Adaptive Cruise Control

[05 GRAND DADDY]

Another ++ for the ACC, it sees in the fog!

A couple of years ago, while going east on I-40, early in the morning doing 75 mph with the ACC ON, I found myself suddenly in a fog bank and before I could tap the break to turn OFF the ACC, it detected vehicles in the fog that I could not see at all and matched their speed.

I was close to the eastern border of New Mexico, and it was the first time I'd ever seen fog in the middle of a dessert!

The only Negative thing I have found with the ACC is I get so use to it that when I go on a trip in one of my other two vehicles that have normal Cruise Controls, they don't match the speed of the vehicles in front of me.

The only improvement I'd like to see on the ACC, on any brand of vehicle, is it should be connected to the Emergency Flasher system and activate it when the ACC has to slow down so as to let others behind me know that I'm slowing down.
When I know that my car is going to slow down and there are vehicles close behind me, I hit the Emergency Flashers instead of tapping the break to turn OFF the ACC to let them know I'm reducing my speed. And of course, as we settle down to the reduced speed, I turn OFF the Emergency Flashers.
Of course this all depends on traffic and driving conditions. That's where the HUMAN FACTOR comes in!

I do believe the brake lights come on as the ACC slows the car I noticed it at night you can see it light up on the road in the mirrors!

 

[MarkSki]

I hope this is not seen a hijacking someones thread, I'm just tossing in my $.02. I'm the 'new guy' around here, owning our 2004 XLR for a week and 2 days. In this short amount of time we have clocked 1600 miles.

What I've seen so far on curvy roads the ACC will pickup the end of some guard rails and slow you down for no reason. On some tight curves it will slow you down after you're 3/4 of the way through the curve, a bit late.

It changes the amount of space between you and the car/truck ahead of you depending on your speed. The faster you go the more space it will leave.

If you are on a freeway/interstate doing 65 mph and the traffic ahead slows to 50 then they pickup speed right away, there's a lag in time before my ACC gets back with the program, allowing other cars to move in ahead of you.

At times, on the freeway/interstate, it will slow you down if you are on a left turn in the #1 (fast) lane and there's a tractor trailer in the #2 (slow) lane. Not all the time but it has done it to me while doing 75 mph at night.

I carry my speed further into a corner than a lot of other drivers and ACC will slow me down with "tight curve" popping up in the HUD so I'll override it with my foot on the gas.

All and all I like the system once I've learned how it works and how it will react. It's great on a long trip.

It would be a nice feature for the XLR-V but I would not trade an XLR-V for ACC. Horsepower is more fun!

 

[WB6BBZ]

I do believe the brake lights come on as the ACC slows the car I noticed it at night you can see it light up on the road in the mirrors!

That's interesting Dan, I'll have to pay more attention to my rear on the BG trip next month.

When my car is slowing down, all my attention is on what's happening in front of me and what I can see in the rear view mirror rather than the side mirrors where you can see the brake lights on the road at night.

Also, I haven't studied the electronic diagram of the ACC system as I ASSUMED that if the brake lights came on, they would turn OFF the ACC. (Catch 22 or which came first, the chicken or the egg?)

90% of driving my XLR is during the day light hours, a black car can not be admired to much in the dark!

 

[standby-V]

CCC

Yes it does, CCClarke might think it is hijacking but the thread was started about adaptive cruise control, as far as I'm concerned your in the ballpark. Standby

I hope this question isn't hyjacking the thread, but does the XLRV have normal cruise control?

 

[ChicagoDave]

That's interesting Dan, I'll have to pay more attention to my rear on the BG trip next month.

When my car is slowing down, all my attention is on what's happening in front of me and what I can see in the rear view mirror rather than the side mirrors where you can see the brake lights on the road at night.

Also, I haven't studied the electronic diagram of the ACC system as I ASSUMED that if the brake lights came on, they would turn OFF the ACC. (Catch 22 or which came first, the chicken or the egg?)

90% of driving my XLR is during the day light hours, a black car can not be admired to much in the dark!

Jack - I have my windrestrictor hooked up to my brakes (gets brighter when brakes applied) and the windrestrictor definitely lights up when the ACC slows down ... but my guess is that because the foot pedal is not depressed, the ACC is not deactivated (I don't think the ACC is tied to the brake lights - but rather the brake switch at the foot pedal... just guessing though).

 

[WB6BBZ]

Jack - I have my windrestrictor hooked up to my brakes (gets brighter when brakes applied) and the windrestrictor definitely lights up when the ACC slows down ... but my guess is that because the foot pedal is not depressed, the ACC is not deactivated (I don't think the ACC is tied to the brake lights - but rather the brake switch at the foot pedal... just guessing though).

That really makes sense to me Dave, thank you.

Guess I can stop worry'n about some body running into the rear of me because my stop lights didn't warn them and stop using the emergency flashers.

