Lane Keep Assist feature

[Brian Proctor]

Clearly you are getting different behaviour than we are seeing. I wonder if you got all the updates? We can't check the LKA module software version unfortunately.

What happened exactly?

I have experienced the same. Car collected 16th March 2023 LKA very aggressive. Turn it off before driving off every time., Would be better if off was default and on remains a choice option.

 

[WonkoTheSaneUK]

I have experienced the same. Car collected 16th March 2023 LKA very aggressive. Turn it off before driving off every time., Would be better if off was default and on remains a choice option.

Sadly, the current behaviour seems to be a requirement from EuroNCAP, on the grounds that "the next driver might want it switched on".

 

[Bacarelle]

Sadly, the current behaviour seems to be a requirement from EuroNCAP, on the grounds that "the next driver might want it switched on".

I understand the NCAP issue and reluctantly could live with having to turn LKA off on every trip.
What I do not like is the system switching itself ON again whilst driving even though the LKA has been turned OFF at the start of the trip.
That situation seems to me to be a recipe for disaster as it coincides with the car suddenly pulling to the nearside unannounced.

 

[tsedge]

I understand the NCAP issue and reluctantly could live with having to turn LKA off on every trip.
What I do not like is the system switching itself ON again whilst driving even though the LKA has been turned OFF at the start of the trip.
That situation seems to me to be a recipe for disaster as it coincides with the car suddenly pulling to the nearside unannounced.

It isn't supposed to do that. Provided that it is properly disabled as explained earlier then if it turns itself on during a drive then you have a fault and should visit your dealer.

 

[WonkoTheSaneUK]

The thing to watch for is that unless you get an "Are you sure?" type popup (similar to the one in the pic below) when you switch off LKA, it is not off!

When driving, look at the symbol I've highlighted in the pic below

• Yellow = LKA Off
• White = LKA Ready (On)
• Green = LKA Active (On & trying to kill you)

 

[Surfdog]

Had car for one week and been for a few drives on B class roads. I'm struggling to relax at the wheel. In my previous car I would cruise resting arm on door with fingers lightly controlling steering. Not any more. Two hands on wheel at all times ready to fight sudden unexpected tugs on wheel. Despite keeping in middle of lane I am finding the LKA sensor goes crazy on rough road surfaces (most roads in Scotland), is severely effected when damp road surfaces are drying out as well as repaired road surfaces that are different shade from rest of road. Downright dangerous if you ask me. Its only a matter of time before a MG4 wipes out a cyclist due to this feature.

 

[tsedge]

Had car for one week and been for a few drives on B class roads. I'm struggling to relax at the wheel. In my previous car I would cruise resting arm on door with fingers lightly controlling steering. Not any more. Two hands on wheel at all times ready to fight sudden unexpected tugs on wheel. Despite keeping in middle of lane I am finding the LKA sensor goes crazy on rough road surfaces (most roads in Scotland), is severely effected when damp road surfaces are drying out as well as repaired road surfaces that are different shade from rest of road. Downright dangerous if you ask me. Its only a matter of time before a MG4 wipes out a cyclist due to this feature.

Has it had the updates for LKA? Best to check with your dealer if you are not sure

 

[Eber]

Had car for one week and been for a few drives on B class roads. I'm struggling to relax at the wheel. In my previous car I would cruise resting arm on door with fingers lightly controlling steering. Not any more. Two hands on wheel at all times ready to fight sudden unexpected tugs on wheel. Despite keeping in middle of lane I am finding the LKA sensor goes crazy on rough road surfaces (most roads in Scotland), is severely effected when damp road surfaces are drying out as well as repaired road surfaces that are different shade from rest of road. Downright dangerous if you ask me. Its only a matter of time before a MG4 wipes out a cyclist due to this feature.

Turn it off. It's really bad. With the LKA off it drives great.

 

[Alansurfer]

I‘ve got into the habit of switching off LKA or change to alert only as part of my pre drive checks, it’s no way nearly as annoying as the MG5 turning the radio on every time you start up! Also the NCAP safety tests are great but remember they test at very low speeds because if they did anything over 50mph no vehicles would pass. They test from 7.2mph to 37.2mph for the majority of the tests. Most fatalities and serious injuries happen at 34mph or under and at 50mph 85% chance of being fatal ??. Cars are not safe even with a 5 star rating

 

[jonney]

I‘ve got into the habit of switching off LKA or change to alert only as part of my pre drive checks, it’s no way nearly as annoying as the MG5 turning the radio on every time you start up! Also the NCAP safety tests are great but remember they test at very low speeds because if they did anything over 50mph no vehicles would pass. They test from 7.2mph to 37.2mph for the majority of the tests. Most fatalities and serious injuries happen at 34mph or under and at 50mph 85% chance of being fatal ??. Cars are not safe even with a 5 star rating

LKA NCAP testing is done at >72km/h (~45mph). Speed isn't much of an issue for the feature as poor lane perception is, usually because of single camera solutions.
Because the lane perception is inaccurate they'll use other road users when calculating lanes. Which is why it'll often try and follow other cars as they take a motorway exit.
Biggest problem with NCAP isn't the speeds, it's that the scenarios are defined for ideal roads.

