SEC1939

When distronic cruise is engaged say at 70 mph. there are a series of dots or dashes that appear and move some under the speedo pointer when the car slows or speeds up. What is this indicating exactly ? No idea what information this is trying to give the driver?

ygmn

IF the lines move to the left it is showing the speed of the car in front.

If single dash that is your set speed unless you see 2 dashes which shows speed is on a 5 mph increment Example would be 70 you get 2 dashes

if set at 72 you get single dash under 72.

I think manual covers this pretty well.

SEC1939

Thank you. I'll take a look at the manual. Not sure why I need to know the speed of the car in front? But I am sure the reason is well though out

ygmn

reason to show speed in front as that is good time to change lanes before your car starts to slow down....
and if car is really slower prevents heavy braking..

and in long run you can save your brakes since you changed lanes before car applied them to maintain gap.

SEC1939

very interesting and clever , thanks much

Arrie

My car does not use brakes to slow down unless it needs to do it quickly. Never it does if I approach slower car and let the car do its thing. My car mimics engine braking to a certain degree of slowing down and does not use brakes. With the radare speed control on it calculates from the distance when to start slowing down so it does not need to use brakes. Of course, if car in front suddenly applies brakes so does my car.

You can test for this in dark. Set your speed to like 55 mph and hit the speed setting stalk down once. The car speed is set to 45 and it slows down but you will not see the glare of brake lights on the rear window. My car does not apply brakes if I hit the stalk twice in fast motion but with the third one the brakes come on.

That was a bit derailed from the OP's original question but this has already been answered, i.e. the dots show the speed of the vehicle you are approaching and allows you to plan your lane change before the car slows down. I find this very useful. Just wish they had added some sort of indication about the moment when the car slows down as now you kind of need to guess for it.

ygmn

Mine hits the brakes as the brake light comes on....(can see reflection for CMHSL in rear glass)
Especially when in left lane a car sneaks in front closer then the allowed gap...
or doing 70mph and I come up on someone doing 60mph...car waits until last minute to slow....

yeah it is annoying and maybe needs program update to be more like 2019 cars where distronic +steer is much better...

Arrie

Mine does not hit brakes if nobody jumps in front, of course. It just starts slowing down further back when the speed difference is bigger. Mine is like overly cautious as slow down starts way behind the slower car. I would prefer it to get closer and use brakes more if needed.