rabend

Per the subject, my GLS 450 abruptly swerves out of its lane for no apparent reason and under different conditions. It happens infrequently but could conceivably cause an accident if I didn't catch it quickly enough. I always keep my hands on the wheel. I was wondering if anyone else is experiencing a similar problem. Thanks

350MH83

That has happened to me only at highway exits, where the car wants to follow the exit instead of staying on the highway. But never like you say. Were the lines clearly visible when that happened? Was the sun shining straight at you from a low point (like at dusk/dawn)? Is the winshield clean in front of both cameras?

rabend

Thanks for your input. There was no issue with the sun and the cameras were clean. In any event, it doesn't seem like the car should abruptly swerve with no input from the driver even if the sun is low or there are exits. Thoughts?

350MH83

Abrupt swerves are maybe more due to the lane keeping assist, rather than the distronic. The lane keeping assist uses the brakes on one side or the other in order to pull the car back into its lane. It feels much more abrupt than distronic inputs, as it comes with a braking effect. I have experienced it on narrow roads where it is difficult to keep the car 100% in its lane at all time. It can be surprising and rather annoying when it triggers too much. I have disallowed it on my car as many roads in France are just too small for the GLS to sit properly in one channel at all times.

rabend

Thanks. It is due to the lane keeping assist. What concerns me is that it actually swerves out of the lane. It has happened to me on two and four lane roads. There are narrow bicycle paths where I drive which could be a problem. It swerves both to the right and sometimes to the left under varying conditions. Lane keeping assist is a nice safety feature most of the time, but could be a serious hazard at other times. I think MB needs to come up with a software fix.

rabend

Just thinking further: Lane keeping assist in normal operation gently adjusts direction in response to lane marking as opposed to an abrupt swerve as noted here.

350MH83

I dont think the lane keeping assist acts on the steering. I think it only uses the brakes. The Distronic Plus does act on the steering and is much smoother.

c4004matic

Quite a common occurance. So is simply drfting over the outside lane marker. The system is an aid, NEVER, take your hands off the wheel not even on a perfectly straight road under good weather conditions. The amount of torque available for the system is very low for a reason, to avoid having the system pull out of your control unexpectedly This gives you an idea why all the hubub about self driving cars is a bunch of BS. The MB sytem is state of the art, thus, your expiriences clearly shows that the "art" is barely in the stick figure phase.