Unexplained warning symbol - emergency braking?

[GUMY]

A couple of days ago I pulled out of my driveway and got about 50 metres down the road, not above 20mph, when what I can only describe as a sudden jolt and loud bang occured, accompanied by a very brief but large warning symbol flashing up on the part of the dash between the speedo & rev counter (where I normally have my current speed displayed). I was just approaching a side street on my left, and there was a car coming to a stop at that junction - I was well aware of it, and prepared for the eventuality of it not stopping (but it did). OH in the passenger seat jumped out of her skin, thought perhaps I had hit the brakes because of the car approacing from the side street (but I didn't). I immediately stopped at the side of the road and checked around the van (in case I had hit something in the road, although I was certain I hadn't). It really unnerved both of us. The van has performed perfectly normally since.

I have searched online for some explanation. I found this discussion on another VW forum, which seems to be virtually the same thing. The warning symbol was white, and there was no accompanying audible alarm. Has anyone experienced similar? Does this sound like the emergency brake assistance kicking in due to the system thinking the car in the side street wasn't going to stop? If so...WTF???

The symbol on the dash only appeared very briefly, and I can't find anything similar in the owner's manual, but I think (not 100% certain) it could have been this:

 

[Pete C]

It does sound like an overly sensitive auto braking system, which is normal for VW based vehicles. I didn’t have this function on our T6, but I had the same issue as you described on a modern Skoda and VW Golf and Polo.
To be fair to the Golf, it saved my skin when I wasn’t paying attention once, but it was the most sensitive of the 3.

Pete

 

[ginkster]

That sounds very much like the city emergency braking kicking in, assuming your van has it. It operates below 18-20mph. Depending on geometry it may give you a dash warning (the symbol you posted) before it starts braking, or they come on together in severe situations. Depending on exact model/age the audible warnings can be turned off I believe, so maybe check your Front Assist settings.

It may have been the vehicle in the side road if the sensor detected it late. I’ve had my FA warn, but not brake, when a vehicle is turning left in front and it thinks I’m coming up too fast. I’ve once had the brake activate whilst in the right hand lane of a roundabout and a vehicle in the left lane - the system obviously thought it was turning in front and braked fully. Would have shocked anyone behind! The manual has a good description of the system and its limitations - definitely worth a read.

 

[GUMY]

Thanks for the replies. I'm now pretty sure this is what it was, and feel reassured that it wasn't something I did, or a drive shaft snapping!

The manual has a good description of the system and its limitations - definitely worth a read.

Thanks. I had skimmed over the relevant section, but since I wasn't sure what I was looking for, hadn't read it in detail. Now it makes more sense.
The problem I have with the manual, is that it is so generic and littered with phrases like "depending on vehicle equipment and country". Since you have to enter your VIN to access the manual, why can't they produce one specific to your vehicle? After all, this isn't a cheap electronic gadget from Currys

The manual helpfully says that the system "is not a substitute for the full concentration of the driver"; I would argue that it seriously distracted me in this instance and could easily have caused a totally avoidable accident. I don't want to tempt fate by switching the system off, but apparently you can adjust the distance and advance warnings, so I'll look into that tomorrow. Right now though, I put this technology right up there with smart motorways on my sh1t list

 

[Scruffy]

Just had the same thing yesterday, but I was doing about 50mph. It hit the brakes for a brief moment and the symbol appeared, and scared the sh one tee out of us all. I've had the symbol appear a few times before but no braking, and I'm used to the ACC doing it's own thing, but this was something else, bloody dangerous in my opinion. It certainly made me nervous for the rest of the journey.

 

[GUMY]

I have changed the Front Assist setting from (if I remember correctly) "medium" to "late". Not sure if this is the best way to prevent it happening again? As I said previously, I don't want to tempt fate by turning it off altogether. At least if it does happen again, I'll know wtf is happening!

 

[whodat]

I had the same as the original post when I first got the van - car almost pulling out of the side road. That caused the same symbol and an alarm and it wasn't even that close.

More scarily, recently, we were going about 60mph and an idiot was tailgating very very close. The breaks slammed on for about a tenth of a second and got the same symbol and beeps. Don't know how the tailgater didn't go into the back of us. As he over took me he made a symbol at me that indicated he didn't think it was a cool thing for me to do.
Wasn't me though.

If you turn the FRONT assist over to late, you might just get a very sudden emergency brake instead of a more leisurely auto break.
To be honest, the rear auto breaking did kick in when I was parking the other day and it would have caused a dent as it was something sticking out that wasn't clear in the camera.

 

[GUMY]

Just happened again this morning , but slightly different: the big symbol appeared on the centre of the dash, and was accompanied by an audible alarm (high pitched beep, although not especially loud or alarming) but no auto braking (thank goodness). Absolutely nothing on the road in front, to the sides or anywhere near me. I guess it was storm Lilian having a laugh at my expense? (There were certainly a lot of leaves and broken branches blowing around)
Btw, @whodat, I changed the front assist back to "medium" following your comment

 

[Stay Frosty]

The only time our T6 did the auto braking jolt was when we went by a motorway cop parked up on the side of the M6 and standing there on his grassy knoll with a radar gun zapping lucky drivers... I'm guessing it was him but as jolts go it was up there with bits falling off roof racks and made us jump.

 

[ginkster]

The only time our T6 did the auto braking jolt was when we went by a motorway cop parked up on the side of the M6 and standing there on his grassy knoll with a radar gun zapping lucky drivers... I'm guessing it was him but as jolts go it was up there with bits falling off roof racks and made us jump.

That’s going to make you jump! Shouldn’t have been the radar gun though as they operate in a different band from the vehicle ‘driver assist’ radars (K vs W bands).