Cruise control hazard

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dundrillin
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Cruise control hazard

Post by dundrillin »

Facebook had an interesting post today regarding cruise control apparently if it is raining and the car is in cruise control mode it is at risk of Aqua-planing. Likewise if there is ice on the road. Was news to me.
brianks
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Re: Cruise control hazard

Post by brianks »

Gee Whiz. Such a revelation! Now must the programmers put into Cruise Control an over ride for the idiot driver who is exceeding safe speeds for the conditions? Oh my, does the driver have any responsibility to drive safely any more. Blame it on the car now?
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Nereus
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Re: Cruise control hazard

Post by Nereus »

Bit of a long read, but pretty much spot on.

In this country I doubt that water on the road has anything to do with it. After all, switching on the hazard lights will protect you from all other events!
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http://www.motoring.com.au/cruise-contr ... acts-7413/
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RCer
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Re: Cruise control hazard

Post by RCer »

brianks wrote:Gee Whiz. Such a revelation! Now must the programmers put into Cruise Control an over ride for the idiot driver who is exceeding safe speeds for the conditions? Oh my, does the driver have any responsibility to drive safely any more. Blame it on the car now?
Consider this, several years ago someone bought a brand new motorhome. Going down the hiway he put on the cruise control and got up to make a pot of coffee.

You can imagine the result. After he got out of the hospital he sued the manufacrurer and dealer for not telling him it was not "automatic driving".

He won millions. Yes, it was in California, where you get rich off your own stupidity.
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Re: Cruise control hazard

Post by sateeb »

RCer wrote:
brianks wrote:Gee Whiz. Such a revelation! Now must the programmers put into Cruise Control an over ride for the idiot driver who is exceeding safe speeds for the conditions? Oh my, does the driver have any responsibility to drive safely any more. Blame it on the car now?
Consider this, several years ago someone bought a brand new motorhome. Going down the hiway he put on the cruise control and got up to make a pot of coffee.

You can imagine the result. After he got out of the hospital he sued the manufacrurer and dealer for not telling him it was not "automatic driving".

He won millions. Yes, it was in California, where you get rich off your own stupidity.

Sorry to burst your bubble...NEVER HAPPENED!!!.

http://www.snopes.com/autos/techno/cruise.asp

Not surprisingly," the newsletter says, "the RV left the freeway, crashed and overturned. Mr. Grazinski sued Winnebago for not advising him in the owner's manual that he couldn't actually do this. The jury awarded him $1,750,000 plus a new motor home," and the company rewrote the manual "in case there were any other complete morons buying their recreational vehicles."

Feeling outraged? Unsure if you are more angry at the "driver," his lawyer, the jury, the judge or the entire legal system? Feeling sorry for the mistreated Winnebago company and ready to demand "tort reform?"

If so, you've been had, just like that consumer advocate and millions of people who fall for that story and others like it.

No such Winnebago lawsuit ever happened. It's an urban legend. Yet that and many similarly outrageous and entertaining but fictional accounts of civil courts gone mad often appear together, in e-mail chain letters and such, presented as truth. :thumb:
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“The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those who speak it.” -George Orwell.
dundrillin
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Re: Cruise control hazard

Post by dundrillin »

Nereus wrote:Bit of a long read, but pretty much spot on.

In this country I doubt that water on the road has anything to do with it. After all, switching on the hazard lights will protect you from all other events!
...........................................................
http://www.motoring.com.au/cruise-contr ... acts-7413/
Excellent article. Thanks
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STEVE G
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Re: Cruise control hazard

Post by STEVE G »

If it was the case, it's taken a while to become apparent as cruise control has been around for nearly 60 years, here's the handbook page from the 1958 Chrysler Auto-Pilot, the first commercial cruise control:
http://www.carcavalcade.com/first-cruis ... rochure-3/
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StevePIraq
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Re: Cruise control hazard

Post by StevePIraq »

I think anyone would be crazy to use cruise control in Thailand with all the bad drivers who continually cut in on you. Here you need to be 100% personally in control
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Re: Cruise control hazard

Post by Terry »

StevePIraq wrote:I think anyone would be crazy to use cruise control in Thailand with all the bad drivers who continually cut in on you. Here you need to be 100% personally in control
Totally agree
My Accord has Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) and will automatically brake if you get too close to anyone in front. It works very well, but if someone cuts in front as Steve says, it will slam you through the windscreen.
I never use it.
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Re: Cruise control hazard

Post by brianks »

Its easy to see what the problem is by reading the above reply's. When driving with Cruise Control you have to always be aware of what is going on around you so you can quickly brake as you would if not using Cruise Control. I love Cruise Control but frequently disable it when driving due to an upcoming hazard. It is quickly enabled again when the hazard is over so I can now concentrate on the traffic ahead instead of glancing back and forth to the speedo to regulate my speed. Keeps my eyes focused on the traffic and not the dash panel.
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Re: Cruise control hazard

Post by dundrillin »

Personally I never use cruise control in Thailand but use it often in the UK as speed cameras seem to be everywhere and the level they have been set to has been lowered . It used to be that you would avoid being filmed if you exceeded the limit by 2mph plus 10% eg if limit was 70mph you would be OK below 80mph but not now.
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Re: Cruise control hazard

Post by hhfarang »

I always use cruise on highway trips here. I set it to the speed limit +4 which is allowable anywhere except some Arkansas highways where "no tolerance" is posted on signs and is enforced by aircraft. Cruise not only can keep you out of trouble with the law and keep you more comfortable on long trips, it also saves money by getting better gas mileage than most can do in manual control of the accelerator. I took a trip last month that was 8 hours drive each way and only took the car out of cruise a very few times.

Speaking of cruise in Thailand. I had thought that it wasn't allowed there as we bought two new well equipped Hondas there and neither had cruise control. I think here (in the U.S.) all cars have come standard with it for many years now. When I realized neither of our cars in Thailand had it I assumed it was by law/design because of the way Thais would use it.
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StevePIraq
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Re: Cruise control hazard

Post by StevePIraq »

Cruise control has been in most Thai cars for around 10 years. However we never use cruise control here, it is just to dangerous
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Re: Cruise control hazard

Post by HHTel »

I use it on long trips involving highways. I set it to the speed limit which means I don't have to keep an eye on the speedo. It's cancelled by a touch on the brake or button on the steering wheel. Once passed the hazard, pressing 'resume' puts it back at the preset speed. Love it!
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Re: Cruise control hazard

Post by Nereus »

There are plenty of roads in the North where it is safe to use it. Not all roads are like Petchkasem / Rama 2.
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