Distronic/Adaptive cruise control
09-23-2018, 06:48 PM
#1
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Distronic/Adaptive cruise control
I have a '19 on order that goes in to production early November, so I am still able to make changes at this point. I am concerned about having the package that includes Distronic/ACC/etc on the car, as I am one of the few people that HATE adaptive cruise control. I'm not here to hash that conversation out again. I am just curious if one is able to disable the adaptive cruise and revert it to a normal cruise control by button pushes and/or tuning/programming. On my 18 Subaru Outback, I am able to revert the adaptive cruise to a normal cruise control by just holding down the "decrease distance" button for approximately 3 seconds. Any body see if this has changed on the 19's?
09-23-2018, 06:59 PM
#2
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14 GL550; 14 E63s
Here's the manual. You might find it somewhere in there.
https://www.mbusa.com/vcm/MB/Digital...tor-Manual.pdf
https://www.mbusa.com/vcm/MB/Digital...tor-Manual.pdf
09-23-2018, 07:11 PM
#4
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I have a '19 on order that goes in to production early November, so I am still able to make changes at this point. I am concerned about having the package that includes Distronic/ACC/etc on the car, as I am one of the few people that HATE adaptive cruise control. I'm not here to hash that conversation out again. I am just curious if one is able to disable the adaptive cruise and revert it to a normal cruise control by button pushes and/or tuning/programming. On my 18 Subaru Outback, I am able to revert the adaptive cruise to a normal cruise control by just holding down the "decrease distance" button for approximately 3 seconds. Any body see if this has changed on the 19's?
09-23-2018, 08:03 PM
#5
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It’s a much better cruise control than what comes with a Subaru. Just came out of a Tesla and I’d say the Distroninc on my 2018 e63s is 90% as good as autopilot my Model S.
09-23-2018, 10:27 PM
#6
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You can disable the steering assist. There is a button on the left side of the dash with a steering wheel on it, you simply press that and steering assist will stay off even after a restart until you press the button again to activate it.
09-24-2018, 07:44 AM
#7
Senior Member
My first experience with adaptive cruise control was on my ‘17 GLE63. In the past it would not be something I’d ever want equipped on my car, but since we bought this one as a pre owned I wasn’t in control of the original spec. My feelings are it’s an interesting tech. It does seem to add to work of driving as the minimum distance to follow is a little too generous, and when driving in heavy “aggressive” traffic you have to simply keep up so I end up disabling it and driving manually. Thing is, in that type of traffic I wouldn’t normally use the standard cruise control either as it would be too fast and close for my comfort so it’s kind of a wash.
A bigger annoyance in my opinion is the “active lane assist”. In our previous Mercs, the steering wheel would vibrate if you cross over lan markings without signaling. That’s passive lane assist. Active assist is it jerks your car back into what it thinks is the lane center. This is nice and dandy when you’re driving cross country and may be getting tired or distracted for some reason. The problem I ran into, last Saturday driving through downtown Minneapolis with a ton of road work, where freeway lanes are temporarily diverted without erasing old lane markers. Well the thing jerked my wheel as I’m crossing over to the new temporary lanes, almost making me collide with a vehicle in the lane next to me. That was quite jarring. It wasn’t tied to the adaptive cruise control which was off I wanna say you can disable it though.
TL
R adaptive cruise isn’t as bad and is easy to get used to. Other active safety measures can be more difficult to get used to.
A bigger annoyance in my opinion is the “active lane assist”. In our previous Mercs, the steering wheel would vibrate if you cross over lan markings without signaling. That’s passive lane assist. Active assist is it jerks your car back into what it thinks is the lane center. This is nice and dandy when you’re driving cross country and may be getting tired or distracted for some reason. The problem I ran into, last Saturday driving through downtown Minneapolis with a ton of road work, where freeway lanes are temporarily diverted without erasing old lane markers. Well the thing jerked my wheel as I’m crossing over to the new temporary lanes, almost making me collide with a vehicle in the lane next to me. That was quite jarring. It wasn’t tied to the adaptive cruise control which was off I wanna say you can disable it though.
