Do the 2020 Mazda CX-30’s Active Safety Features Work in the Snow?
Active safety features have rapidly spread across new cars and SUVs in recent years, including the subcompact SUV class and models like the all-new 2020 Mazda CX-30. The CX-30 comes standard with many active safety features, including forward collision warning with automatic emergency braking, lane departure warning, lane keep assist, full-speed adaptive cruise control with stop-and-go capability, automatic high-beam headlights and a driver drowsiness monitor.
These features can save you from yourself during a moment of inattention, but they can also get tripped up, as we experienced recently on a commute in snowy conditions.
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Light rain had switched to wet snow at the start of my evening commute from downtown Chicago, and the snow picked up some once I’d hit the highway. It wasn’t coming down fast or accumulating on the road, however, and traffic was moving steadily.
What I didn’t realize was that the wet snow was accumulating on the CX-30’s front radar sensor, which is integrated in the Mazda badge on the grille. The adaptive cruise control, forward collision warning and automatic braking systems use the radar sensor, but about 45 minutes into my drive, I noticed out of the corner of my eye a message in the center of the digital speedometer: “Front radar obscured. Drive safely. Safety and driver support systems temporarily disabled.”
I’m glad I got the alert, but it wasn’t specific enough for me; I had to reference the owner’s manual later to find out what systems use the radar sensor. (The manual also details all of the situations — and there are a lot of them — when the sensor may be ineffective.) What’s more, the warning message was too subtle for something as important as a deactivated safety sensor. While some cars go overboard with their alerts for relatively trivial things, this warning in the CX-30 would be easy to miss.
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The warning stayed on for the remainder of my trip, which was about 15 minutes. It disappeared when I was parking the CX-30, and I realized why when I got out; the clump of slushy snow that had been blocking the radar sensor had slid off onto the chrome trim at the bottom of the grille.
The CX-30’s safety systems were only disabled for a brief period of time because of very specific weather conditions, but it was a reminder that there are things we take for granted — in this case, driving in the snow — that pose unique challenges for driver-assist technology. Finding solutions to these situations is only going to become more critical as automakers prioritize development of fully self-driving cars. If they don’t, they risk building cars that the driving public won’t accept.
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