Curious about the "Lane Keep Assist" button in your car? We'll explain what it does and why it's important.
What Does the ‘Lane Keep Assist’ Button Do? A Quick Guide
With each passing year, new cars emerge with more and more features meant to keep you safe on the road. But the sheer amount of buttons, toggles, and switches can be overwhelming. Learning what all these settings do is quite an undertaking. But as cluttered as your steering wheel and dashboard may seem, some of these safety features truly are invaluable. One such option is the “Lane Keep Assist” button you may find in your car. While the button varies depending on one’s car, it generally has an icon that looks like a vehicle with lines on either side of it.
Like many other new safety features, you can toggle the lane keep setting off if you don’t wish to utilize it. However, it’s a helpful addition to many newer vehicles and gives you an extra layer of protection while you’re out on the road. It’s not something you should entirely rely on, but rather an indicator that you can use to improve your driving.
What Does the “Lane Keep Assist” Button Do?
According to Chevrolet, the button turns on a safety feature. When this setting is enabled and your vehicle is moving fast enough, your car will warn you if you begin drifting out of your lane. It can also give gentle nudges of the wheel to help course correct.
It’s important to note that this feature is not a self-driving option. While your car may slightly course correct when the warning goes off, it will not drive itself. Rather, it’s giving you a buffer to your reaction time so that you can move fully into your chosen lane.
How Does This Feature Work?
Chevrolet explains that, at least on their vehicles, there’s a “forward-looking camera mounted behind your vehicle’s windshield, in front of the inside rearview mirror.”
If you’re traveling over a certain speed and have the setting enabled, the camera will track lane lines. This speed will vary from car to car, but it’s 37 mph for most of Chevrolet’s vehicles. If you begin to drift without turning your blinker on, you will receive a warning, and the wheel will nudge itself to counterbalance.
Chevrolet also stresses that even when this feature is toggled on, it won’t correct for intentional departures or turns. If the system registers that “you’re using the turn signal or actively steering, accelerating or braking,” it will not issue any warnings when you change lanes.
The easiest way to avoid getting warnings from this system is to utilize your turn signal every time you change lanes, merge, or make turns. It’s a habit you should be in anyway. But if you’re lax about it, using this feature will help you to remember.
