          Jeg forventer ikke en selvkørende bil. Der er vi langt fra endnu. Jeg er bevidst om at alle førerassistentssystemer, hvad enten de er kamerabaseret/radarbaseret /kombi kan deaktiveres af forskellige årsager.

-          Jeg forventer at kunne anvende en aktiv fartpilot uanset om jeg kører syd, vest, nord eller østlig retning uagtet tidspunktet på dagen.

-          Jeg forventer ikke at en adaptiv fartpilot jævnligt er årsag til spørgsmål i den store: ”Hvorfor slog den adaptive fartpilot  fra lige der – Quiz”. Der er nok af andre distraktioner i trafikken i forvejen.

-          Jeg forventer ikke at jeg får behov for den ”automatiske nødbremse”. Men jeg er jo kun et menneske, så det er rart at vide, at jeg  muligvis kan få lidt hjælp af teknikken  til at begrænse konsekvenserne, hvis jeg misser noget i trafikken. Det kunne jo være den klassiske hvor man overser en stillestående kø pga. evt. sollys.

 

Reelle Oplevelser med den aktive fartpilot:

Den fungere fint 90 % af tiden. Det formoder vi i hvert fald, med tiden bliver man lidt mere modig og lader bilen komme lidt tættere på før man  trækker ud eller selv bremser lidt ned, her oplever vi at traktorer og lastbiler til tider ikke bliver detekteret overhovedet. Og eftersom nødbremsen  anvender samme kamera, tjah så er der ikke megen hjælp at hente der, hvis du er uopmærksom den dag 5 tons Massey Fergusson svinger ud foran dig, hvis systemet har en dårlig dag.

Solen er den største ”fjende”, et system der ikke eksempelvis ikke vil kunne aktiveres på en tur fra København til Esbjerg pga. modlys trækker gevaldig ned, og det mener jeg ikke man kan nøjes med at nævne i en generel fodnote omkring sollys, og det forekommer ikke kun ved lavtstående sol(her er lavtstående selvfølgelig et definitions spørgsmål). At man overhovedet vil være bekendt at sælge noget under betegnelsen adaptive fartpilot, som ikke kan fungerede i  sollys i 2019, er mig en gåde.

Et system der regelmæssig De aktivere ud af det blå, måske er der en gren der kaster en skygge på vejen, måske  en trækvind fra en museprut, jordstråler, lysreflektioner, bidrager ikke til komforten.

 

 

Ved den indledende første samtale ved BAG Århus, lagde vi vægt på, at den adaptive fartpilot var et væsentlig parameter bl.a. fordi at  bilen skulle indregistreres og bruges som handicapbil, så alt hvad der kunne aflaste under kørslen var relevant i vores købsbeslutning, derudover er  en adaptiv fartpilot bare  toppen af komfort😊.

Det er nemt nok under demoturen at afprøve betjeningen af en fartpilot, som er super fin, men funktionaliteten ved daglig brug,  oplever man først, når bilen er købt og er kommet hjem i indkørslen.

Bilen bliver taget i brug og det er den rene fornøjelse, en verden til forskel fra den 14 år gammel Ford Mondeo med 445000 km på tælleren, som den skal afløse.

Instruktionsbogen bliver taget i brug med jævne mellemrum  når nye features og funktionaliteter skal studeres.  Den adaptive fartpilot har sine små finurligheder, og for at gøre en lang historie kort, efter at instruktionsbogen bliver konsulteret, så må vi nok erkende at vi står med det som BMW/BAG i en anden trustpilot anmeldelse kalder : ”at den aktive fartpilot i din bil virker som den skal og bør med de egenskaber, den nu engang har”.

Og hvilken egenskaber refereres der så til?

 Instruktionsbogen referer til en række begrænsninger, men ikke engang instruktionsbogen er komplet på det område. Vi oplever flere gange at systemet slår fra pga. sollys og derefter ikke kan slås til igen med det samme, selv om der skiftes kørselsretning, og der  kan så gå alt fra 1 sekund til 15 minutter før det kan aktiveres igen.  Når systemet så er lukket ned på den måde, så virker ”nødbremse” systemet så   heller ikke , før systemet har fået behandlet den ”traumatiske oplevelse”, så et solstrejf kan indenfor  15 minutter derefter  resultere i at du kollidere med en anden bil, hvis du er så uheldig at din egen indre chauffør svigter bag rattet i det tidsrum.

