I read this quickly, but I don't think anyone pointed out yet that many OEM systems are actually a few separate systems, not necessarily fully integrated. So for example, an adaptive cruise function will slow as traffic does, but it won't* stop (or react at all) if it comes across a big ol' suitcase in the road standing still. On the other hand, if you were driving below some speed, say 40mph, it would. The functions are difficult to integrate because of false positives -- incorrectly identifying a tree by the side of the freeway as an obstacle, a car that slammed on the brakes would be a safety hazard. Hence why some OEMs will market, say, "city safety with pedestrian detection" as separate from "ACC with lane keeping". Other OEMs will market stuff together, but that's almost worse because they're only marketed together, they actually work separately.

From what people are describing, it seems like Honda have made some incremental improvements to systems on upper trim cars, and devolved the original Honda Sensing setup to lower end cars like the Fit. Yes?

*I'm not aware of any on the market yet that will stop for fixed obstacles at highway speeds. If you know of any let me know; I'm not quite sure about Eyesight, which uses visual cameras and machine learning instead of radar.

 

Subaru's Eyesight will apply the brakes for obstacles, at any speeds, whether you are using adaptive cruise or not. However, Subaru is very cautious (for obvious reasons) in guaranteeing the system will come to a complete stop before hitting the obstacle at high speeds. But the system will drastically slow the car to minimize damage. I believe Subaru says it will come to a complete stop below 40 MPH, but the various crash testing agencies have had success at 50-60 mph in ideal conditions.

The other day on my way to work a giant piece of styrofoam flew out of a pickup truck and landed in my lane. I was going about 70 MPH. My car (2018 Crosstrek with eyesight) saw it, gave me all the necessary warnings and then started to apply the brakes pretty hard. I changed lanes and let me proceed as normal.

 

the fit has a hand brake and the accord has an electronic parking brake. I do believe the parking brake turns on when you open the door with your seatbelt off when at a stop.