MG4 Pedestrian Alert

[ianb]

I posted a query couple of days ago asking if anyone had a working Pedestrian Alert on their MG4. I have a UK 2023 Trophy Long-Range, and the Alert has never worked. My dealer says it has checked the Alert thoroughly, but can't get it to work. They are now raising a 'technical case' (for at least the second time) with MG centrally. I was beginning to doubt that any MG4 had a working P.A. system. I have now found (in a car-park!) another UK 2023 MG4 and the owner assured me that his P.A. system has always worked. My query is answered - I now know that it should work! But if anyone knows of what might stop it working, I'd be pleased to hear.

 

[Everest]

Interesting.. every car I've had since I passed my test in 1980 has a working "Pedestrian Alert"...

Going forwards it the uses the windscreen, but going backwards it uses the mirrors

Maybe your sensor isn't working?

 

[siteguru]

I've never knowingly heard my own PA alert sounder, but then it tends to be quite quiet anyway (compared to other cars - the MG5 was louder for example) and I'm inside the car hearing other noises.

Tom's Man Shed on YouTube did a comparison of the PA alert sounders between the MG4 and (I think) the MG5 - might have been the ZS EV.

 

[ReintjeWA]

I don't know if it was the PA, but I had an AEB once when someone stepped out from behind a bus stop just as I was going past. Perhaps the car just slammed on the brakes as I was already really close to the person. I didn't even realise that was what triggered it as I was focused on the car next to me drifting into my lane, and only realised after I checked my dashcam footage.

I've had the car give me the warning once (and brake) when reversing out of my parking spot because my wife was standing behind the car (off to the side but not enough for the MG I guess). But it has never happened since and my wife still waits in roughly the same spot.

 

[siteguru]

The pedestrian alert is the external noise the car makes to warn pedestrians about a slow-moving Battery EV nearby. You don't normally hear this noise inside the car. The noise you heard was the car's internal alert sound that warns when one of the assistance/safety systems activates.

 

[ReintjeWA]

The pedestrian alert is the external noise the car makes to warn pedestrians about a slow-moving Battery EV nearby. You don't normally hear this noise inside the car. The noise you heard was the car's internal alert sound that warns when one of the assistance/safety systems activates.

Oooh never even knew that’s a thing the MG4 is supposed to do

 

[Montego]

Mine braked automatically when a pedestrian cut across the back of my car in a car park yesterday. Definitely a person not a vehicle.

 

[ianb]

Interesting.. every car I've had since I passed my test in 1980 has a working "Pedestrian Alert"...

Going forwards it the uses the windscreen, but going backwards it uses the mirrors

Maybe your sensor isn't working?

Bring back the hooters with the big rubber squeezy bulb. Toad of Toad Hall will ride again!
They’ve checked the sensor, which shows a silhouette of a pedestrian on the screen when passing a pedestrian, and they’ve replaced the ‘loud’speaker but still nothing sounds. They’ve also reloaded and updated the relevant software.

 

[siteguru]

What speed are they testing at? Page 182 of the Owner manual:

At low speed the PAS should sound all the time, not just when pedestrians are detected.

 

[Kithmo]

Mine braked automatically when a pedestrian cut across the back of my car in a car park yesterday. Definitely a person not a vehicle.

The rear cross traffic alert works with pedestrians and cars.

 

[YaR]

What speed are they testing at? Page 182 of the Owner manual:

View attachment 33223

At low speed the PAS should sound all the time, not just when pedestrians are detected.

Mine has never made a sound at low speed. You can hear it because of the tyre noise or the slight whine from the motor, but there's no other alert.

 

[Martinonline]

@ianb, what info version have you got? My Trophy is on R33. It shows a person on a motorcycle when a pedestrian is detected (as well as for a motorcycle, etc).

 

[siteguru]

Mine has never made a sound at low speed. You can hear it because of the tyre noise or the slight whine from the motor, but there's no other alert.

Mine's the same (as far as I know) ... but they're supposed to make a sound (other than tyre noise/motor whine).

 

[ReintjeWA]

Do we know what the actual sound should be? Is it white noise, a deep hum, is it the jingle from the ice cream van?

 

[siteguru]

From about 22 minutes in is when the testing starts in detail without the sounder, and at about 25 minutes with the sounder. It seems the whirring/whine sound we hear is in fact the PAS sounder, not the motor.

 

[Kithmo]

Do we know what the actual sound should be? Is it white noise, a deep hum, is it the jingle from the ice cream van?

A bit like a UFO from a 50s sci fi movie.

 

[ianb]

What speed are they testing at? Page 182 of the Owner manual:

View attachment 33223

At low speed the PAS should sound all the time, not just when pedestrians are detected.

Thanks. I had seen this but it seems ambiguous: I would only expect the PAS to sound when the sensor detects a pedestrian. If it always sounds at up to 15/18mph it will sound at every junction, every movement in a traffic jam, and much of the time in a 20mph zone. But I can’t get it to sound at any speed, with or without pedestrians.

 

[ianb]

@ianb, what info version have you got? My Trophy is on R33. It shows a person on a motorcycle when a pedestrian is detected (as well as for a motorcycle, etc).

The Entertainment system was R40, but is now R63. No sound with either of them! I see the icon when a person is detected, so the sensor is working, which is why the dealer/MG thought the sounder must be faulty. But putting in a new sounder hasn’t helped.

 

[ianb]

From about 22 minutes in is when the testing starts in detail without the sounder, and at about 25 minutes with the sounder. It seems the whirring/whine sound we hear is in fact the PAS sounder, not the motor.

Thanks for this. I’ve listened to it before, and not noticed any PAS noise, but I now agree that there is a whirr when the PAS is connected that you don’t hear with the PAS disconnected. If that whirr is the PAS and it’s the correct volume, I doubt if any pedestrian would notice it! But mine isn’t making any noise (to me inside the car with windows open, or to my wife as the token pedestrian on the pavement, or to the technician at my dealer). And no pedestrian has ever turned their head as I’ve come up behind them which indicates that no-one hears any noise. But it’s useful to know what it does sound like when it is working

 

[ianb]

See my reply below - it’s got detached from your comment.