He thought his car's crash-prevention technology would make him safer. Now he no longer trusts it
CBC
When Michel Laforge bought his Subaru Impreza in 2023, he was sold on the vehicle's crash-prevention technology.
But he's come to doubt how safe it really is after his vehicle slammed the brakes for no apparent reason on five separate occasions.
"I wouldn't get another vehicle that had this," said Laforge, who lives in Sudbury, Ont.
The problem started a few months after he purchased the vehicle when he was driving back from Timmins, Ont., on Highway 144, an isolated two-lane road.
He was using adaptive cruise control, which allows the driver to set a certain speed.
A stereo camera system mounted behind the windshield monitors the road ahead and automatically adjusts the car's speed to maintain a safe distance from other vehicles.
"I could see three kilometres in front of me," said Laforge. "There wasn't another vehicle in sight. It's very remote."
But the car braked suddenly, taking his speed from about 100 km/h to 60 km/h in a couple of seconds.
The braking stopped when Laforge tapped on the gas, but he couldn't understand what triggered the system. It was a sunny day, there was no snow on the highway and the windshield was clean.
"Thank goodness there wasn't a logging truck behind me," said Laforge.
Initially, Laforge thought it was a fluke, but the braking episodes continued. Three others while adaptive cruise control was on — and one when it wasn't.
The last time it happened, the vehicle would not stop braking.
"My only course of action was to steer and thank goodness I could because there was traffic behind us and I needed to get out of the way," said Laforge.
Laforge contacted CBC News after he saw a report last month on a Quebec man who blamed the lane-centring technology on his 2021 Subaru Crosstrek for causing him to swerve into another vehicle.
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