Cruise Control Danger

[Sara S]

In case you do not know about this.

I wonder how many people know about this ~

A 36 year old female had an accident several weeks ago and totaled her car. A resident of Kilgore , Texas , she was traveling between Gladewater & Kilgore. It was raining, though not excessively, when her car suddenly began to hydro-plane and literally flew through the air. She was not seriously injured but very stunned at the sudden occurrence!
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 thought she was being cautious by setting the cruise control a nd maintaining a safe consistent speed in the rain.
But the highway patrolman told her that if the cruise control is on when your car begins to hydro-plane and your tires lose contact with the pavement, your car will accelerate to a higher rate of speed making you take off like an airplane. She told the patrolman that was exactly what had occurred.
The patrolman 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, along with the airbag warning. We tell our teenagers to set the cruise control and drive a safe speed - but we don't tell them to use the cruise control only when the pavement is dry.
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.


If you send this to 15 people and only one of them doesn't know about this, then it was all worth it. You might have saved a life. NOTE: Some vehicles (like the Toyota Sienna Limited XLE) will not allow you to set the cruise control when the windshield wipers are on.

[Karl Frederick]

Good practice NOT to use cruise control when the road is wet or otherwise liable to be slippery. Rest assured, though, the cruise control is not conected to your warp drive! No "literal" flying or levitation would occur. The reason not to use the cruise control on slippery roads is because a driver can generally anticipate/ avoid (or, if necessary, recover from) a skidding or hydroplaning situation more quickly if s/he is already monitoring and controlling the vehicle speed manually.


In case you do not know about this.

I wonder how many people know about this ~

A 36 year old female had an accident several weeks ago and totaled her car. A resident of Kilgore , Texas , she was traveling between Gladewater & Kilgore. It was raining, though not excessively, when her car suddenly began to hydro-plane and literally flew through the air. She was not seriously injured but very stunned at the sudden occurrence!
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 thought she was being cautious by setting the cruise control a nd maintaining a safe consistent speed in the rain.
But the highway patrolman told her that if the cruise control is on when your car begins to hydro-plane and your tires lose contact with the pavement, your car will accelerate to a higher rate of speed making you take off like an airplane. She told the patrolman that was exactly what had occurred.
The patrolman 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, along with the airbag warning. We tell our teenagers to set the cruise control and drive a safe speed - but we don't tell them to use the cruise control only when the pavement is dry.
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.


If you send this to 15 people and only one of them doesn't know about this, then it was all worth it. You might have saved a life. NOTE: Some vehicles (like the Toyota Sienna Limited XLE) will not allow you to set the cruise control when the windshield wipers are on.

[hales]

I have a 1999 Subaru Legacy/Outback, with all-wheel drive.. I have had the experience of driving through water on the freeway with the cruise control on, (about 65 miles per hour, I think), and the wheels in contact with the water rapidly accelerated, in a sort of scary way. I did not like this, even though I didn't lose control of the vehicle. I prefer not to drive in the rain with cruise control. In fact, I don't like cruise control for any situation, except long stretches of freeway, without pooled water or heavy traffic.

Scott.


Good practice NOT to use cruise control when the road is wet or otherwise liable to be slippery. Rest assured, though, the cruise control is not conected to your warp drive! No "literal" flying or levitation would occur. The reason not to use the cruise control on slippery roads is because a driver can generally anticipate/ avoid (or, if necessary, recover from) a skidding or hydroplaning situation more quickly if s/he is already monitoring and controlling the vehicle speed manually.

[Bryan]

Very good advice - as a driver for over 30 years, I think I know how to drive and try to always be safe - I am the 'grandma ' driver going no more than the speed limit. I also drive an AWD Subaru which is better in wet conditions. And should handle this situation better than most cars - I don't though plan to test it.


When I read something simple like this, and I realize, no, there is still more to know. Of course, I am always careful when using cruise control - it really is meant for the interstate highways and as such, I don't have much use in Sonoma county for cruise control. I am right now in the UK where there is alot of black ice right now - driving anywhere when the air temp is below 0 degrees is really something you should REALLY reconsider in any case. Often, waiting until 10:00 am changes the road conditions to safe.

During a huge storm a few years ago, I went at about 45 mph through over a foot of water on 101 at the Marin county line. I did the right thing - kept going and didn't hit the brakes - just tried to keep it straight. The car handled the water fine and didn't hydroplane. But definitely an experience.

Anyway, I went ahead and confirmed that this advice about cruise control is a TRUE email according to snopes.com. Thank you Sara for your advice:

https://www.snopes.com/autos/techno/wetroad.asp
(https://www.snopes.com/autos/techno/wetroad.asp)

In case you do not know about this.

I wonder how many people know about this ~

A 36 year old female had an accident several weeks ago and totaled her car. A resident of Kilgore , Texas , she was traveling between Gladewater & Kilgore. It was raining, though not excessively, when her car suddenly began to hydro-plane and literally flew through the air. She was not seriously injured but very stunned at the sudden occurrence!
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 thought she was being cautious by setting the cruise control a nd maintaining a safe consistent speed in the rain.
But the highway patrolman told her that if the cruise control is on when your car begins to hydro-plane and your tires lose contact with the pavement, your car will accelerate to a higher rate of speed making you take off like an airplane. She told the patrolman that was exactly what had occurred.
The patrolman 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, along with the airbag warning. We tell our teenagers to set the cruise control and drive a safe speed - but we don't tell them to use the cruise control only when the pavement is dry.
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.


If you send this to 15 people and only one of them doesn't know about this, then it was all worth it. You might have saved a life. NOTE: Some vehicles (like the Toyota Sienna Limited XLE) will not allow you to set the cruise control when the windshield wipers are on.

[Cavalina]

I had a similar experience in my Subaru. I was travelling on the highway (in Canada - very good roads!) and had the cruise on so I wouldn't speed. It had snowed that morning, but the roads were clear. It was late afternoon when I came to a curve where the trees had shaded the road for most of the day and there was moisture on the pavement. It was black ice and I started heading towards a semi coming the other way. Fortunately, the AWD saved the day because as soon as one wheel was able to make purchase on the road I was able to get back on track and avoid certain death (for all 4 of us). It took us all quite a while to recover from the scare! And I learned never to use cruise when there was any possibility of ice.