 

[Alansurfer]

The LKA and auto pilot was really good in my ZS ev, very smooth and reassuring, shame they changed from that system for the 4. Hopefully it will improve with software updates and data collection

 

[Lucky5]

Picked my trophy up today, left everything as standard and drove home. Took local roads, haven’t tried on motorway yet but no unruly behaviour. In fact half the time it does not recognise the lane and you can wander over it with no correction. When the broken centre line is well defined and of the correct spacing then you can see the car has recognised it on the driver display and then letting it wander resulted in a beep and I would say gentle correction.

Basically I was weaving about for 17 miles on the way home to see what would happen so lucky I wasn’t pulled by the police I guess?

Not sure pointing them to this thread would help.

I‘m going to leave it on as I’m the only driver and I’ll report back if it goes all Kato on me at some point

 

[tsedge]

Picked my trophy up today, left everything as standard and drove home. Took local roads, haven’t tried on motorway yet but no unruly behaviour. In fact half the time it does not recognise the lane and you can wander over it with no correction. When the broken centre line is well defined and of the correct spacing then you can see the car has recognised it on the driver display and then letting it wander resulted in a beep and I would say gentle correction.

Basically I was weaving about for 17 miles on the way home to see what would happen so lucky I wasn’t pulled by the police I guess?

Not sure pointing them to this thread would help.

I‘m going to leave it on as I’m the only driver and I’ll report back if it goes all Kato on me at some point

Yes, this is how it should be working, but it seems quite a few people with earlier cars don't have the necessary updates installed to make it well behaved.

 

[Ian Key]

Basically I was weaving about for 17 miles on the way home to see what would happen so lucky I wasn’t pulled by the police I guess?

So Volvo drivers push out at junctions, BMW drivers like to closely study your rear number plate and MG4 drivers weave from side to side ?

 

[tsedge]

I also think some dealers are skipping the updates in the haste to get the cars out the door.

Edit: a key sign of this is if your car is delivered without the latest infotainment version. The LKA is separate, has its own module(s) but if they haven't bothered with one they may not have bothered with the other.

 

[BrianthatiscalledBrian]

Our 2 week old MG4 Trophy has been with the dealers for the last 3 days having the LKA, Phone Pairing issue and dropping rear window issue investigated. They had to continually refer to MG to fault-find, they upgraded various "software modules" which now gives us R33, yay !
One unusual thing they are going to do is replace the camera in the windscreen that detects the white lines for LKA, seems an odd decision but i will let them go ahead, surely it's not the detection but the reaction to the lane keeping that's the issue ?
Driving the car home just now the LKA was active, it did seem much less aggressive in its corrections i have to say, then i turned it off ! Phone pairing is fixed BTW.
Onwards and upwards.

 

[Surfdog]

Picked my trophy up today, left everything as standard and drove home. Took local roads, haven’t tried on motorway yet but no unruly behaviour. In fact half the time it does not recognise the lane and you can wander over it with no correction. When the broken centre line is well defined and of the correct spacing then you can see the car has recognised it on the driver display and then letting it wander resulted in a beep and I would say gentle correction.

Basically I was weaving about for 17 miles on the way home to see what would happen so lucky I wasn’t pulled by the police I guess?

Not sure pointing them to this thread would help.

I‘m going to leave it on as I’m the only driver and I’ll report back if it goes all Kato on me at some point

I can just about handle the gentle corrections except for going round a sweeping corner at 50mph which is scary, but sometimes the corrections are quite violent on the same setting.

 

[Surfdog]

Our 2 week old MG4 Trophy has been with the dealers for the last 3 days having the LKA, Phone Pairing issue and dropping rear window issue investigated. They had to continually refer to MG to fault-find, they upgraded various "software modules" which now gives us R33, yay !
One unusual thing they are going to do is replace the camera in the windscreen that detects the white lines for LKA, seems an odd decision but i will let them go ahead, surely it's not the detection but the reaction to the lane keeping that's the issue ?
Driving the car home just now the LKA was active, it did seem much less aggressive in its corrections i have to say, then i turned it off ! Phone pairing is fixed BTW.
Onwards and upwards.

Is the camera you refer to dedicated to LKA. If so what would happen if it was covered up?

 

[tsedge]

Our 2 week old MG4 Trophy has been with the dealers for the last 3 days having the LKA, Phone Pairing issue and dropping rear window issue investigated. They had to continually refer to MG to fault-find, they upgraded various "software modules" which now gives us R33, yay !
One unusual thing they are going to do is replace the camera in the windscreen that detects the white lines for LKA, seems an odd decision but i will let them go ahead, surely it's not the detection but the reaction to the lane keeping that's the issue ?
Driving the car home just now the LKA was active, it did seem much less aggressive in its corrections i have to say, then i turned it off ! Phone pairing is fixed BTW.
Onwards and upwards.

That's what your dealer gets for not giving you the updates on delivery: extra hassle and an annoyed customer. Glad they've updated it.

It is always possible that a piece of hardware is faulty but they often swap modules just to get a newer software version if there have been issues getting the updates to work.

 

[BrianthatiscalledBrian]

Is the camera you refer to dedicated to LKA. If so what would happen if it was covered up?

That's a good question ! i didn't ask. I would assume covering it up (apart from affecting the wiper blades) would disable the LKA and other safety features, when it snowed recently some of the systems warned me they were disabled, i imagine the detection system was blocked.