Pal of mine at work says he was driving one of the works vans, an electric Nissan of some description I think.

On a normal A road he overtook a slower vehicle correctly ie indicate right and overtake. However when he went to pull in in front of the car he didn't indicate left and the technology in the van fought against him not allowing him to move back to the correct lane!

Obviously he got back in lane at some point but for a 'safety' feature it doesn't seem very safe! 😮

Also obviously I'm going to try it next time I'm in the van 😀

That's a standard way for the lane departure warning to work in every vehicle that I have driven which has been fitted with the system. Basically the system is disabled by using your indicator, so indicate to change lanes in any direction.

5 minutes ago, Turvey said:

the van fought against him not allowing him to move back to the correct lane!

This seems like a massive over statement of what actually happens. The system gently steers you away from the white line and you need to provide a bit firmer steering input if you actually want to cross the white line without indicating.

It probably needs his vehicle to be a safe distance in front of the overtaken vehicle, before he can move back into that lane.

Rule of thumb was to see all of the front of the overtaken vehicle in your mirror, but if you use the two second rule, at 50mph you should be 50 yards in front.....

28 minutes ago, pcaouolte said:

This seems like a massive over statement of what actually happens.

He does have a reputation for embellishing stories right enough! 🤣

If the Van's system is the same as my car then it can be switched off and stays that way at subsequent restarts, it won't work under 40mph, you can also set it to Alert or Assistance or both and adjust the intensity, also in an emergency situation such as a fast manoeuvre It does nothing.

These systems seem to vary in severity by make, model and year of build/what stage of legislation applies.

My experience of the Ford system is limited to Fiesta and Puma demos or courtesy cars where it operates pretty much as Paul describes. I still don't like it though, and turned it off in my own cars on collection.

At least it stays off permanently, unlike later systems where you have to disable it at every start, assuming you can.

Some friends of ours (very experienced and competent drivers not prone to exaggeration) have a recent Golf Mk 8.5 and report it being positively scary, and turning it off requires diving into the touchscreen menus every start up. Very annoying if you are doing a trip with multiple stops en route.

True enough, you neutralise it by indicating lane changes, even if there's no one to indicate to (my old driving instructor used to do his nut about that!).

I have seen an increase in indicators being left on and wonder if this may be the cause? Obviously if you only "tap" the indicator stalk it cancels itself after a couple of flashes, but if you fully click it, it stays on until the next turning which could be miles.

(Yes, I know you have a warning light and "tick", but some people just seem oblivious. Followed two just this morning on the dual carriageway!😀).

1 hour ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

indicators being left on

On my 2008 Focus ST, the warning tick is virtually inaudible, (so it could be me, and I'm not deaf !!) but what I have noticed recently are vehicles leaving roundabouts, but with the RH indicator still flashing ?

There's a roundabout near me that's a nightmare as a pedestrian. Drivers seem to just randomly pick an indicator side that bears no correlation to the direction they're aiming for! I'd rather they didn't indicate at all than indicate badly.

@TomsFocus as an HGV driver I also get very frustrated with incorrect indicating at roundabouts!

Common thing here is to indicate right for the second exit which is just slightly past the 12 o'clock position which folk seem to think is the correct way! When you're sitting waiting to come out of that exit and someone opposite you is indicating that they're going to take the third exit and then take the second and you could have gone but now have to wait again!!! 😡😡😡

Only got single lane entry and exit roundabouts here.

And another thing! 😀

People who approach a roundabout with no indication and wait until they are ON the roundabout and then indicate left and leave on their first exit leaving me waiting for another gap! 😡