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New Audi A8 automatically locks doors if there’s a chance a cyclist might be doored

Cycling UK has asked the government to introduce a new offence of causing or permitting serious injury or death by car dooring

Someone let Chris Grayling know. The new Audi A8 will lock its doors if it detects a cyclist approaching, meaning the driver and passengers should be unable to door someone.

Audi’s exit warning system has been around for a while, but this takes things up a notch. Previously, the car would simply alert occupants to approaching bicycles (or other traffic) but clearly the carmaker has decided this isn’t enough and has decided to make the car actually intervene.

Drive reports that the A8’s rear sensors are able to detect traffic approaching from the rear for up to three minutes after the engine has been turned off.

According to Audi system expert Georg Maier: “The first thing is there is a warning. It’s based on the sensors in the rear. The second thing is it delays the release of the door, so whenever there is traffic from the rear it delays door opening by 0.8 seconds.”

While the A8, with its hefty price tag, is a not an especially common car, Maier says that this is a sign of things to come.

“It’s the usual case: we start with the flagship and think how to roll that out on the other models.”

Front and rear sensors also warn the driver of traffic approaching from the side.

Semi-autonomous BMW will ‘fight driver’ to deliver close passes of cyclists

Earlier this month, a Leicester taxi driver lost his appeal against a conviction for allowing his passenger to open the door of the cab into cyclist Sam Boulton, causing his death in July last year.

Cycling UK has asked the government to introduce a new offence of causing or permitting serious injury or death by car dooring, with tougher penalties. The maximum penalty is currently a £1,000 fine.

The charity has also called for a road safety campaign promoting the 'Dutch Reach' technique of opening car doors. Taught to learner drivers in the Netherlands, it twists the motorist around so that they can’t help but look behind them, reducing the chances of accidentally dooring someone.

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17 comments

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NoSoSlimTim | 6 years ago
0 likes

The simplest solution to dooring would be the compulsory fitting of oil dampers to all vehicle doors to prevent them being opened quickly.

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clayfit | 6 years ago
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It’s not just VW, they were all at it.  Renault has also been caught.  Opel has a system that only works when the weather is similar to the test temperature.  Fiat’s system works for 20 minutes then stops (the test is 20 minutes long).  and that’s only the ones who have been caught.

Magazines like Auto Motor und Sport in Germany have introduced on-the-road testing and some engines were dozens of times above the limit (Renault was worst). The car manufacturers have stepped up, and the new Mercedes and BMW 2l Diesel engines are well below Euro 6 limits.  It’s quite shameful how easy they found it when they had to.

Don’t forget that this scandal only concerns NOx.  The particulates are at least as toxic, and old Diesels emit vast quantities.  Our government needs to get any Diesel that is older than Euro 4 off the road, now.

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davel replied to clayfit | 6 years ago
0 likes
clayfit wrote:

It’s not just VW, they were all at it.  Renault has also been caught.  Opel has a system that only works when the weather is similar to the test temperature.  Fiat’s system works for 20 minutes then stops (the test is 20 minutes long).  and that’s only the ones who have been caught.

Magazines like Auto Motor und Sport in Germany have introduced on-the-road testing and some engines were dozens of times above the limit (Renault was worst). The car manufacturers have stepped up, and the new Mercedes and BMW 2l Diesel engines are well below Euro 6 limits.  It’s quite shameful how easy they found it when they had to.

Don’t forget that this scandal only concerns NOx.  The particulates are at least as toxic, and old Diesels emit vast quantities.  Our government needs to get any Diesel that is older than Euro 4 off the road, now.

The Euro tests need a complete overhaul to actually test for on-the-road pollution. Do you know whether there are any plans for revisions?

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Yorkshire wallet | 6 years ago
2 likes

European manufacturer escapes punishment in Europe.....

Saw something that said nearly all these diesels only pass emissions on initial manufacture. Once they've for a few miles on they're knocking out 10x the initial amount.

Diesel should never have had those tax breaks, it was only done to (once again) prop up the car industry as people were getting twice the life out of petrol cars that no longer left a trail of orange rust every time you used them.

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davel replied to Yorkshire wallet | 6 years ago
1 like
Yorkshire wallet wrote:

European manufacturer escapes punishment in Europe.....

