Is it true ,that using"cruise control" in wet and slippery conditions will cause control loss of your car?

Question

Is it true ,that using"cruise control" in wet and slippery conditions will cause control loss of your car?

Answer 1

I say it can happen.  You need to be a little more firm when conditions are wet.  

Answer 2

I heavily disagree with Kasey C. Cruise control works on speed, NOT engine rpm. CC has the ability to downshift an automatic trans if the set speed cannot be achieved.

Using CC can cause loss of control. The decision to use or not to use should depend on the conditions of the road and traffic. If you were to set your cruise at 30 on a snowy road, your vehicle could easily 'overreact' to a change in speed and spin the drive wheels with possible result of loss of control. A friend of mine was driving her truck in the snow, had set her cruise, and in the ditch she went. The truck applied the throttle during an uphill transition so the trans downshifted and broke the rear tires loose and before she could get it to cancel it was over.

I have a truck that has an aggressive cruise control ('01 Cummins) and it not being stock only made it even more aggressive. It has an easy time breaking the rear end loose in the rain when empty, I don't dare set the cruise when wet unless on flat ground. In the hills I turn it off unless the ground is dry.

Answer 3

No, the cruise control will not CAUSE you to lose control but if you lose traction, it will make it practically impossible to regain control in time.

Answer 4

Read material from auto manufacturers, from driving schools, from insurance companies, and from police departments, and they all say pretty much the same thing.

Cruise control tries to maintain your car speed under all conditions, and the little computer has no way of knowing you have just hit ice, oil on the road, or rain-slicked surface with variable depths of water.

It is meant to be used under good driving conditions.

http://www.mpi.mb.ca/english/dr_tips/Cru...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruise_Cont...

http://www.snopes.com/autos/techno/wetro...

Answer 5

The answer to that is FALSE.

The reason for that is simple: cruise control basically is like an automatic "pusher" for the throttle. Some may have an uphill/downhill sensor to add / subtract a little throttle to stay at the specified RPM, but it's really an RPM set, not a "speed" set. So your car will just do whatever it WILL do... normally... as if you were on the throttle. It won't do any more or any less.

With that being said, if you drive through a puddle with only one side of the car on cruise control, and you weren't watching for it, the sudden "jerk" of the steering wheel (toward the side with more water, as it has more friction there) would surprise someone, but no more than and no less than a car without cruise control, just someone with foot on throttle.

So technically, it's not the cruise control that caused the loss of control, but the lack of attention by the driver.  

(Kinda reminds me that Simpson's episode where Bart and friends forged a license and went to world's fair... "Who's driving?" "Cruise control, man!" "ARGHHHH!!!!!!" [Car goes through corn field])

EDIT: Cansomike don't seem to understand how cruise control works. Cruise control checks RPM in the driveshaft (or whatever the engine computer says to check that is proportional to speed), and if going uphill, car slows, CC adds throttle until RPM goes back to set range. When wheels slip, RPM goes FASTER, so CC will DECREASE the throttle, not increase it to infinite as he seems to think.

People say you should not use CC in the rain because people's first panic reaction is to hit the brake pedal. When you get off the gas and hit the brakes, that sudden weight transfer COMBINED with uneven traction of the car makes the car lose control. NOT CC itself.

Boogie: it's the DRIVESHAFT RPM, not Engine RPM. DriveShaft RPM is roughly equivalent to overall speed, depending on the gear. Nowadays, CC are smart enough to do a "kickdown" if RPM goes too low. It doesn't prove anything one way or the other.

EVERYONE: I'm NOT ADVOCATING use of cruise control in wet conditions. Read my statement carefully. Cruise control does NOT cause loss of control of the vehicle. The DRIVER does, and s/he is ultimately responsible for the vehicle's conduct, period. I just don't like blanket statements.

Answer 6

no it wont cause you to lose control but the chances of you losing control are increased

Answer 7

Kasey C is wrong in every sense of the word.

The cruise will try to keep the wheel speed at a constant. If you are going uphill and your cruise tries to put more power to your wheels to keep the speed up and you are on ice or snow or are in a channel of water on the roadway that wheel could spin enough to cause loss of control.

What is the first thing you do when you feel your wheels start to slip or spin? You let up on the gas pedal!

Read your owners manual and you will probably find that cruise control is NOT recommended in stormy or slippery conditions.

Answer 8

why use it during a storm anyways ? when the driving conditions require you to be more alert ? i have never hard of anyone having that problem but i am sure it has happend

Answer 9

Yes...