tombon

I was disturbed to read this recently in the drivers’ manual:

“Do not use cruise control in the following situations: In traffic situations which require frequent changes of speed, e.g. in heavy traffic…”

I do this often. It is a great feature in heavy traffic.

Does anyone find such usage to be a problem?

W205C43PFL

To be fair, DISTRONIC (if you have that) is meant to be used in stop and go traffic and highway cruising, not sure but I think the manual is to state vehicles without DISTRONIC and that you have to manually adjust the speed (in that case, it is safer and better to just drive manually).

superswiss

Yes, regular cruise control should never be used in traffic. It barrels forward with whatever speed you've set and unless you react quickly to step on the brakes it will do everything to try to maintain the set speed. It's somewhat akin to a stuck accelerator pedal essentially. You want a car with DISTRONIC for more comfortable driving in traffic. It will automatically slow down and come to a stop if the traffic ahead slows down or stops.

tombon

Yes. I think you are correct. These cautionary words are under the heading of “Speed Control Cruise Control”. Later there is a heading of “Active Distance Assist DISTRONIC” and there is no such warnings contained therein.

This is good news because I love this feature.

Thanks.

Egonvdv

always use cruise everywhere., but in a way that the cruise stick becomes my gas pedal
and with distronic it's even easier

JTK44

I agree 100%: I too have Distronic and I always use it in stop and go. It it far less tiring than applying the accelerator and then the brake and so forth!

W205C43PFL

Glad you are enjoying yours! My car doesn't have DISTRONIC but that was because I test driven MBs with it and never got used to the feeling of having the car control anything (maybe other than controlling wheel spin with traction control but that's it xD)
It might take a while for me to get used to autonomous vehicles later on in the decade.

Elvisfan0108

I was surprised that people with adaptive CC on other cars have never thought of using it in stop and go traffic. The only disadvantage is that I don’t creep every time the car in front of me moves. Whereas the distronic does.

Helmar

I’ve had active cruise control on every car I’ve owned since my 2008 Lexus 600hL: Audi, BMW, and now Mercedes. Also my wife’s 2015 Subaru.

They’ve all been excellent, but have all exhibited the same shortcoming.

When approaching a car turning left or right, my car always waits far too long before realizing that the turning car is gone and resuming speed.

This often results in my car still paused while the way ahead has actually cleared.

Now, in this situation, I generally assume control until I’m past the obstruction.

My E450 resumes more quickly than the others did. Perhaps it’s because it’s the most recent.

HBH

W205C43PFL

Yup, you can give it a tap on the gas pedal and let go and it will start moving again (at least applies for MB not sure about other cars), it will say DISTRONIC suspended and then when you release it, it will resume while as if you press the brake it will say Cancelled and you need to turn it on again.

I notice when you are on highway speed and suddenly it becomes stop and go traffic, it resumes the quickest when it stops but if you are already in stop and go traffic then engage DISTRONIC it will hesitate for a while after the vehicle in front is moving even though the distance is set to the bare minimum (that is just my experience though).

Helmar

Interestingly, they’ve used 3 different technologies . The Lexus, laser, the Subaru, optical, the rest radar.