TL
R adaptive cruise isn’t as bad and is easy to get used to. Other active safety measures can be more difficult to get used to. Trending Topics
09-24-2018, 09:40 AM
#8
Senior Member
My first experience with adaptive cruise control was on my ‘17 GLE63. In the past it would not be something I’d ever want equipped on my car, but since we bought this one as a pre owned I wasn’t in control of the original spec. My feelings are it’s an interesting tech. It does seem to add to work of driving as the minimum distance to follow is a little too generous, and when driving in heavy “aggressive” traffic you have to simply keep up so I end up disabling it and driving manually. Thing is, in that type of traffic I wouldn’t normally use the standard cruise control either as it would be too fast and close for my comfort so it’s kind of a wash.
A bigger annoyance in my opinion is the “active lane assist”. In our previous Mercs, the steering wheel would vibrate if you cross over lan markings without signaling. That’s passive lane assist. Active assist is it jerks your car back into what it thinks is the lane center. This is nice and dandy when you’re driving cross country and may be getting tired or distracted for some reason. The problem I ran into, last Saturday driving through downtown Minneapolis with a ton of road work, where freeway lanes are temporarily diverted without erasing old lane markers. Well the thing jerked my wheel as I’m crossing over to the new temporary lanes, almost making me collide with a vehicle in the lane next to me. That was quite jarring. It wasn’t tied to the adaptive cruise control which was off I wanna say you can disable it though.
TLR adaptive cruise isn’t as bad and is easy to get used to. Other active safety measures can be more difficult to get used to.
A bigger annoyance in my opinion is the “active lane assist”. In our previous Mercs, the steering wheel would vibrate if you cross over lan markings without signaling. That’s passive lane assist. Active assist is it jerks your car back into what it thinks is the lane center. This is nice and dandy when you’re driving cross country and may be getting tired or distracted for some reason. The problem I ran into, last Saturday driving through downtown Minneapolis with a ton of road work, where freeway lanes are temporarily diverted without erasing old lane markers. Well the thing jerked my wheel as I’m crossing over to the new temporary lanes, almost making me collide with a vehicle in the lane next to me. That was quite jarring. It wasn’t tied to the adaptive cruise control which was off I wanna say you can disable it though.
TL
R adaptive cruise isn’t as bad and is easy to get used to. Other active safety measures can be more difficult to get used to.The situation with heavy and aggressive traffic is that if you are running with adaptive cruise control I guess people will take you on your lane because the cruise control may take time to follow the car in front of you.
The issue with the lane keep assist is one that I've been afraid of. As the system works I doubt it will handle securely street jobs where the paints are messy. I've have even doubts if I have to steer suddenly to another lane if the keep assist will not interfere with the manouver even by a fraction of a second but enough to put one in danger of colliding.
These seem great technologies for most parts but I believe one cannot rest too comfortable and must pay attention to the driving conditions to intervene preemptive.
09-24-2018, 10:30 AM
#9
Super Member
I usually don't like it but here's what makes it different on the new cars. The speed gauge gives you more info than usual. There's a mark for your set speed, your current speed, and the speed of the car in front of you. The speed of the car in front of you is displayed long before the system intervenes so you have plenty of time to merge or anticipate the slowing down before it happens. Say you're going 60 and see a car ahead, the system will show you the car is doing 40 before it starts to adapt. My wife's Range Rover is WAY too intrusive, coming on hundreds of feet from the car. But the Range also lets you press and hold the "closer distance" button to disable the adaptive cruise all together if you want to.
The adaptive also comes in handy during heavy rain or fog with the ability to "see" cars with radar before you do.
Don't skip that package, it will make selling it harder and it comes with other options that are standard on Honda Civics.
The adaptive also comes in handy during heavy rain or fog with the ability to "see" cars with radar before you do.
Don't skip that package, it will make selling it harder and it comes with other options that are standard on Honda Civics.
Last edited by Carac; 09-24-2018 at 10:50 AM.
09-24-2018, 10:48 AM
#10
Super Member
I will say it is almost the best steering assist out there, close to Tesla's autopilot. It acquires road lines faster than autopilot. I drove my wagon over 300+ miles of interstate from the dealer and used one light finger touch most of the way. It will even change lanes for you like a Tesla. A 7 hour road trip feels like a 1 hour when the car does most of the steering and speed management.
