I'm intrigued by the narrow lanes though. Do they have white lines at the edges that the RDMS is detecting? Where I live there are no white lines on our narrow lanes.
It can detect green grass,and dirt etc road margins but possibly white sidelines will be detected sooner and cause 'wobbles' while you are still a safe enough distance from the rough stuff.
At the risk of upsetting , or enraging ,some readers, I will repeat my opinions on this.(other opinions are available
) Its a bit like war and peace. Stop reading now if you are short of time.
I seldom get any RDMS interventions on my 2024 car even when driving at quite high speed ,only a few millimeters away from the rough verges. Whether this is in the centre of a narrow single track road (until confronted with something coming the other way) or positioned in the middle of 'my' side of the road when the road is wide enough to have a centre line and you can usually (but not always) safely pass oncoming vehicles without risk of clashing mirrors. etc
There appears to be a setting (on later cars at least) where intervention is minimal ,even if you dont actively try to avoid rdms interventions by adapting your driving .IMO this should be the setting you use, NOT just switching it off every trip.
I accept that on earlier cars the RDMS can be a bit more intrusive. It took me a while to get used to steering twitches etc on my 2021 car. This improved significantly when the car had a free Software update. IIRC you had to book an appointment to have this done, or specially book a longer time slot to include it with a service. So its possible some cars have never been updated, especially if their owners habitually switch RDMS every trip. These might continue to do so when they buy a 'facelift' car without ever giving the improved driver aids systems a second chance to impress or make a second attempt at learning to work in harmony with it.
As coldstart said in the recent post about ACC adapting to using driver aids can actually improve your driving.
Many say they have been driving many years without ever needing the help of driver aid and resent it now. . But with all due respect many years of driving does not mean you have reached the pinnacle of competence. We all make mistakes, get into bad habits , deteriorate in some areas. Every driver canl learn from active criticism, whether its from a respected advanced driving instructor , 'back seat driver', or the sometimes imperfect driver aid Gizmo . My own worst critic is me. The biggest benefit of some advanced driving lessons was learning I wasnt as good a driver as I thought I was. No one is.
With early cars there were several posts to the effect "rdms threw me into the path of a tractor" etc.
Sorry if this upsets you but those who believe RDMS is dangerous should maybe take a long hard think about their own driving. Could it be they are driving too fast for that road , reacting too late to hazards, being slow to react to any steering twitches. (IF so they may also react too slowly to a genuine skid on ice, mud, loose gravel etc - I find the occasional rdms twitch 'keeps me on my toes' ) It may be you are genuinely in control of cutting a corner, avoiding an oncoming vehicle by gliding onto the verge etc, but 'Gismo' doesnt know that, and your passenger might be terrified by it , but too polite to say so. Advanced drivers normally have raised awareness of how their driving affects , passengers, other road users etc. Just include Gizmo in this. If the result of this analysis is 'I'm always good, RDMS is always bad ' then maybe you are right. Good luck. Personally I'd rather drive at a speed and active positioning that remains Gizmo friendly .
But for those who have concerns about high tech drivers aid please dont let it put you off progressing to a mk4. Other brands of newer cars have similar systems. It is possible to drive without fully embracing the systems, or take your time to learn them. Mrs LV comes into this catagory. She switches nothing off , but seldom switches on optional stuff during her local trips. (eg brake hold, acc etc) but very quickly learned to accept and expect RDMS twitches "yes it always happens when I cross lanes at the traffic lights by Tesco' etc. No big deal
