Is your car telling you to SPEED? Electric and hybrid owners say onboard tech is instructing them to do 80mph in school areas
Drivers of some electric and hybrid cars reportedly can go 80 mph in 30 mph zones, including old schools, thanks to the technology in the vehicle.
Those equipped with a ‘traffic sign recognition’ system (TSR) use cameras to read signs and give drivers audio and visual demarcation cues.
But online forums are full of owners complaining that the feature, standard on the £55,000 Mazda CX-60 and £37,000 Volvo
One driver reported being told he could go 80mph in a Sainsbury’s car park, another said the issue was causing ‘commotion’ in schools, while a third commented: ‘So far 10 reads 70, 19 reads 90 and 30 reads 80. ‘This is really dangerous.’
Although false warnings can be ignored, some driver assistance packages link TSR to adaptive cruise control; This can cause the vehicle to automatically accelerate or brake to match the misread speed limit.
This can create dangerous situations, especially in high-performance cars such as the £96,000 Porsche Macan Turbo, which can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in 3.3 seconds.
Cars such as the Mazda CX-60 (pictured) are allegedly misreading signs and setting off alarms to warn them they are in 80mph, 90mph or even 160mph speed zones, which do not exist on British roads
Volvo XC40 (pictured) is another car where road signs are allegedly misread in online forums
Macan owner Helen posted online: ‘Speed sign recognition never worked effectively (or safely)… so I had to turn it off. Last time I tried it suddenly went from 70mph to 5mph when the car misread the 50mph sign.’
The owner of the Mazda CX-60, Richard Wright, 45, of Tunbridge Wells, Kent, told the Daily Mail: ‘There are constantly flashing warnings that you need to accelerate from 30 mph to 80 mph or slow down to 5 mph in a 50 mph zone. “This is a real problem.”
Mazda UK said it was investigating the matter but said it was the driver’s responsibility to follow road signs.
Porsche said dirty or unclear traffic signs could confuse the system, but Macan owners will soon receive a free software update.
Volvo did not comment.
