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Teeter was one of the finest automotive engineers of his time and his patent for cruise control was filed in 1948 and launched on the Chrysler Imperial in 1958; and was standard fit on all Cadillacs of the time. When I was younger I bought a v6 mustang (it was the first car I ever purchased with my own money) that did not have a locking rear differential. This means that while the car could be powered by either of the rear wheels at any time both wheels don’t turn simultaneously if the wheels could not find any grip. So, It is in your best interest to avoid using cruise control while driving in bad weather.
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This can lead to hydroplaning, which means your vehicle spins out of control at high speeds. If this occurs while using cruise control, the use of breaks on your car can lead you to lose control and potentially spin out as both the brakes and tire will fail to gain any traction. The grease and oil from cars produces a film on roads during dry conditions and when it rains, this layer becomes extremely slippery. Drive defensively in the rain and reduce your speed to below the speed limit to prevent the chance of hydroplaning. Add more car lengths between you and the car in front of you.
Tips for driving in the rain as a bus driver
However, the response time of adaptive cruise control remains a concern. According to another study published by the Association for Psychological Science, a driver can take up to 5 seconds longer to maneuver, react to an obstacle ahead, or slow down when using conventional or adaptive cruise control. Cruise control can increase your reaction time and significantly affect your control of the vehicle. This applies to both conventional and adaptive cruise control.
Increase your visibility by turning on your headlights
If you end up hydroplaning, your cruise control can make it a lot more dangerous. Even cars older than the 1990s will kill the cruise control from even the briefest tap on the brakes; if a cruise setup keeps accelerating, something is very wrong. In a rear-wheel drive car it can cause oversteer which means the back of your car will swing out the opposite way you are turning. In a front-wheel drive car it will cause understeer which means your car won’t turn as much as you are turning the wheels.
Watch Out for Standing Water
When rain falls on top of it, those elements may form a coating on the street’s surface, making it very slippery. Cancel – This disables the cruise control and provides complete control over the acceleration. On/off – This permits the cruise control to function, but it does not imply that it is active. Unless you are going on a steep downward grade, that gravity means you will speed up even if you don’t use the throttle.
This is exacerbated by cruise control, which can require you to use your brakes to regain control of the vehicle. When excess water sits on top of the road, tires can lose traction and hydroplane causing your vehicle to slide uncontrollably. It doesn't take much – driving 35 miles per hour or faster with as little as one-twelfth of an inch of rain on the road makes any type of car, SUV, truck or four-wheel drive at risk for hydroplaning.
Tips for driving safely in the rain
10 Tips to Drive Safely in the Rain News City of San José - City of San Jose, CA
10 Tips to Drive Safely in the Rain News City of San José.
Posted: Mon, 13 Nov 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]
You really shouldn't be driving at 70 mph in slippery conditions, cruise or no cruise. When cruise control is engaged the ‘second’ cable from the actuator moves, moving the throttle cable with it. Cruise control as we know it, was invented by a bloke called Ralph Teeter, who was blind. He came up with the idea after travelling with his lawyer who would slow down when listening to a conversation and speed up when talking.
Ventilate Your Car
Aquaplaning is where your wheels ride upon a cushion of water, essentially skating over the water’s surface because the tread in the tires is not sufficiently deep to disperse it fast enough. When you are aquaplaning, you have very little grip, and therefore any acceleration applied to the engine will be able to make the wheels spin faster and more easily. The scary part is that you do not even have to be driving fast for a car to hydroplane -especially if you have worn out tires.
Adaptive Cruise Control
Rather it’s how a driver reacts to aquaplaning that matters most, and quite often those who’ve engaged cruise control will nail the throttle to disconnect cruise control. In most cases, you’ll skim only a short distance before the tyres regain their purchase on the road; your vehicle will aquaplane whether you’ve got cruise control on or not. Like I mentioned above most cruise control systems are not going to be intelligent enough to detect if you are driving on icy roads. This means that if you run into an icy spot on the road your car will still be trying to send power through the wheels to the ground which can make your tires slip and cause you to lose control of the wheel and slide off the road. The bare minimum of options with cruise control is on/off, set and cancel. Most have a resume function which restores your last speed, and most new ones have the ability to increase or decrease the speed in 1mph increments (and sometimes bigger jumps).
Even ACC systems have a weather warning and that snow and ice can obscure vehicle sensors. When she explained to the highway patrolman what had happened he told her something that every driver should know NEVER DRIVE IN THE RAIN WITH YOUR CRUISE CONTROL ON. She had thought she was being cautious by setting the cruise control and maintaining a safe consistent speed in the rain.
The only person the accident victim found, who knew this (besides the patrolman), was a man who had had a similar accident, totaled his car and sustained severe injuries. Back to Google… the top entry I found was written by someone who clearly assumed that cruise control was some dim-witted force that could be tricked in wet weather. And, that if your vehicle began to aquaplane, which is the root cause of this myth, that cruise control will cause the vehicle to speed up out of control. The same writer then went onto argue with a reader in the comments section that he was correct because his car didn’t have traction control to stop his car from accelerating out of control in the wet.
To properly answer this question, you must understand how cruise control works. Get unparalleled visibility into the location, utilization, and health of your equipment, starting with the new compact and durable Asset Gateway Mini. Avoid windshield fogging that can interfere with your visibility by turning on your front and rear defrosters to clear it up. Sure, you can be sliding out of control and it absolutely feels terrifying when you hydroplane, but what’s described here isn’t accurate. Travelers can drive defensively and take precautions to prevent merging collisions.
All these concerns are compounded for commercial drivers, so read on for driving in the rain safety tips. Rainwater causes the oil and grease on the streets to rise to the top of the water. This creates a slippery surface that causes your car to hydroplane because the tires cannot tread through the water fast enough. This isn’t really a problem with cruise control, it’s a problem with the driver’s decision to use cruise control.
Furthermore, cruise control won’t make any changes by itself if your car hydroplanes. Cruise control is a great feature, especially on those long road trips. However, using cruise control on slippery roads is not a good idea.
Over the years I've owned numerous cars, trucks, and motorcycles and have had plenty of experience working on and buying things for them. This site is created to help you make the best decision when it comes to all things car related. You may also be surprised to know that you shouldn’t use cruise control in a brand new car. To learn more about why you shouldn’t use cruise control in a brand new car click here. This is especially crucial for drivers who reside in parts of the nation where it rains often. When you use cruise control, you are locked in at a fixed pace and have less time to slow down.
Seat belt adjustments and more safety tips to consider when driving while pregnant. Motorists should drive defensively, check around their vehicle and in blind spots then take precautions when passing vehicles to prevent merging collisions. And in city environments, with pedestrians crossing streets, it’s good to turn cruise control off. You need to be aware of the surroundings and monitoring speed, without computers doing the work. Use of the cruise control in these conditions can be dangerous. The patrolman said this warning should be listed, on the drivers seat sun-visor - NEVER USE THE CRUISE CONTROL WHEN THE PAVEMENT IS WET OR ICY along with the airbag warning.
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