Efter 2 besøg på værkstedet hvor min faste dygtige BAG  mekaniker gør hvad han kan med softwareopdateringer og tjek af bilruden for urenheder og revner og hvor jeg får lidt mere at vide om begrænsningerne  ved systemet, så må jeg nok erkende, at jeg føler at kamerabaseret  Driving Assistance Plus  på ingen måde lever op til min opfattelse af hvad BMW står for.

Jeg kontakter pr. mail(ikke min mest positive af slagsen😊, salgschefen hos BAG Århus, , for at finde ud af hvad der er op og ned på det system. Han er ikke inde  i den tekniske del af systemet, jeg er nu også mere interesseret i viden om systemet i daglig brug, så han sender mig videre til eftermarkedschefen, som ligeledes blankt erkender at han ikke kender til systemet, så han sender stafetten videre til min vanlige mekaniker, som så sender mig et officielt BMW forhandler produktark……

Produktarket kan ses her:

https://cartechnology.co.uk/uploads/201610/post_28126_1477853268_aad6d5beff24756e1d128a33126e0db6.attach

Eller google det med denne streng (inklusiv ”)

"System limits of the camera-based driver assistance system"

 

Da jeg har læst det 4 siders pdf dokument igennem, sidder jeg hovedrystende tilbage. Jeg tror ikke jeg nogensinde har set et produktark  indeholdende  så mange forekomster af  ”limits” og ”limitations” på så få sider. Dokumentet er ganske vist  4  år gammelt, ,men vi har stort set oplevet alle de scenarier der er nævnt i begrænsningerne, inklusiv ”jeg tror ikke systemet har opdaget de 4 tons traktor der kører foran os skat” oplevelsen , så til trods for softwareopdateringer siden da, har jeg følelsen af at være  first movers på et produkt, som jeg tænker forudsætter et obligatorisk krav om  at BMW/forhandler aktivt gør kunden tydeligt opmærksom på begrænsninger/egenskaber inden et evt. køb .

 Produktet bliver i produktarket decideret beskrevet som et prisbillig konkurrencedygtig produkt pga. at det kun benytter et kamera som eneste sensor. Jeg  kunne da godt tænke  mig at vide, når jeg står og overvejer en Berlingo+ familiecontainer, med plads til 7 personer,  at BMW synes at man ikke kan få det hele for en halv million, og man derfor har lavet en budgetløsning, som fortsat er noget dyrere end konkurrenterne og på ingen måde, når en radarbaseret løsning til sokkeholderne, hverken når det kommer til komfort eller sikkerhed. Jeg tror selv Renault vil have haft den pli at skrive Dacia på bagsmækken, hvis de vil lancere  et prisbillig andenrangsprodukt, men BMW? (så lad dog hellere vær!) eller gør da i det mindste hvad der står i produktarkets   punkt 4: ”Customer information. The customer must be informed about the system conditions/system limits ” etc., om BMW så har tænkt at informationen skal falde i pre-sale fasen, eller bare inden bilen overdrages til køberen, så BMW har ryggen fri i tilfælde af uheld, hvor føreren måske har haft for megen tiltro til systemet skal være usagt.

 

Juridisk operere man desværre med et begreb som hedder forventeligt, så fordi alle kamerabaserede systemer  har de samme begrænsninger(ifølge FDM), så er sælger ikke forpligtig til at informere om evt. begrænsninger ved et produkt, så hvad enten det er med fuldt overlæg, dog må der ikke gives direkte misvisende informationer, eller pga. manglende viden, så det er ikke muligt at påpege en  væsentlig mangel.

Når jeg har en sælger, en salgschef og en eftermarkedschef ved BAG Århus, og dertil kommer minimum en sælger og en eftermarkedschef ved BAG Aalborg, som Henrik Jensbys Trustpilot anmeldelse af bmw.dk fra 10 oktober 2019 vidner om, som  tilsyneladende ikke kender til hvordan systemet fungerer, så er der vist ikke noget at sige til, at selv ikke jeg kan  gennemskue ulemper/begrænsninger og hvad der er forventeligt  ved en kamerabaseret løsning ud fra den information BAG og BMW stiller til umiddelbar rådighed.

Henrik opsøger BAG Aalborg, da han er interesseret i en BMW X1’er, for Henrik er den adaptive fartpilot en feature, som var fundamental for hans valg. Da X1 demobilen i Aalborg ikke har en adaptiv fartpilot, sender man ham afsted i en 5 serie, så han kan prøve fartpiloten af, den virker superfin…. men man glemmer jo så lige at 5 serien anvender en radarbaseret løsning og ikke den kamerabaserede, som Henrik jo så må  lide med efter købet. Henrik får på intet tidspunkt info om systemets egenskaber i forhold til en radarbaseret løsning. Glemsomhed eller manglende viden om forskellene på BMW’s forskellige løsninger?.

