Hi @sgk1 I was under the impression that this function should have been disabled as part of the trailer connected programming, however I stand corrected if that is not the case, but the issue seems to occur without a trailer attached. Have you done a fault scan yet ? any fault coded been recorded.

 

Happens with and without towing caravan and with and without lane assist activated. No, I haven't had the car in service for his yet, as I have been too busy, and can't scan by myself.

 

Hi all,
I am driving a 2020 R-Line, and I keep getting warnings that I should put my hands on the steering wheel / take over steering - even though my hands are on the steering wheel, and I am steering. In one situation the car hit the breaks because I couldn't figure out quickly enough how to make the warning go away. After all I was steering already and I couldn't very well start swerving all over the street, especially as I was towing a caravan.
As the car has put on the brakes once, I am somewhat dreading that message coming up on virtually any longer trip on the highway.
Initially I thought it was related to the lane assist system and turned that off. But then it also happend when that system was off.
Essentially the car seems to decide when driving on a longer relatively straight stretch of road that I am not steering, and I have no idea how it makes that decision.
Clearly there can't be any sensors in the actual steering wheel. as gripping harder, taking hands off and putting them back on makes no difference.
The only think I found that works most of the time is to touch the brakes - sometimes more than once.
It seemed to happen more often when towing the caravan from Melbourne to Bright.
Has anyone experienced this as well? Any idea on what could be causing this? Is it related to a setting somewhere? Or a known fault? I couldn't fine any info on the forum on this.

Do you have the ability in the menus to disable LKA (Lane Keep Assist)?

 

Yes, but it also happened when Lane assist was off.

 

Hey there,
That sounds like a pretty nerve-wracking experience, especially when towing a caravan! It's definitely odd that the warning keeps popping up even when your hands are firmly on the wheel.
It's possible that there might be some sort of sensor issue or glitch in the system causing it to misinterpret your steering inputs. Since you've already tried turning off the lane assist system and it still happens, it could be worth checking with a dealership or a mechanic to see if there's a software update or calibration that needs to be done.
In the meantime, touching the brakes to make the warning go away seems like a decent workaround, but it's definitely not ideal. Hopefully, you can get it sorted out soon and enjoy your drives without any more spooky false warnings!

 

Thanks, the car is booked in for a check - it's not a great experience when that happens. Love the car though. I am hoping for some sensor issue, as this didn't happen when I picked up the car in Sydney last year and drove it down to Melbourne. Doesn't sound like this is happening to others based on the feedback.

 

I have this notification frequently, and only when on a straight road or motorway. I presume that it is triggered by the awareness monitoring and when there are no inputs to the wheel, it tries to get some driver response. I cancel the warning by waggling the wheel slightly to let it know I am awake. It seems happy with that!

 

I tried waggling - but it seems it wants way more than I am prepared to waggle at 100km/h when towing a trailer or even when just driving straight on the road without trailer. The only thing I have been able to get to work is to touch the brakes sometimes more than once. But again, that is potentially dangerous, for example if someone is tailgating you.

For me this whole thing is a serious safety issue. I do drive often on freeways, and they are often straight. A car in this price bracket should be able to deal with that. This didn't happen when I drove the car for the first time from Sydney to Melbourne after buying it - so I am hoping this is a sensor thing and wasn't just luck on that first trip.

I really don't like driving with the constant concern that the message might pop up and that I might not be able to make it go away in time before the car initiates emergency breaking. Because that happened to me once.

 

I too have had this, sometimes I can go a whole day without the warning, she definitely has her moods and I can get it many times within a short distance.
If there is a way of turning it off I would love to know. There appears there is a sensor in the wheel itself and I just squeeze the steering wheel in different places and it goes away until next time.

 

With a North American model that is older, I recall that it's possible to set the "awareness" stage for the ACC. As I recall there are three levels. One is way too close for my comfort, the middle is OK. The longer distance one is better when towing. Have you tried messing with that to see if it makes a difference?

 

I couldn't find that setting, if anyone in Australia knows about this for the 2020 model, please let me know. But thanks to your comment I went into the menu, and it looks like you can turn this off entirely. I'll add a separate comment as it seems to affect a few other owners, too.

 

Yes there should be a way to change / calibrate the sensitivity ld imagine , vw should be able to address this due to its serious safety concerns …..

 

This seems to affect a few others, and it looks like you can completely disable this function in the settings as "emergency assist". Note that this is separate to lane assistance, and the automatic earning and automatic warning to taker over steering happens with Lane assist on and off.
Emergency assist is meant to automatically take over steering and break autonomously of the driver is unable to do so. That's a great feature if it works, but for me it initiates there process when I am happily driving along.
You can disable it at your own risk if you have this problem by
Touch car icon in top menu
Select settings bottom right
Select driver assistance
Look for Emergency Assist and untick it.

I have just done this in the hope that this will make the problem go away until VW has inspected the car.

 

Didn't work, lane assist take over steering warning came up again yesterday

 

Think you may have to do it each time you use the car

 

Looks like a problem with the driver assist module. It is being replaced under warranty. As a number of you seem to have the same problem, I highly recommend getting in touch with your dealer. I am hoping this will solve the problem.

