nosnoop

You probably didn't wait long enough. You should see a Green icon when the intelligent recup is "braking" or decelerating - and it shows why it is decelerating, e.g. car in front, intersection, ramp etc.
You can try the adaptive cruise control and get used to how late it applies brake/regen.
And you can also use the driver assistance screen for your instrument cluster, and you can see exactly what the car sees.
Intelligent recup is working flawlessly for me and I use it every day.

Surge

You don't seem to get it: when the car in front of you brakes suddenly, you cannot look at the screen for the "green icon" to see what the car has decided to do in terms of regen. You need consistency when it comes to braking, not guessing.
Be very careful when using "Intelligent" Recuperation. It is dangerous. And if you rear-end someone it will be your fault.

nosnoop

When car in front brakes suddenly, other safety features would kick in.
You would get a warning tone, red triangle flashing and the front ambient light changed to flashing red.
And the car would do emergency braking as well.
Of course you should also be in charge and I would apply brake and not relying on the car.

My previous post was in reply to your concern about "not knowing when the car would decelerate" - and there are numerous indicators showing what the car is doing.
During emergency situation of course it's different, and you won't pay attention to anything else other than stopping the car.

Surge

Exactly - you don't want to rely on the car's emergency braking.
What happened to me was I was getting off the highway. Car in front braked. Cruise was not on. I let off the throttle pedal expecting the car to enter Strong Regen, or at least Normal Regen. Instead, it was in no regen. In the second or so it took to realize it was not slowing down by itself, I almost rear ended the car in front. The panic brake also almost caused the car behind to run into me. Not great.
I was excited for Intelligent Regen, but it's ready for prime time, as they say.

nosnoop

This has not been my experience. I would check your software version making sure it is the latest one.

LastOne

Driving in no regen mode and expecting the car to automatically engage a different mode is unreasonable. The most that will happen is the emergency braking kicking in. Your experience is a failure of the operator not the car.
The modes are very useful as long as you know their capabilities and limitations. They are not full self-driving features, only partial.
It does not matter what mode is being used (DISTRONIC, Strong regen, or Intelligent regen) if the car in from you you suddenly brakes. The driver is responsible to be alert and take the appropriate action. For 99% of your driving, if you are not tailgating, the features work well. Try using them in small measures to build your confidence. It just takes a little time like learning to drive.