Det skal simpelthen være rygradsviden, som kunden skal have serveret uden filter og uopfordret, ikke mindst fordi det ikke  kun påvirker komfortsystemerne, men ligeledes sikkerheden.

Med fare for at generalisere, når detailleddet glipper i at give faglig/fair/kompetent  rådgivning må vi som forbruger søge information andre steder for at være klædt på.

 Et fysiske katalog var ikke tilgængelig hos forhandleren i tiden op til vores køb, instruktionsbogen får man først i hænde når bilen leveres, online instruktionsbogen kan du kun downloade, når du kan indtaste et stelnummer. Men et  oplagt bud, lige til højrebenet kunne jo være…dam dam dammmm,.. trommehvirvel : www.bmw.dk.

Find online kataloget på 2-serien  Gran Tourer. Kataloget er på engelsk, dog med en dansk note på side 2: ”Velkommen til udstyrssektionen. De efterfølgende sider i kataloget er en oversigt over det ekstra-og standardudstyr, bilen leveres med i Tyskland. Udstyrslister gældende specifikt for det danske marked finder du her www.bmw.dk/udstyr. Med venlig hilsen BMW Danmark A/S”

Her er der muligvis allerede nogen kunder, der straks hopper over til den danske udstyrsliste, men lad os bladre videre i kataloget. På side 20 og 35 kommer så beskrivelsen af The Driving Assistant Plus pakken, flankeret af et par små tal for at gøre opmærksom på et par  fodnoter: 2: Function may be limited in darkness, fog or bright glare. Er det linien, som BMW mener gør at kunderne bør kende systemets begrænsninger/egenskaber i forhold til det 4 siders produktark?

Hvis man googler ”camerabased Driving Assistent Plus limitations  vil der bl.a. dukke  links op  til BMW Yemen, Nigeria og Myanmar, hvor  begrænsningen så kun er :  This fuction can be limited by darkness and fog. Så om man på disse markeder får en solbrille/cap med til kameraet, så bright glare ikke er et problem alternativt bruger et bedre kamera ved jeg ikke.

Lad os prøve ”Byg din BMW” funktionen, den var ikke tilgængelig på den danske side, da vi købte vores bil. Vi vælger her Driving Assistant Plus førerassistentsystemet. Ingen noter om begrænsninger i den ellers omfattende tekst om  systemet. Hvis man vælger tilsvarende på den franske søstersider på bmw.fr, får man et lille hint, for  her står udover, at de roser systemet i forhold til et system der kun er radarbaseret, da det kan detektere holdende biler at: Pour les plages de vitesse non prises en compte ou lorsque le fonctionnement de la caméra est restreint en raison des conditions météorologiques, un mode sans maintien de la distance est disponible., ergo at man kan køre med den almindelige fartpilot, når der er vejrmæssige udfordringer eller at man kører med en hastighed, der er uden for systemets operationelle område..

 Lad os hoppe videre til www.bmw.dk/udstyr

Vælge BMW 2-Serie

Vælge BMW 2-Serie Gran Tourer

Vælge Ekstraudstyr (Fabriksmonteret)

Vælge 218d Advantage

Vi går under  assistentsystemer

Finder Driving Assistent plus, hmm ingen begrænsninger nævnt, da vi købte stod der nævnt at den aktive fartpilot opererede inden for 30-140 km/t i denne rubrik.

 

Men, hov der er kommet  en ny rubrik siden vi købte. Produktkode 5DF: Aktiv fartpilot med stop&Go Funktion, hvor info nu siger Radarbaseret førerassistance system, interessant så nu kommer den både med kamera og radarbaseret førerassistance system… bliver der mulighed for at der kommer en eftermonterbar løsning til os, som i almen uvidenhed havde for store  forventninger til et produkt fra BMW….eller Jeg kan godt nok ikke lige finde referencer andre steder til at  Gran Tourer  2 serien, er blevet  beriget med radarbaseret førerassistentsystem

Den nye BMW 2 Series Gran Coupe ser dog ud til at kunne leveres med det, hvis man krydsreferere med andre BMW sider og Google, så kunne der være en fejl i ekstraudstyrslisten for Gran Tourer?.

