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Not in the UK yet, but I was reading a magazine yesterday which stated cruise control has been banned on motorways in Belgium - how is that enforced?
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I suppose that must be why it's been renamed automatic speed limiter and you have to keep your foot on the accelerator?
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How can a speed limiter which involves keeping your foot on the accelerator be a cruise control?
Surely a cruise control just automates the accelerator to ensure you maintain a (relatively) steady speed?
Is this why, perhaps, there is so much confusion in France, and maybe elsewhere, over what cruise control is supposed to do? As far as I can make out (living in France) many people seem to think that turning on cruise control means you can't exceed the set speed - the opposite of what is in fact the case.
A little while ago the papers were full of stories about Renaults that ran away with their drivers when what they called the 'regulateur de vitesse' - speed limiter - was set. They all blamed the cars but AFAIK Renault was exonerated.
For years I've been driving Hondas with cruise control which is over-ridden by the accelerator pedal and cancels the instant you touch the brake pedal - even before you press it. I've always found it very useful on suitable roads - as long one understands exactly what is going on.
Before considering motoring laws that are almost impossible to enforce, Belgium's politicians should look again at the mad 'priority from the right' system that I believe is still in force there. In my opinion it's the most dangerous country in Europe to drive in and any car with Belgian plates has to be given a wide berth anywhere else!
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As far as I can make out (living in France) many people seem to think that turning on cruise control means you can't exceed the set speed - the opposite of what is in fact the case.
Google's first hit under cruise-control is for the Howard-May after-market fitting. It states that this can be preset to any desired speed, and it then keeps the car at precisely that speed until over-ridden. It even says it follows true speed, not the often erroneous indicated speedometer speed.
It has a memory of stored speeds, and suggests that this is useful if your regular journey has a stretch of say 50 mph restriction, to ensure that you don't go over the limit.
It sounds pretty much what I would expect anything calling itself a "cruise control" to do.
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I suppose that must be why it's been renamed automatic speed limiter and you have to keep your foot on the accelerator?
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Can someone clarify things for me?
I use two Fords with cruise control fitted.
When selected the system attempts to maintain the selected speed. On downhill sections of roads it will exceed the selected speed.
I am assuming that an auto speed limiter prevents the vehicle exceeding the speed selected. If so I also assume it is linked to the braking system as engine braking on an auto down hill is minimal or does it also instigate down shift.
If fitted to a manual?
Any other details?
Which common cars have a speed limiter?
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I am assuming that an auto speed limiter prevents the vehicle exceeding the speed selected. If so I also assume it is linked to the braking system as engine braking on an auto down hill is minimal or does it also instigate down shift. If fitted to a manual? Any other details? Which common cars have a speed limiter?
My Merc (auto) works just like that, although TBH I hardly use the limiter because generally speaking most traffic moves at a little above the speed limit so doing *exactly* 30 or 40 (or 50 in motorway roadworks) you really are getting in everone's way, to the extent that they do dangerous things to get past you. I feel it's far safer to go with the flow.
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I don't believe that it's banned on all Belgium motorways, just busy ones (e.g., E40 Gent to Brussels), and possibly at roadworks. It was first introduced back in May 2004 and there are special signs to indicate the start and end of the prohibition. However, as to how it's enforced.......
I seem to remember that a couple of years back the Dutch wanted to make cruise control compulsory on all new European cars for environmental reasons: vehicles travelling at a steady speed using less fuel, therefore less emissions, etc. The Dutch and the Belgiums never can agree on anything though.
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Cruise controls are not normally connected to the brakes.If you are going downhill the car will close the throttle to attempt to hold the set speed but nothing more.
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I don't see the significance of following a 'true' rather than an indicated speed when you use what you see on the speedometer to select the cruise control setting in the first place.
Any cruise control - as far as I can see - attempts to follow the set speed until over-ridden.
I also don't see how a set of memorised speeds can work effectively. Presumably you have to select the memorised speed at the appropriate time so you might as well just set the cruise control in the normal way. Holding a speed is one thing as well, applying brakes to avoid over-running it seems much more problematic.
It seems to me more than ever that cruise control is a much misunderstood gadget - maybe experience of a system is the only way to learn to use it effectively.
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My dads '52 plate golf TDi with cruise control goes over the set speed down hill. However my Mitsubishi Carisma DID hold the speed spot on, up or down hill. I can honestly say I've never seen the speedometer reading change when using cruise control. Which I find fairly impressive (I wish the same could be said of the cars image!)
From my basic understanding of cruise control it's basically a servo (or something with an even more techincal name) that's connected to the throttle and regulated by the ECU.
However I do think cruise control can be dangerous, you can have a reluctance to turn it off and end up cruising up to the back of other cars very easily in the hope they will get out of the way. Perhaps that's just me and two other cruise control junkies I know?
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I don't believe that it's banned on all Belgium motorways, just busy ones (e.g., E40 Gent to Brussels), and possibly at roadworks.
Ah, so that's what those signs were all about.
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NeilH is correct: there are signs on the busier Belgian motorways displaying the words 'cruise control' with a diagonal line marked across.
Generally found in areas where traffic often begins to queue prior to a bottleneck intersection for example. Many stretches of Belgiums motorways are virtually straight for mile after mile, and the signs seem to alert drivers to the possibilty of meeting traffic ahead.
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I just rented a Mercedes M Class SUV in the USA and it definately applied brakes to maintain speed downhill with the cruise control engaged. It didn't try to change down at all and in fact the owners manual discouraged using engine braking as this "could cause the vehicle to skid as the ABS would be unable to function". I looked it up as I thought it was an unusual way to control the speed in an automatic.
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Cruise control is excellent for areas with specs speed cameras, although it is no alternative to keeping an eye on the speedo!.
The issue is the car just keeps on going..... I first used the system 12 years in LA, it is too easy to very suddenly get close to slowing down traffic in front, with the danger of shunts etc. If this has been happening in Belgium perhaps this would account for the instruction for it to be switched off on often congested roads. Whilst touching any pedal will switch the system off, the car still has travelled some distance greater than it would have if the driver had simply taken his right foot off the accelerator pedal on a normal car.
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Simple cruise controls hold the throttle position regardless. More sophisticated systems use something known as PID (Proportional Integral Derivative) control, which allows the car to "target" the correct speed.
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Adaptive Cruise Control is mentioned in the manual to my new Passat. Radar behind the VW Badge in the front grille monitors distance to the car in front. You set up max speed, and distance to be maintained, and the car does its best to achieve that.
It does warn, however, that the system can be fooled by cars pulling into your lane on motorways, etc, and by oncoming traffic on bends.
I gather it was developed by another German car manufacturer, probably those who were presuaded to fake a demo of their system working in fog by the news reporters.
I just have standard cruise control, and it's the first time I've had it, and I've found that it has changed my driving style.
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As I may have pointed out in another thread - I've found cruise control to be nothing more than a Murphy's Law activation switch. I can be driving along quite happily on an empty motorway for miles before I realise that it might be a good idea to switch the cruise control on. The minute I do... wham. The traffic backs up and I stop cruising. It's the motoring equivalent of saying "oh well at least it isn't raining."
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