Nate G

Hi all. I recently got a new 2024 Macan GTS and spec'd it with "Lane Keep Assist (LKA) incl. Traffic Jam Assist." Has anyone with a US-spec Macan with that option been able to successfully get the Macan to make steering interventions (not to be confused with Lane Change Assist which is a blind spot monitor and Active Cruise Control which controls gas and brake). In other words, in addition to getting steering intervention before drifting out of the lane above 35 mph (Lane Keep Assist), has anyone been able to get the continuous steering intervention and lane centering below 35 mph (Traffic Jam Assist)? For me, Lane Keep Assist works, but Traffic Jam Assist does not. I followed the instructions in the manual. Porsche Pro is unsure as he states he has not actually seen a Macan spec'd with one. I am currently having my car looked at by service but so far even the service advisor seems unsure on how it works. Service tech has not found any solutions yet. Has anyone got Traffic Jam Assist to work?

chassis

You are mixing unrelated systems.

LKA is a passive system which loosely and not 100% effectively maintains the lane.

Active Lane Keeping as the name suggests is an active system that keeps the car more or less in the center of the lane.

Traffic Jam Assist is a function of ACC, active cruise control. It resumes forward vehicle motion after having come to a stop behind another car, if conditions are met. For example if the vehicle has been stopped for not more than XX seconds, it will drive off again when the vehicle in front drives off. I think XX is something like 10 seconds. Stops longer than XX seconds require driver intervention to resume forward motion.

The manual in the PCM helps with this.

rob944s2

I don’t think OP is confusing anything, I read it the same way. When traffic jam assist is enabled the vehicle should be able to center itself in the lane at speeds under 35 mph.

OP, I think the key here is to ensure that the vehicle “sees” the lane before expecting it to keep the car centered. With Lane keep assist you will sometimes see the indicator light shows gray lane markings instead of green. If these markings are not green then we can assume the vehicle does not see the lane and therefore will not keep the vehicle centered below 35 mph when traffic jam assist is enabled.

i’ve never been able to test it successfully myself because at lower speeds the vehicle seems to have more trouble detecting the lanes. If you want to test it I would suggest trying to find a traffic jam in an area with very clear lane markings.

chassis

LKA will not center the car as well as ALK will. LKA is a (software/hardware) lazy poor man’s version of maintaining lane position. I would not place high expectations on LKA. It is an assist system, not an active system. If the active system was desired it could have been paid for.

rob944s2

As it turns out I was able to test on the way to work this morning in a traffic jam. I noticed that as the car slowed below around 40mph the LKA indicator turned from green to grey. While the Traffic Jam Assist did work, no steering assist was working at all. When back above ~40mph the LKA indicator turned green again.

The description of the feature clearly states that it can keep the vehicle centered in the lane when active. I have not been able to get it to do that. I suspect there is a disconnect between the marketing materials and what is actually possible using this feature.

I believe that the LKA system is fully capable of keeping the vehicle centered at all speeds, but is prevented from doing so at a software level for liability reasons. I think the intent was to allow fully centered LKA at speeds less than 35mph (in a traffic jam), but then, for whatever reason, that feature never actually got delivered.

jayson

This is good feedback, I'm speccing a GTS and am on the fence about these assist features. It is silly that a modern Honda w. its sensing package seems to blow away what Porsche can offer.

Nate G

Thank you so much for testing this. I am reassured that I am not the only one who is noticing this. Like you, the green lines of Lane Keep Assist turn gray below 35 mph at which Traffic Jam Assist is supposed to take over and display this key icon. I was in a traffic jam recently with all criteria met including clear markings and attempted to get it work to no avail.

I have made a post in great detail on the Macan Forum at https://www.macanforum.com/threads/t...4/post-2788283 with not many responses so far, but I will go ahead and share it here (see below).

A search on the Porsche website of available new Macans at various dealerships all over the USA shows that LKA/TJA is not an uncommon feature. It seems like a lot of people buy these pre-configured Macans and do not care to use it or are just unaware that they paid for it. It seems like only a few of us find this feature important. In either case, I am worried Porsche is selling and charging for a product that is not working. This is not acceptable.

An update to my service visit... the service advisor is now collaborating with a sales rep there. The service tech found a blocked radar error code (it was snowing 2 weeks ago), but I do not think that has anything to do with it.

And for all others, I appreciate your input. But unfortunately, Active Lane Keep is not an option in the Macan like it is in the Cayenne.