Mens vi alligevel  har ekstraudstyrslisten åben for Gran Tourer:

Da vi stadigvæk var i kiggefasen sidste år, sendte jeg en mail den 16/8-2019 til dk.kundesupport@bmwgroup.com, da jeg fandt to fejl på den danske hjemmeside, den 24/9-2019 modtager jeg så en: ”tak for din email og feedback og vi kigger på problemet” besked retur. Tja  den tekniske  fejl forsvandt efter et stykke tid, da I fik redesignet hjemmesiden, så webdesignet  var ens, uafhængig af hvilken model man kiggede på. Men Vejl. Udsalgspris (85%) kr. for komfort adgang (produktkode 322) er stadigvæk forkert, den skal vist lige have et lille nøk opad, sådan ca. 3000 kr.

I min søgen rundt på information faldt jeg ligeledes over:

https://erhverv-bmw.dk/2-serie/gran-tourer/ og på www.finans-bmw.dk  står det  nævnt at 218/220 Gran Tourer Connected Aut.  bl.a. leveres med:

Crossing-traffic warning front

Er det ligeledes noget der kommer som noget eftermontering?, eller er det en speciel business edition? eller er der fejl i informationerne? (synes ikke jeg kan finde det i brochuren og ej heller andre steder)

 

 

BAG har tilsyneladende ikke kunne finde/få  svar på to tekniske spørgsmål, jeg har stillet, så nu håber jeg at i ved BMW Danmark kan trække på jeres bagland (det hjælper jo ikke,at I henviser til jeres forhandlere, når oplysninger ikke er tilgængelige for dem)

1.       Fjernlys Assistenten (FLA), hvor få Lux skal der være før at det fungere. I Juli måned klokken  23.30 på en øde jysk hovedvej var det tilsyneladende ikke mørk nok til at systemet kunne aktiveres.

2.       Nå vi nu skal lide med Driving Assistant Plus manglerne, er der så et roadmap for udviklingen er softwaren. Der er jo tilsyneladende ikke sket det store vilde siden produktarket er dateret, så kunne I løfte en lille smule af sløret for hvilke af begrænsninger der arbejdes på?

 

 

 

 

Beklager den kraftige nedgang i stjerner, måske er det selvforskyldt, måske var min undersøgelsespligt mere omfattende end jeg anede, men om 10 år, når vi skal have ny bil igen, så starter jeg helt fra bunden og tæller dæk, sæder, hver en hk osv.  Jeg vil ikke udelukke en BMW igen. Jeg håber så bare, at de ændringer der blev lavet/startet  i 2003 i forhold til importør/forhandlernettet og at BMW Group overtog markedsansvaret for det danske marked udover at sikre de økonomiske mål også på tilsyneladende meget lang  sigt, er at  sikre en god ensartet og fyldestgørende information til kunden ved at samle fagkompetencerne ved færre antal forhandlersteder.

Som producent/forhandler kan man jo ikke tvinges til at tale sit produkt ned og formidlingen af indholdet af  det 4 siders  dokument havde nok   gjort, at valget var faldet på et andet mærke. Men hvis det var endt med BMW’en alligevel  havde spillereglerne, begrænsninger og egenskaber, været kendt og ikke som de gør nu,  fremstå som væsentlige mangler både indenfor sikkerhed og komfort. Ikke hvad jeg forbinder med BMW brandet, men man lærer jo hele livet, det har så bare været nogle dyre lærepenge denne gang.

Til andre, der er på mit bil analfabet niveau og ej heller er helt med på hvad der er forventeligt , så gør eks. Volvo, noget i at fortælle om de forskellige  førerassistancesystem både kamera og radarbaserede på deres hjemmeside.  Så kan du altid henvende dig til BMW efterfølgende og indlede dialogen derfra. Om  et kamerabaseret systemet er acceptabelt er en individuel vurdering, for mit eget vedkommende hvis BMW’s system er det forventelige, så er det et no-go herfra. Radarbaseret som minimum og gerne en kombination af Radar og kamera vil være at foretrække.

Nå sådan blev et udeladt 4 siders pdf dokument, med et væld af forekomster af limits og limitations til knap 6 siders væven med et rekordhøjt antal grammatiske og tegnsætningsfejl.

Ikke mere brok for nu. BMW/BAG stram op på jeres produktion information-/kendskab, fortæl tingene som de er, trods manglerne….øhhh  begrænsningerne/egenskaberne, så der er overensstemmelse med forventningerne.

Og bare rolig…….Vi skal nok leve lykkeligt og længe……….. i hvert fald så længe vi undgår behovet for nødbremsen i en modlys situation, eller en traktor på afveje. Og med BMW’s implementation af ACC = Adaptive Cruise Cancellation, så har vi jo en fået en form for en udvidet  driver alertness assistant u/b, som lige kommer med et opkvikkende pling med jævne mellemrum, når systemet slår fra pga. tjah dets egenskaber.