Jorg

I read this story, is there something to it?

Subject: FW: Driving-NEVER KNEW THIS BEFORE

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 and 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.

Checked this info on snopes: true Here's the link:
http://www.snopes.com/autos/techno/wetroad.asp

Andr3an

got it..

iolithblue

the car should automatically drop the cruise control off if the relative speeds of the front and rear wheels are very different, so this shouldn't be a massive deal on a w204.

RLE

<<It was raining, though not excessively, when her car suddenly began to hydro-plane and literally flew through the air.>>

As a former pilot, I am dying to know how activating cruise control can turn a Lincoln Town car into an airplane. As a matter fact, Boeing might like to hear about this.

As far as not using cruise in wet weather, it sounds like a pretty good idea. But, if you read the entire Snopes narrative, the talk about losing drive traction on one wheel came from a front-drive car owner and I suppose if one wheel front speeds up due to less friction, an untoward experience may ensue.

MBTex

I think the airplane thing is a bit over the top....but it used to be common knowledge that you don't use your cruise control on wet roads. I guess some drivers need a refresher course.

Jorg

I thought it was an interesting idea and we all should not use the cruise control in adverse driving conditions.

Now comes the new idea: Active cruise control.

It keeps my car behind the car I am following, regardless of the speed the other car goes. It even comes to a full stop, but don't forget, if the car ahead of you runs a yellow or red light and you are not careful your car will follow through the light too. It takes a bit of getting use too. One thing i noticed though, that the active cruise control equipped cars your the engine break much more in reducing speed.

Jorg