Even the description of the feature quoted from VW in the article doesn't say it stops for you.
What it does do is determine whether or not you're trying to panic stop when you hit the brakes and stops hard before you press the pedal down far enough to do it on your own.
What it doesn't do is stop for you while you're accelerating.
If they want to claim the collision warning system failed, fine. But they didn't mention if the warning went off or not.
But they're trying to claim that VW said the car would stop for you, by quoting VW not claiming that the car would stop for you.
“If the system detects a hazard in front of your vehicle, it will alert you both audibly (with a chime) and visibly (with a small icon on the dashboard). The system also prepares the brakes for emergency braking, meaning it will take less time and power to slow your vehicle to a complete stop if you need to avoid a collision. If you don’t apply enough power to the brakes, the system can help to stop your vehicle automatically.”
Interestingly both the IIHS and NHTSA perform crash avoidance tests but getting a comparative table of ratings is difficult. You can pull up individual cars, or one manufacturers cars, but not everything. Also, on the NHTSA site, US VW Golfs 2018/19 don't seem to claim have "Crash Imminent Braking" features, but have optional forward collision warning - not sure how that maps to general "Advanced Emergency Braking" features. I wonder if this is a case of overselling to customers.
What it does do is determine whether or not you're trying to panic stop when you hit the brakes and stops hard before you press the pedal down far enough to do it on your own.
What it doesn't do is stop for you while you're accelerating.
If they want to claim the collision warning system failed, fine. But they didn't mention if the warning went off or not.
But they're trying to claim that VW said the car would stop for you, by quoting VW not claiming that the car would stop for you.
“If the system detects a hazard in front of your vehicle, it will alert you both audibly (with a chime) and visibly (with a small icon on the dashboard). The system also prepares the brakes for emergency braking, meaning it will take less time and power to slow your vehicle to a complete stop if you need to avoid a collision. If you don’t apply enough power to the brakes, the system can help to stop your vehicle automatically.”