Saw something that said nearly all these diesels only pass emissions on initial manufacture. Once they've for a few miles on they're knocking out 10x the initial amount.

It's worse than that: the lab conditions don't actually bear much resemblance to real-world use, so newer cars that sail through the lab tests are often worse for pollution than their older counterparts out on the road.

This banger test on the BBC was pretty interesting http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/how_toxic_is_your_car_exhaust

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Deeferdonk | 6 years ago
2 likes

New idea. An audi that locks the door when a w&nker approaches so that they can't drive it. Idea could also be used by BMW.

 

 

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brooksby | 6 years ago
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I wonder what model Chris Grayling's chauffeur drives...?

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barbarus | 6 years ago
3 likes

Shame it only delays opening by 0.8 seconds. I was hoping to be able to trap people in their Audi by trackstanding outside their car.

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Redvee replied to barbarus | 6 years ago
3 likes

barbarus wrote:

Shame it only delays opening by 0.8 seconds. I was hoping to be able to trap people in their Audi by trackstanding outside their car.

 

0.8 seconds is about my limit when it comes to trackstanding.

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Ratfink | 6 years ago
0 likes

It delays the door opening by 0.8 seconds? That's not exactly locking it.

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Flying Scot replied to Ratfink | 6 years ago
1 like

Ratfink wrote:

It delays the door opening by 0.8 seconds? That's not exactly locking it.

 

You might need out in an emergency, so it wont fully lock it, also the obstruction might not be a cyclist, the idea, as I understand it, is to the pause the door opening to bring your attention to a potential collision, which seems fair enough to me.

 

A bit like the lane departure warning, adds a bit of resistance to the steering just to check you really do mean to cross the white lines without signalling, this was criticised on here with Ford's, which I haven't driven, but other marquees its really just steering through a notch to do this, its not that you have to 'force it' and you can always turn it off.

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Grahamd | 6 years ago
2 likes

Whilst positive, dooring affects far less cyclists than the air pollution caused by the Volkswagen Audi Group. Perhaps I’ve missed it but have yet to see any appreciable action to address the emissions scandal.

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davel replied to Grahamd | 6 years ago
2 likes
Grahamd wrote:

Whilst positive, dooring affects far less cyclists than the air pollution caused by the Volkswagen Audi Group. Perhaps I’ve missed it but have yet to see any appreciable action to address the emissions scandal.

You might well have over here, but then an EU commission wonk admitted compensation was off the table as soon as the news came out. Maybe not the best negotiation opening gambit. Big surprise, then, that VW started flicking the Vs immediately, and have only since paused to change hands.

The US is a different story. As soon as it broke there, they were talking big money. $10bn, last I heard: thousands each for for every affected customer, and the numbers might not have topped off yet. Capitalist hell-hole, in thrall to big business, that it is.

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Trickytree1984 replied to Grahamd | 6 years ago
0 likes
Grahamd wrote:

Whilst positive, dooring affects far less cyclists than the air pollution caused by the Volkswagen Audi Group. Perhaps I’ve missed it but have yet to see any appreciable action to address the emissions scandal.

They've been hit pretty hard tbf.

Don't hate the player, hate the game

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jasecd replied to Trickytree1984 | 6 years ago
5 likes

Trickytree1984 wrote:
Grahamd wrote:

Whilst positive, dooring affects far less cyclists than the air pollution caused by the Volkswagen Audi Group. Perhaps I’ve missed it but have yet to see any appreciable action to address the emissions scandal.

They've been hit pretty hard tbf. Don't hate the player, hate the game

 

Erm... No they haven't.  

Whilst they may have been dealt with properly in the US, the lack of any punishment in Europe is absurd. They knowingly cheated the test (which as you allude to was far from representative of real world driving) and heavily marketed their cars environmental credentials.

I bought one of the cars in question, with low emissions being a large factor in my choice. 

I'm now part of a large group legal action against VW and should I win any damages, I will be donating half the amount to the British Lung Foundation. I'll also be selling the car when I've paid it off in 14 months.

 

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Housecathst | 6 years ago
6 likes

How about a new offence of wanton and furious door opening with a maximum sentence of 2years! 

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RobD | 6 years ago
1 like

Could they do something to slow the door mechanism, so rather than keeping the lock on it makes the door much slower to open in that situation, might make them look more and give cyclists a chance to take evasive action

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