Below is the diagnosis from the VW service team:

Confirm complaint with fault entry B200FF3: Internal malfunction Fault type 2 passive/sporadic, perform test plan and recommend to replace driver assist control unit (J1121 CONTROL MODULE FAULTY) 4KE907107AM Driver assist control module

 

Good info. This definitely occurs without a van and I think with my van on the back. Generally I grab the wheel and probably steer it a bit left or right but nothing extraordinary. I did not know the emergency braking can occur due to this warning. That is dangerous. It gives me the ****s when the Touareg does that merging into traffic or pulling out from a side street

 

I had the module replaced, but the hands on wheel lane warning message came up again, anyway. I realise I can disable the lane assist system every single time, but it's annoying to have to turn it off every time rather than to disable the system for good. Also I do actually like the lane assist, when it works.
So I'll talk to VW again when I find some time and see what they find next.

 

The problem is still happening despite the car having the module replaced and the car being in service twice since then to resolve the issue. This is extremely frustrating,

 

It may feel insulting to be required to provide video proof but it is probably in your best interests to get a video of this happening. Especially since you are approaching end of warranty, I'd be keeping all records and correspondence in case you need to take them to VCAT.

 

I am keeping all these things. But it's not that easy to record a video of this, as the warning appears in the centre of the instruments panel behind the steering wheel and only when I am driving. So without getting some special equipment to somehow attach a video camera or phone in a position where it sees my hands and the panel and doesn't interfere with me driving isn't that simple. I agree it would be helpful to prove that the issue is happening. It's just in terms of resolving the problem it will not generate any additional information other than to prove that I am not lying. That's something I have a serious problem with.

 

I agree with c4ar, you should get a video of this happening, especially if you are in fact following the requirements to keep this warning/action from happening.
I've read that on some of VW's newer vehicles with this type of system, like the ID.4, they use a capacitive steering wheel to detect that your hands are on the wheel. I'm not sure if your '20 Treg has the same.
I understand their "safety" intentions but I think it would be great if that was able to be disabled permanently.

 

To get the required video in a safe manner you could securely mount a dashcam or phone to view the steering wheel and dash. If using a phone, voice commands can be used to start the video when the problem occurs.

 

Thanks for the suggestion. That certainly would be an option. What are you using this rig for? It looks quite interesting.
I would be a concerned about what happens with my neck in case of an accident with this approach though. If the wood splinters and you get thrown forward and then backwards it might not be the safest situation.

 

Actually, you would probably be better off with something like this...

That way you should be able to see both hands on the wheel and the instruments.

Ebay listing

 

Greetings, we have just bought a 2019 CR 190, with low mileage especially for caravan towing but have also experienced the "hands on wheel lane warning" messages when towing along the straight motorway. Messages graduated from the text on the instrument cluster, to a loud warning bell and on one occasion, a jolt in the back apparently from the seat back massage technology. Waggling the steering wheel rectified things. I guess it's a way of keeping us awake on the long straight motorway drives. I'm not sure whether to consider this as a fault or as a consequence of the "safety" technology? Problem seems to be that the lane assist technology does adjust the steering effectively (most of the time) on the gently turning motorways. I agree this is disconcerting, even irritating, but it does keep our attention when motorway driving and I am reluctant to have it disabled (yet). Thanks for the forum and raising this issue.

 

Greetings, we have just bought a 2019 CR 190, with low mileage especially for caravan towing but have also experienced the "hands on wheel lane warning" messages when towing along the straight motorway....

My car is being investigated tomorrow by VW based on the videos I supplied. Apparently the dealership and headquarters will work together remotely to analyse the car and hopefully resolve the problem.
Clearly the alert warnings should only come up if there is a reason for a warning. They shouldn't come up just because you are driving and towing.
If you look at the videos you can see that even on a straight road you as a driver are constantly providing steering wheel input to keep the car on the road. That should be enough to let the system know that you are having your hands on the steering wheel and are actively driving. This implies of course that you have both hands on the steering wheel and that you are indeed actively steering when you het the warning.
As others do not appear to have the same problem I can't see that this is normal. It is definitely interesting that the warning seems to progress faster when towing for you, as that is my experience too.

 

Thanks for the feedback. Let's hope the dealership et al are able to come up with a solution. It seems as though the "trigger" for the warnings is not able to discriminate between a driver with hands off the wheel and one with hands lightly on when proceeding along relatively straight motorways and at motor way speeds. Result is that the system errs on side of caution, reacting when not necessary. Better than not reacting when it should perhaps, but irritaing on a long drive. Looking forward to their solution!

Cheers

 

They have had the car now for over two weeks and I haven't heard back once. So I have no idea what is going on. Very frustrating. The VW service I am receiving so far is abysmal.

 

I am currently away with my caravan and 2020 rline and have had the exact same problem automatic braking with the van connected and warnings when both hands are on the wheel, so your case certainly isn't an isolated event. Very disconcerting, seems to have happened a lot more today in the rain.

 

Thanks for letting me know. I have been trying to talk to VW headquarters but they are singularly unhelpful. Essentially they are just a glorified call centre and are unable to provide any help. Nor do they return any calls.

I just called the dealer and they have been test driving the car and can reproduce the warning coming up. They agree that this should not happen. However even when they run the live data feed while driving there are no internal errors coming up - so they have no idea what is causing the problem.

I suggested that from my point of view they should replace all the parts which can cause this, if that is the only way to resolve the problem. I'll se what happens next. They will now test my car while towing a trailer to see if that gives them some useable errors.

Personally I can't believe that VW is not more interested in this problem, as I see it as being potentially life threatening. This is supposed to be the towing car of the year 2020, which I would agree with, if it wouldn't have this problem. I was told to expect another update on Thursday.