Do you believe this is actual? I, for one, have never heard this before and I really don't see how it is possible. If the tires are hydroplaning and not getting traction, how in the world can it accelerate?
I can grasp the concept of losing control when hydroplaning...and even making it more dangerous by having the cruise control engaged. But I just don't see how it can cause acceleration.
Hope someone who is much smarter than I can explain it to me.
Ron
Ron & Sandie
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my cruise control shut off in the rain a while back and I asked my friend who is an ASE certified mechanic what could be the problem. he said that it could have sensed slippage/hydroplaning which would cause a shut down.
and be sure to read the entire Snopes article, as the title and "yes" are somewhat misleading.
bumpy
I didn't STUDY every last word in your link, but the story I thought I saw was this:
It's not that the cruise control itself CAUSES more sliding, but more that it removes the drivers intimate and immediate ability to be aware of what's up and react to it.
If the cruise is on and you start sliding- it might take you a few seconds to turn it off. If your foot is on the gass and you start sliding- you can back off in a fraction of a second.
The story of the cruise first sliding and then catching is just like somone using bad driving technique and contiuning to give it gas when hydroplaning is detected. But if the cruise is off- you can back off the accelerator immediately.
And let's switch to PROACTIVE mode- if driving with your foot and you slip a little. THEN whats going to happen: NOW, you are going to be a more gentle with acceleration. The cruise control will blindly give it gas- whether traction is excellent or comprimised...it won't pick up on any warning signs!
As you state in your one sentence- you understand this, but I didn't see much in the article that really suggested that the cruise was causing wanton slippage- just that the safety reccomendation is "leave it off".
With an approaching winter storm, AAA is cautioning all motorists to drive carefully.
"Winter weather can make for especially dangerous road conditions," said Linda Gorman, director of public affairs for AAA. "While we encourage motorists to drive carefully in all weather conditions, we implore them to take additional precautions in inclement weather."
AAA recommends the following tip for safe winter driving:
- Do not engage your vehicle's cruise control. Using cruise control on wet roads or during heavy rain can cause you to lose control of your vehicle."
Lifting your foot to allow the vehicle to de-accelerate by itself is the approved way to recover from an "HydroPlaning" situation, even shifting into neutral. Hitting the brakes, as most would do to shut off the cruise control, is the worse thing you can do!
I always thought that it was plain old common sense to not drive with the cruise control on when it was raining or on suspect road conditions.
Too many traffic accident reports in the media state that bad roads or bad weather caused the accidents. I don't think either "caused" the accidents. It may have been a contributing factor, but often it was the driver's failure to react and adjust their driving to the foul weather and poor road conditions.
Cruise control will try to maintain a constant vehicle speed. It is linked directly to your speedometer, not a direct measure of actual vehicle speed.
So let's say you are on a slippery surface and one of your drive wheels starts to slip a little. You may not even notice, the car keeps going, the engine note does not change.
BUT, while that wheel is slipping the vehicle probably slows down 2 or 3 mph.
As soon as your drive wheels get full traction again the cruise control will detect a loss of speed and apply gas to play catch up.
If you hit another slippery path at the same time this happens it may well feel like the car accelerated and lost control. With gas applied the engine probably will speed up more than needed and the wheels will spin.
Safest, as has been said, do not use cruise when the conditions are questionable.
Keith J, Retired from GM Engineering
1999 Sunnybrook 27RKFS Fiver
2005 GMC Sierra 2500HD SLE 2WD/CC/SB/DA, 52 gal Titan tank, Bilsteins, Line-X, Westin steps, Prodigy, Retrax, 16K Superglide, 5th-Airborne pin box, Multi-vex mirrors, TST TPMS.
Generally, warnings like these are from people who are really unclear how a particular device works. Kind of like the people who keep insisting that a dirty air filter will decrease your gas mileage. That was very true back when cars had carburetors and a dirty air filter would cause the carburetor to supply more fuel than with a clean filter. With fuel injection and computer controls, a dirty air filter will not directly cause poorer fuel economy, it will cause the engine to produce less power and thereby contribute to poorer fuel economy. At least that's how it's been explained to me.
kaydeejay wrote: Cruise control will try to maintain a constant vehicle speed. It is linked directly to your speedometer, not a direct measure of actual vehicle speed.
So let's say you are on a slippery surface and one of your drive wheels starts to slip a little. You may not even notice, the car keeps going, the engine note does not change.
BUT, while that wheel is slipping the vehicle probably slows down 2 or 3 mph.
As soon as your drive wheels get full traction again the cruise control will detect a loss of speed and apply gas to play catch up.
If you hit another slippery path at the same time this happens it may well feel like the car accelerated and lost control. With gas applied the engine probably will speed up more than needed and the wheels will spin.
Safest, as has been said, do not use cruise when the conditions are questionable.
An excellent illustration of what actually happens.
kaydeejay wrote: Cruise control will try to maintain a constant vehicle speed. It is linked directly to your speedometer, not a direct measure of actual vehicle speed.
So let's say you are on a slippery surface and one of your drive wheels starts to slip a little. You may not even notice, the car keeps going, the engine note does not change.
BUT, while that wheel is slipping the vehicle probably slows down 2 or 3 mph.
As soon as your drive wheels get full traction again the cruise control will detect a loss of speed and apply gas to play catch up.
If you hit another slippery path at the same time this happens it may well feel like the car accelerated and lost control. With gas applied the engine probably will speed up more than needed and the wheels will spin.
Safest, as has been said, do not use cruise when the conditions are questionable.
Thanks... that makes a lot of sense.
However, I still just can't wrap my brain around a car accelerating when losing traction. None of the "stories" in the article said anything about accelerating "after regaining traction". It leads you to believe that if you lose traction....you will accelerate and "take off like an airplane".
Don't get me wrong, I'm not advocating using the cc in the rain, I'm just questioning the accelerating after losing traction statements. And yes, I did read the entire article, and no I don't use my cc when it is raining.
FWIW, some of the newer vehicles that have rain sensing wipers will actually turn off the cc if it is on. While some others are just wired such that if the wipers are turn on, the cc is turned off.
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