Ford lane centering beats Toyota (my Mav vs. CH-R rental)

[AndrewinMD]

We took a trip to Ireland last month, and I wound up renting a nearly brand new Toyota CH-R (pretty sure it was a 2023 model, not available in the US -- only had about 1000 miles on it). It had most of the same tech as my '22 Mav Lariat like push button start, Android Auto, ACC, lane centering, etc, and it was also a hybrid. Since the Mav is my 2nd Ford hybrid, after a Fusion, I was curious to drive something else.

Anyway, it's not a bad little car, but I did discover that Ford's lane centering is MUCH better than Toyota's, at least as it is on that CH-R. I had significant problems with the car drifting onto the shoulder, weaving back and forth between the lines, getting dangerously close to other vehicles, and losing track and dropping off. With the Mav, I have seen very little of those issues except in very particular circumstances, like when the dark line of tar between two lanes confuses the sensors, or if one side of the lane line disappears at an exit for too long. The CH-R was just not very reliable for lane centering, and I didn't even drive on too many roads where I could use it. Many of the country roads either don't have center lines, or are so narrow that I would not want to trust any automated driving on them. I did appreciate the size of the car though because in addition to the small roads, some of those Irish parking spots are minuscule!

So, kudos to Ford in this case. It looks like all of their investment in autonomous driving paid some dividends.

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[gte105u]

Ford's centering as well as ACC are much better than Toyota, Honda, Nissan, or Dodge/Jeep. Hyundai and Mazda are the only ones that come close (of the non luxury manufacturers). Holding position, adjusting speeds when vehicle nerves within zone ahead, and ability to do very low speeds are some of the benefits.