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Hi all. I am new here to the Macan Forum. I apologize for barging in with such a loaded first post, but I have concerns that may also concern other Macan owners here.

Introduction

I am concerned that Porsche has misrepresented a paid option: Traffic Jam Assist.

I recently took delivery of a new, built-to-order 2024 Macan GTS. Using the USA configurator, I added the $800 option for "Lane Keep Assist (LKA) incl. Traffic Jam Assist." Following the instructions in the owners manual, I cannot get the Traffic Jam Assist (not to be confused with Lane Keep Assist or Lane Change Assist which do work) to activate.

I am trying to determine if other owners of USA-configured Macans that have this option have been able to successfully use it as advertised. A visit to the dealer so far shows that even they are unsure as to the operation of this option. Limited information on Traffic Jam Assist exists on this forum, however, I did find two posts by forum members mjc and rakh1 who also shared similar concerns:Porsche USA Configurator

Below is an image showing that according to the Porsche USA configurator that I used when ordering my Macan, in regards to Traffic Jam Assist, "using the optimized radar and video sensors, the system detects lane markings and vehicles driving ahead in the same lane up to 35 mph. When the system is active, the vehicle can be centered in lane by targeted steering interventions." The problem is that I am not experiencing these steering interventions.



Operation of Traffic Jam Assist

Below are images from the digital owners manual describing the feature and operation. The same information is duplicated in the printed owners manual that was also provided with the vehicle. In a recent traffic jam, I attempted to follow these instructions and activate Traffic Jam Assist to no avail.

















As you can see (sorry about the poor GoPro quality), I have all the conditions specified in the manual for Traffic Jam Assist to be active:

• Lane Keep Assist is turned on (button is pressed and you can see that gray lane markings are displayed on the instrument cluster)
• Active Cruise Control (ACC) active (you can see I have a speed of 50 MPH selected, a detected vehicle is also displayed, and ACC is following it at 19 MPH)

...and for steering intervention to occur:

• Hands on the steering wheel (out of view, but I'm holding the bottom half)
• Turn signal not set
• Road markings detected at vehicle speed below approx. 40 mph (65 km/h) - or - adaptive cruise control (ACC) target object present at vehicle speed below approx. 20 mph (35 km/h) (hard to see in this picture, but lane markings were clearly visible, and again a vehicle ahead is detected and indicated by the ACC display)

All conditions met, and Traffic Jam Assist will not activate as evidenced by a lack of ANY steering intervention below 35 mph. The vehicle makes no attempt to stay centered in the lane. It also makes no attempt to stay in the lane at all and will not intervene before crossing the line on either side of the lane (Lane Keep Assist is inactive below 35 mph). Only above 35 mph do the lane markings turn from gray to green indicating Lane Keep Assist becoming active which will then start to nudge the vehicle back into the lane if it gets too close to either lane marking.

I noticed the following steering wheel symbols were not present:



According to the owners manual, they indicate "Traffic Jam Assist is turned on and active. Vehicle speed falls below 35 mph (55 km/h): Steering intervention takes place continuously." I have never seen these symbols appear.

(Addendum: I found an image on rennlist posted by member JUN6817 that shows what Traffic Jam Assist should look like when active. Notice the steering wheel icons present and the lane markings are green)...



My Build

I am sure I ordered this feature. But, to ensure it was not left out from production, I checked the window sticker of my vehicle to confirm I ordered it and was charged $800 for it:



Why Does This Concern Me

My previous vehicle was a BMW X3 M40i. It had a similarly advertised feature of being able to actively keep the vehicle centered in lane or follow the vehicle in front at ANY speed. It worked flawlessly. In fact, the BMW had many more technological features such as a head-up display, digital instrument cluster, and better cameras not present in the Macan. But, I was okay giving those up for the sake of "upgrading" to a Porsche. When I was ordering my Macan, Porsche advertised having a similar function that would work only below 35 mph which was even more of a bummer, but not a dealbreaker when I ordered the Macan. However, I paid $800 for this feature that I suspect my Macan does not even have. The most important thing is that have I known that this feature would not be present or work as advertised, I would not have invested my time, effort, and money in ordering, purchasing, and acquiring this vehicle. If only we could return a car like we could other merchandise. I feel misled by Porsche.

