Side assist system - is it a good feature to have?

[WeekendDriver]

What's your opinion on the side assist option? It sounds to me like a very useful thing to have in condensed urban traffic, but I've never driven a car with side assist system. I'm asking because I'm considering buying a C7, and I need to decide which options I want to pursuit. From my brief research, only about 20% C7s in the second hand market have it so it's a significant limiting factor. But then, if it ever saves me from a side collision, it would probably have been worth it.

[Dasquade]

All safety features are helpfull and the side assist is actually very good and it never failed on me. I have an avant with prety dark tinted rear windows so any help on blindspots are welcome :).

[delmd92]

I think the concept is good, but mine triggers all the time while cruising open road with no traffic around me. Nothing faults in OBD11 so not sure if a bad sensor or what else could be wrong with it, but mine is turned off as it annoys me to have the light flash at me and distract from driving. I live in a more rural area and always try to pay careful attention to traffic around me anyway so I seldom get surprised by someone I didn't know was there. Different driving environments would likely prove more useful.

[IssaWrapVinyl]

Amazing. I have 15% tint & 55% on the front windshield. Side assist is a blessing.


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[onequickg60]

It a feature it took me some getting use too. But like someone else has said mine also trigger at weird times. Even today I made a left turn I to my development and not cars around the left light started going off.

I dont find myself depending on it. I also turn my head back instead of using my cameras.

[Rsniper4]

I do alot of highway driving with frequent lane changes, and the constant flashing is a bit too distracting for me, even on lowest brightness.

[MVR 155]

As others have mentioned, additional safety equipment is a plus. In the real world, there is no substitute for being hands on. I still use my mirrors/look over my shoulder before executing lane changes every time. I also never use cruise control or really use any of the modern driving technology options (despite my vehicles being loaded with the options). I'm 44 years old and have been on motorcycles since I was 5, once I was old enough to ride on the street I've been conditioned to expect everyone to pull out in front of me, lane change in front of me, blow through a light, etc...... Driving is a visceral thing for me and when I do it, I'm all in so I prefer to take a very "hands on" approach to it. I should also add that I make my own schedule which doesn't have me dealing with rush hour/bumper to bumper traffic very frequently. If I had to deal with a hardcore commute, I'd probably give more consideration to driving aids/technology.

[digdah]

They need to work on its intelligence. It gives too many false positives to be relied on.

[WatchMeSpend]

Is there a way to change the sensitivity in VCDS? Anyway, I like it. I had an incident where the vehicle riding my ass, undoubtedly some a-hole in a pickup truck, that decided the other four lanes to my left weren't good enough to pass me. Finally he passes and then I wanted to move one lane to the left. It was night and the mirrors had tinted dark from the trucks lights. The side assist triggers and I can't see a thing. I feel like a fighter pilot with missile lock on him from an stealth bogey because I can't see a thing in the mirrors. Just about when I'm convinced the system has gone crazy some idiot in a rice rocket almost sucks the wheels off my car on the way by going to McDonald's.

This is when I was the most grateful for the side assist.

[WeekendDriver]

Thanks for the varying opinions! I do wonder if false detection can be fixed, that definitely sounds like an issue to me.

[VR2V8]

I have it but wouldn't miss it if I didn't. I only turn it on when I'm on the highway, and like others said, I dont rely on it. I use the mirrors and turn my head when changing lanes.

[christianb5s4]

I find it to be very helpful and rarely is wrong or lights up with a false warning, at least on my 2016. It's pretty smart because if someone is a ways back but coming up at a high rate of speed in a lane on either side, it'll alert you to that too. That said it is to help assist and always check over your shoulder.

[ramaraju]

I find it to be very helpful and rarely is wrong or lights up with a false warning, at least on my 2016. It's pretty smart because if someone is a ways back but coming up at a high rate of speed in a lane on either side, it'll alert you to that too. That said it is to help assist and always check over your shoulder.

Glad to know this. I thought mine also didn't work but I did notice that it might depend on the speed of the vehicle approaching, never cared to check online if this is true or not. But based on your statement, I think it is indeed a feature.

To OP's question, I definitely think it is helpful especially night time and black cars (saved by the side assist couple of times)...

[Audisthesia]

Its a nice assist feature, and it can be enabled/disabled. Some cars you cant turn things like this off. I say its a win on Audi.

[67ITB]

FWIW, I have a 2014 A6.

So it took a little getting used to and trusting the system as I was always very diligent about using my mirrors constantly checking left right and rear and looking over my shoulder. By all accounts I have excellent situational awareness behind the wheel.

Having said this I am embarrassed to say in 165K miles these was one time that it totally saved me. I don’t know how but I missed a car on my driver’s side. This would have absolutely been my fault, and to this day I don’t know how I missed it but I did! So it saved me big time.

I still look, and use the mirrors but now the warning has a new sense of urgency.

My A6 doesn’t seem to give me the false positives the A7 guys speak of, but I did notice 1 particular place on the highway where no matter the traffic of time of day it would flash a false positives. Friends have hypothesized could it be a residents alarm; some kind of road side monitors… lots of guesses no solution.

[Kczach]

I think it's a nice feature to have. Like others have said you shouldn't rely solely on the system. I don't seem to have any false alarms on my system. If you want an added layer of security think about swapping your mirrors out for the convex european mirrors. That takes out all the blind spots but changes the depth.

[SeattleiteA6]

It's a great feature and definitely worth getting I think - especially in the used market where options like the Driver Assist pkg are essentially free - just need to be patient enough to find a car that is spec'd exactly how you want it. I've had side assist on all of my Audi's except the RS5 and I really wish I had waited and found one with it. IMO it's the best blind spot monitoring system of the luxury cars that I've driven/rode in. My buddy has an '18 M3 and his blind spot warning comes on WAY later than the Audi's do, almost where it isn't really helpful. I also see people I pass in traffic in various other brands and I can see their light illuminate in their mirror when I'm already at their rear quarter panel. The Audi side assist has never failed me - but of course you should never rely on it, it's just an added measure that I find quite helpful.