Active Lane Keeping Assist

cacaw

Well-known member
Our Volvo will vibrate the steering wheel upon lane departure. It is exactly as if the road had rumble strips. ...
My Mazda had that feature as well. And then, after the steering wheel vibration, it would gently guide the car back into the middle of the lane.

I said in another post that my Mazda's lane-keeping system felt similar to a passenger leaning over and gently correcting the tiller, where the Sprinter system feels like someone suddenly dropping an anchor off the stern.
 
Has anyone tried to turn-off ALKA, its mentioned here in the manual.
Thanks for the help guys.

Very strange I do not have that button on my steering wheel. Have to access it they settings on the touch screen. Unless I am missing something.

Appreciate it.
 

Michlb

Active member
Very strange I do not have that button on my steering wheel. Have to access it they settings on the touch screen. Unless I am missing something.


Appreciate it.

Sorry, I’m traveling so can’t access the Sprinter screens right now. Below are a bunch of screen shots from the web. It is not on the steering wheel. It is accessible through the buttons under the touch screens. There is one that looks like a car platform with 4 wheels. Push that one, and a menu of assistance systems should pop up on the touch screen.



On this menu you see ESP, Parking and ALKA which is the one with the car and the lanes. Just hit that one on the touch screen. The bar next to the icon means it is on, and once you hit the icon, the bar should disappear which means that it is off.



That should do it. Good luck! What an absolute disgrace that we all need to make an effort to switch off this silly system.
 

Michlb

Active member
I said in another post that my Mazda's lane-keeping system felt similar to a passenger leaning over and gently correcting the tiller, where the Sprinter system feels like someone suddenly dropping an anchor off the stern.

100% agreed. I drove a rental by BMW and Audi in Germany and both brands make gentle course corrections that could very easily and without much resistance on the steering wheel be overridden. That’s what I expected. Not this garbage.

I wonder whether some engineer in Germany thought “it’s a van, so let’s make this feel really industrial and wake up the driver”. I’m kidding of course.

Of all the support systems, I’m excited about the 360 degree camera, I like the Distronic, I find the Blind Spot Assist very useful. But both ALKA as well as Active Brake Assist are failures.
 

cacaw

Well-known member
... I wonder whether some engineer in Germany thought “it’s a van, so let’s make this feel really industrial and wake up the driver”. I’m kidding of course. ...
I think you've nailed it. These vans are clearly designed and outfitted for some low-wage delivery or transit driver, not to be luxury vans or deluxe campers.
 
kinjachris, I had a very similar experience on 395, alka kicked in way too hard as wind was already tossing me about! yikes
good thread
 

430 hp 70

'19 144 Gas Passenger - Carlsbad
200 miles on the odometer and I had my first "experience". Exiting the freeway and cut over the line slightly. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Definitely dropped speed, but felt somewhere between a nudge and a push.
 

GLJones

Active member
Driving on Interstate 4 in Florida just ahead of a line of severe thunderstorms, trying to beat them to Orlando Thursday night. Winds were gusting to 50+mph. The Crosswind Assist nearly killed us several times. If there was a way to turn it off, I would have. My Sprinter is a Passenger 170 and if I was using it as a taxi or limo, I am sure my customers would have refused to pay with the insane braking and scary jerking around. I had turned off the lane assist because the crosswind assist would push us onto the lane lines and the lane assist would push back. It was insanely dangerous. This whole "correct by brake" system is just plain stupid. It is going to get someone killed.
 

surferJ

Active member
My first experience with the cross wind assistance this last trip occurred coming out of the shadow of a tractor trailer and it felt violent. As I gripped the steering wheel wide eyed thinking I had blown a tire.
I found that if I could anticipate moment when it could activate and put in my own timely correction it would remain dormant.
 

54blue

New member
I drive on snow and ice all the time and have to say that the ALKA is the single worst feature I have ever experienced. It is dangerous beyond reason. The fact that MB does not do a quick update that allows you to turn it off and keep it off is insane. Beyond that, not being able to turn off the ASR entirely so you can drive this thing up an icy hill is infuriating.
I hope for a hack or an update soon...
 
D

Deleted member 50714

Guest
I've experienced similar scary occasions with CWA, felt like stomping on da brakes for a nano second. Pop!!!