Among other things, I have had a poor delivery experience with leaking under my vehicle (warranty problem), bubbling in the window tint and interior trim scratching and denting (dealer problem), and to add insult to injury, someone recently dented and scratched my door (insurance problem). I would have to say my experience as a first-time Porsche owner is not good.

Why This Should Concern You

Some may suggest that a feature that actively steers for the driver is unnecessary or even potentially dangerous. Any option or feature such as active cruise control or blind spot monitoring could also be viewed the same way if used inappropriately. But, this thread is not about debating the pros and cons of such driver assistance features. The point is that we as consumers pay for a product and expect it to work as advertised. If you paid for Traffic Jam Assist in your Macan, and it is not both present and working as advertised, then Porsche owes you the money you paid for the feature. If you your decision to commit with buying your Macan was influenced with the belief that the feature would be present and working, then Porsche is potentially liable for more than just a refund of the feature.

Conclusion

I know this was a loaded post, but I have suspicion that the Traffic Jam Assist option that I and many other USA-configured Macan owners have paid for is not present and working as advertised by Porsche. I am hoping that it is either an error on my part in activating the feature or an oversight in production that can be easily fixed (perhaps with simple programming). My vehicle is currently being looked at by the dealer. If the dealer or I cannot get the feature to work, then I will have to escalate. All comments are welcome and appreciated.

chassis

Traffic jam assist is not a steering-relevant function.

Nate G

Active steering is unavailable in the Macan. Well, at least the USA-spec'd ones. Otherwise, I would have bought it. Porsche advertised their $800 Lane Keep Assist with Traffic Jam Assist feature as essentially an active lane keeping function under 35 mph with key statements such as "steering intervention" taking place "continuously" and keeping the vehicle "centered in lane." See images below. The problem here is that it is not working.

The digital and printed manual for the 2024 Macan states that TJA requires ACC to be active, but clearly differentiates ACC and TJA as two separate functions. I do not have access to the vehicle right now as it is currently in service who is still trying to figure out if my TJA works, but I would imagine the information in the PCM would be the same.

I notice a lot of people are insisting this (i.e. TJA being gas and brake, not steering) and it puzzles me. In regards to the current model year Macan, Porsche clearly states "steering intervention" within the context of Traffic Jam Assist multiple times. Please refer to the highlighted portions in the images below. I wonder if previous generations of Macan may have been different. Where are you getting that it is not steering relevant? I know options differ between models as well. It looks like you drive a Cayenne. Do you also have a Macan?

rob944s2

There is quite a lot of information in this thread demonstrating how Porsche's marketing materials and owner's manual advertise automatic lane centering in conjunction with Traffic Jam Assist. It would be awesome if you took the time to read some of it.

chassis

I stand corrected. I did not (could not on mobile device) read the images.

LKA works in my Cayenne below 35mph. It works with ACC, PID and traffic jam assist.

Please explain a use case where you are looking for steering intervention during traffic jam assist.

gtr

Ugh, the lane keep assist system in the loaner wouldn't work for me. It feels so outdated like something from 2014! And to think they charge extra for a system so clunky? The Mercedes GLS or even the GR Corolla have lane centering that's so much smoother. Those systems just activate and keep you centered effortlessly.

Nate G

I have found TJA useful in my BMW X3 during miles-long bumper-to-bumper and slow-moving freeway traffic whether due to the typical rush hour commute or an unexpected accident. TJA in conjunction with ACC made these moments more comfortable by performing the tedious tasks of constantly modulating gas and brake to maintain forward distance and small steering inputs to stay centered in the lane. Not perfect by any means (e.g. car from next lane can cut in front before ACC notices or TJA may lose track of lane markings or the vehicle in front) but I find them to be nice tools to have. I am always in control and ready to intervene if needed. I was expecting to have similar functionality in my Macan per the option description.

Cayenne has so much better tech vs Macan. Have you found your Cayenne's driving assistance features to be useful?

chassis

Yes they are OK systems but very severely limited and easily fooled or confused.

In other words the systems work well in a narrow range of ideal use cases. The real world has many use cases where the systems are unusable and in come cases objectively dangerous and unsafe, particularly LKA.

nevil

I'm hesitant to rely on this type of driver aids, especially since they have not been perfected. Unlike some of the responses here, I rarely drive in rush hour or encounter traffic jams on a daily basis, so I can sympathize with those that have to deal with it. I feel that reliance on these systems can create complacency and distraction.