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09-24-2018, 11:55 AM
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I agree, I think it's a great option, I drive from New England to Florida every spring and fall and it really helps out with that long drive. For 2018's MB added a lot of sensors and fine tuned the system. I have a 2015 MB S550 and the Distronic in that car does not read the road lines as well and the car tends to drift around more within the lane making it look like you had a few to many if there is law enforcement officer following you or to others on the road. A lot of it too depends on the State you are driving in and how good the road lines are marked. In a lot of places in New England the lines will break up or fade in and out or stop entirely meaning if your not keeping a careful eye on things the car could start drifting off the road, one thing I do when the roads are not so good is keep glancing at the green steering wheel light on the dash, if that suddenly turns yellow I take over because the sensors have lost a fix on the road lines. In Florida I have a lot less problems in having to intervene as the roads are generally clearly marked and maintained so the car pretty much drives itself most of the time. The two things I don't like in using the system is the fuel economy declines some as when the adaptive cruise is engaged the car will stay on 8 cylinders, although strange though when its first engaged it will drop down to 4 for a while but once the car brakes and gets back to cruising speed it will never see 4 cylinders again, So using the system on a constant highway speed takes away 10 to 15 percent gas mileage. The other issue I see is using the system beats up on the brakes a lot more than I otherwise would driving the car myself. Especially when driving in hilly curvy terrain. I notice my brakes working harder when coming back from Florida last spring driving through the mountains on I 81 through PA and West Virginia.
Last edited by 2012 merc amg; 09-24-2018 at 12:00 PM.
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09-24-2018, 12:26 PM
#12
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This matches my experience. Additionally, if I were driving the car manually in comfort mode it would also engage the coasting mode from time to time. Never does that when cruise is engaged.
Don't use it much around town, but on a highway/freeway in heavy stop and go traffic it is great. Likewise on the open highway with lighter traffic and the following distance set higher it will do a smoother job of matching speed with other cars.
Unfortunately after my windshield was replaced I think my system is now a bit cross-eyed and doesn't track the road quite as well as it used to. So I do keep my eye on the little green wheel in the HUD. Also found that resting your hand on the bottom of the wheel is sufficient to keep the grab the wheel reminders to a minimum.
Don't use it much around town, but on a highway/freeway in heavy stop and go traffic it is great. Likewise on the open highway with lighter traffic and the following distance set higher it will do a smoother job of matching speed with other cars.
Unfortunately after my windshield was replaced I think my system is now a bit cross-eyed and doesn't track the road quite as well as it used to. So I do keep my eye on the little green wheel in the HUD. Also found that resting your hand on the bottom of the wheel is sufficient to keep the grab the wheel reminders to a minimum.
09-24-2018, 01:12 PM
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Yes I forgot about that with the coasting mode, it is inactive with cruise engaged. When I manually drive the car I do take advantage of the coasting mode and have managed to milk 26 mpg highway out of the car. Any word on your car at the dealer with the check engine light issue? I'm terrified thats gonna happen with my car, scary stuff, be one thing if there was a known cure, but I guess not in a lot of cases. Hope yours is one of curable cases and something simple like changing out the injectors.
09-24-2018, 02:42 PM
#14
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The two things I don't like in using the system is the fuel economy declines some as when the adaptive cruise is engaged the car will stay on 8 cylinders, although strange though when its first engaged it will drop down to 4 for a while but once the car brakes and gets back to cruising speed it will never see 4 cylinders again, So using the system on a constant highway speed takes away 10 to 15 percent gas mileage.
09-24-2018, 02:57 PM
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Yes I forgot about that with the coasting mode, it is inactive with cruise engaged. When I manually drive the car I do take advantage of the coasting mode and have managed to milk 26 mpg highway out of the car. Any word on your car at the dealer with the check engine light issue? I'm terrified thats gonna happen with my car, scary stuff, be one thing if there was a known cure, but I guess not in a lot of cases. Hope yours is one of curable cases and something simple like changing out the injectors.
MB has been advising the dealer on the repair work, but I don't know what, if anything, has been changed at this point.
My loaner is a GLC 300, which is OK, but definitely not the same.
09-24-2018, 03:12 PM
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No way they won’t know or care to know. That kind of technical stuff is way above them. It is what is. Maybe in a future model year MB will correct these things. Heck they went to the trouble of engineering in the coast mode and the 4 cyl mode might as well use them. The main mode adaptive cruise uses is eat up the brake pad mode. Lol. Oh well nothing is perfect I guess.
