Cruise Control And Wet Roads

[OZEMADE]

A tip for people with cruise control.

Don’t use it in heavy rain or on slippery surfaces.

With CC in heavy downpours, the vehicle tends to aeroplane or loose adhesion to the surface of the road.

Once the vehicle does this in CC the tyres double their rate of speed due to the loss of adhesion and when the tyres adhere to the road surface again, tend to shoot the car off the road and in some cases into oncoming traffic. Not good at 110 Kph down the motorway, or even at 60Kph.

For your own and others safety.

[hkt83100]

110 km/h in heavy rain is suicide. CC on or off, it is just irresponsible.

[anon210]

110 km/h in heavy rain is suicide. CC on or off, it is just irresponsible.

I fully concur.

Sent from my GT-N7000 using Thaivisa Connect App

[bobo42]

I've had cruise on my last couple of cars (not in Thailand), and I can say I've never experienced this. Never heard this warning before, so I usually set the cruise for wet or dry highway driving. On California freeways 110km/h can be just fine in wet weather (depending on the road and severity of weather). While I have occasionally experienced hydroplaning at such speed, I do not believe there was any difference between having cruise on or off. I certainly never experienced the wheel speed phenomenon you described.

Is there some study or article on this? I would be interested to read more about it.

Now that I think on it though, I probably turned the cruise off whenever there was a sign of traction loss (as you should, just for control of the vehicle), so perhaps I never really tested the theory.

[OZEMADE]

Cruise Control in wet weather.True or False

"A 36-year-old female was travelling between Wollongong and Sydney.

It was raining, though not excessively, when her car suddenly began to hydroplane and literally flew through the air. When she explained to the policeman what had happened, he told her something that every driver should know -- NEVER DRIVE IN THE RAIN WITH YOUR CRUISE CONTROL ON.

The policeman told her that if the cruise control is on and your car begins to hydroplane -- when your tyres lose contact with the pavement, your car will accelerate to a higher rate of speed and you take off like an airplane. She told the policeman that was exactly what had occurred. The policeman estimated her car was actually travelling through the air at 10 to 15km/h faster than the speed set on the cruise control.

The policeman said this warning should be listed, on the driver's seat sun-visor - NEVER USE THE CRUISE CONTROL WHEN THE PAVEMENT IS WET OR ICY."

So the bottom line after reading all of this article in the link, it is listed and states:-

If the roads are wet, don't use cruise control. This is a no-brainer when wet weather driving requires constant and gentle speed adjustments by carefully modulating the accelerator, not sudden brake applications.

It also gives other reasons as to why the car may speed up.

Article link below.

http://www.carpoint....-the-facts-7413

[antpet]

I think 'aeroplaning' is something that aeroplanes do and 'aquaplaning' is something that you meant to write about.

My car has cruise control plus a limited slip diff, which senses any wheel spin and reacts accordingly making your ' doubling of the speed' an impossibilty.

In the development of vehicle safety and the application of a new technology i.e. cruise control, what you describe is impossible, smacks of 'urban myth' and is negated to my knowledge by LSD. Not to mention traction control, which you wouldn't switch off in the wet anyway.

Next.

[OZEMADE]

I think 'aeroplaning' is something that aeroplanes do and 'aquaplaning' is something that you meant to write about.

My car has cruise control plus a limited slip diff, which senses any wheel spin and reacts accordingly making your ' doubling of the speed' an impossibilty.

In the development of vehicle safety and the application of a new technology i.e. cruise control, what you describe is impossible, smacks of 'urban myth' and is negated to my knowledge by LSD. Not to mention traction control, which you wouldn't switch off in the wet anyway.

Next.

Yes I did mean to type hydroplane as what was written in the article.

My new Isuzu has all of that gear you have in yours and probably even more safety controls as well, but if you read the article it states what the Police officer said is not correct, which is where I originally got the info, however it also states:- If the roads are wet, don't use cruise control. This is a no-brainer when wet weather driving requires constant and gentle speed adjustments by carefully modulating the accelerator, not sudden brake applications.

A bit more constructive criticism on the topic would be much appreciated and could possibly save some TVF members lives. We do drive here in a Tropical country with Monsoons/Wet Season.

Edited November 20, 2012 by OZEMADE

[JAS21]

Common sence should tell you that when in CC you have less immediate control of what is happening to the car, not exactly what you want when it's slippery. I can see some strong opinions coming on this thread ...

Edited November 20, 2012 by JAS21

[harrry]

In my view CC has no place in driving in Thailand.

[Spoonman]

Take off like an aeroplane, what a load of <deleted>.