Unfortunately, its only going to get worse for humans. Automation was deem responsible for a Japan airlines crash at San Franpoopco International. Apparently, when it became necessary for the pilot to take control, he couldn't fly.

How about a Sprinter with recursive self-improvement?

Welcome to the age of AI.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UwsrzCVZAb8
 
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GLJones

Active member
Mine was the same. The Dealership did a software update/restore to my MBUX system and the scary death incidents have stopped. The ALKA now is gentle and reacts as I would expect without the dramatic braking that made my life flash before my eyes.
Also, the Automatic Cross-Wind Correction has been tamed down in a similar matter. When it kicks in, I don't feel like the van is trying to kill me.
Go get your software updated...it truely is VERY dangerous before the update.
 
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desertradio

New member
I agree with all the safety issues discussed. My sprinter has been back to the dealer 3 times. The first 2 responses from the dealer resulted in "we have never heard of this before". On the third visit the dealer knew all about this and told me to just turn off the feature. WTF! I'm just supposed to turn off this safety feature every time I start the vehicle.

This is the most dangerous vehicle I have ever driven. On multiple occasions when avoiding road debris, pedestrians and construction zones the vehicle could have caused an accident or fatality.

With only 1200 miles on the van, it is going back to the dealer for the 4th time on yet more issues. I can only repress my frustration once again but realize that the service department can not repair a factory defect such as this. Not what I expected from a $60,000+ vehicle.

I encourage all who are experiencing the safety issues with their Sprinter to file a complaint with the NHTSA. At least these issues will be documented for a future recall or potential class action law suit.
 

VanGoSki

Well-known member
I encourage all who are experiencing the safety issues with their Sprinter to file a complaint with the NHTSA. At least these issues will be documented for a future recall or potential class action law suit.
It sounds to me like the problem has been addressed by a firmware fix, as confirmed by multiple folks above. :idunno:
 

GLJones

Active member
Well, My van is currently hosed. The dealer reflashed all the software and it appeared everything was working correctly (Lane Assist, Cross-wind assist, etc) except the speed sign display that wouldn't display speed limits over 55. MBUSA sent the dealer a software update for the navigation to fix it but they had issues downloading it to their shop computer. They finally got it downloaded and flashed my van but it crashed and the instrument cluster is now frozen and apparently unrecoverable. MBUSA is sending them a replacement cluster. There are some strange issues with the MBUX system and software on the 2019 vans. We are off to Vegas to perform for a week so the dealer has time to get this fixed...hopefully. I have no idea why the navigation software would screw up the instrument cluster, but everything is connected.
 

Michlb

Active member
Well, My van is currently hosed. The dealer reflashed all the software and it appeared everything was working correctly (Lane Assist, Cross-wind assist, etc) except the speed sign display that wouldn't display speed limits over 55. MBUSA sent the dealer a software update for the navigation to fix it but they had issues downloading it to their shop computer. They finally got it downloaded and flashed my van but it crashed and the instrument cluster is now frozen and apparently unrecoverable. MBUSA is sending them a replacement cluster. There are some strange issues with the MBUX system and software on the 2019 vans. We are off to Vegas to perform for a week so the dealer has time to get this fixed...hopefully. I have no idea why the navigation software would screw up the instrument cluster, but everything is connected.


Oh my Lord. It will be a long time before dealers manage this van and its software. I suspect we hear more stories like this. So sorry that this happened with the traffic sign assist.
 

BigDC

Active member
Overall I like my adaptive cruise and the great backup/360 camera;however, if I were to do it again, I’d probably scale back the tech. The 10” MBUX is glitchy and the lane keep assist is terrible. Although the adaptive cruise is great, if your sensors are dirty you can’t use even basic cruise. My sensors weren’t dirty and cruise cut kept cutting out.

Definitely something to be said for basic.
 

elMano

New member
Interesting to read the user’s experience of this ALKA.

I recently purchased a 2019 and it had this feature included. After a week of driving the van I noticed the feature wasn’t working as advertised. I contacted the salesperson (so called expert on Sprinters) at the dealer, a total arrogant jerk. He claimed that from 200+ Sprinters he personally sold, no one had complained about this feature. Draw your own conclusions about the subtle message. Long story short, after hassles, emails, test-drives, etc. The dealer agreed that it was not functioning properly and the feature required some “tweaking”. In your face “Sprinter expert”

Now that the feature is working, it does seem useless, as implemented.
 

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