 

[BoughtTheXLR]

The only improvement I'd like to see on the ACC, on any brand of vehicle, is it should be connected to the Emergency Flasher system and activate it when the ACC has to slow down so as to let others behind me know that I'm slowing down.
When I know that my car is going to slow down and there are vehicles close behind me, I hit the Emergency Flashers instead of tapping the break to turn OFF the ACC to let them know I'm reducing my speed. And of course, as we settle down to the reduced speed, I turn OFF the Emergency Flashers.

FWIW, in Florida it is illegal to use your flashers when your car is in motion. The only exception is when you are part of a funeral procession.

 

[hawkeye372]

Or if you are in a real big downpour where you can't see 5 ft in front of u. Or am I wrong in this?


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[XLRATING]

I think you're only supposed to use flashers when you have a giant mattress on top of your car - otherwise people won't know it's there.

 

[hawkeye372]

I think you're only supposed to use flashers when you have a giant mattress on top of your car - otherwise people won't know it's there.

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[Tom]

No. The base/platinum XLR have adaptive cruise with no option to turn off (that I know about). XLR-V has "standard" cruise.

ACC is awesome!!! Only down side is in a heavy rain you are "cruise less".... System will not work if radar is refracted by water droplets...

 

[MarkSki]

I removed the lens that's over the ACC to see what the ACC looked like and to clean it if it needed it. It's a bigger unit than I thought it would be. The face of it was not dirty but the back side of the lens was REALLY dirty. Full of water spots and dirt. I removed the other lens and cleaned the back sides of both.

 

[BoughtTheXLR]

Or if you are in a real big downpour where you can't see 5 ft in front of u. Or am I wrong in this?

Here in Florida you would be wrong. If you cannot see enough to drive safely you are expected to pull off the road and then turn on your flashers.

To make things truly interesting, the rules are different for commercial vehicles. Here's am excerpt from Florida law requires truckers to use hazard lights in smoke and fog, but passenger vehicles should not | Ocala.com

>>>>
The Florida Drivers Handbook states that a driver should never engage emergency flashers while the vehicle is moving.
The manual states in section 5.35.1 that "if the fog or smoke becomes so thick that you cannot see well enough to keep driving, pull all the way off the pavement and stop. Turn on your emergency flashers."


On the other hand, the Florida Commercial Drivers License Handbook — which by federal law must mirror national CDL regulations — states that a driver should immediately engage emergency flashers when entering fog and smoke to give vehicles approaching from behind "a quicker opportunity to notice your vehicle."


The federal CDL handbook, which was adopted as the Florida CDL Handbook per federal law, also states that these truck drivers should never "stop along the side of the road, unless absolutely necessary."
<<<<

 

[GM MUSL]

I had a base xlr and the acc is something I really liked, but on long trips with pesky bugs the cruise would stop working until I stopped the car and cleaned the lens.

 

[mtrocket]

I think you're only supposed to use flashers when you have a giant mattress on top of your car - otherwise people won't know it's there.

On top of an XLR?????!!!!! Now that would be ludicrous.

 

[rodinoma]

ACC

I rarely use it although I love having it - reason? I am too busy keeping the car between 120/150 mph as I drive up and down the highways of Italy, Germany and Spain. At those speeds it does not really work.

 

[standby-V]

Sorry Tom

Sure you can turn ACC off and on whenever you like, just like CC on my V. I met Tony Nguyen (pronounced Win, for those who don't know) who was the tech/designer of the ACC at Bowling Green at Rendezvous II. He searched me out at the hotel because he had read my post on testing and we had a long talk about the testing I did with the unit on city streets. There's probably an old post under ACC back in 07 about my testing which might be on the old XLR site. Basically, I covered the brake with my left foot to be able to stop if the unit didn't work to well. I put the ACC on behind a car doing 55 and we came to a red light the car slowed then at 8 MPH the warning light and the warning noise maker came on and the unit disengaged. I understand newer units on other manufactures will come to a complete stop without touching the brake.

No. The base/platinum XLR have adaptive cruise with no option to turn off (that I know about). XLR-V has "standard" cruise.

ACC is awesome!!! Only down side is in a heavy rain you are "cruise less".... System will not work if radar is refracted by water droplets...

 

[05 GRAND DADDY]

Sure you can turn ACC off and on whenever you like, just like CC on my V. I met Tony Nguyen (pronounced Win, for those who don't know) who was the tech/designer of the ACC at Bowling Green at Rendezvous II. He searched me out at the hotel because he had read my post on testing and we had a long talk about the testing I did with the unit on city streets. There's probably an old post under ACC back in 07 about my testing which might be on the old XLR site. Basically, I covered the brake with my left foot to be able to stop if the unit didn't work to well. I put the ACC on behind a car doing 55 and we came to a red light the car slowed then at 8 MPH the warning light and the warning noise maker came on and the unit disengaged. I understand newer units on other manufactures will come to a complete stop without touching the brake.

You can turn on / off your ACC on the top side of the turn signal lever by pushing or pulling it to the center position if you are coming up on car and don't hit the brakes to deactivate the ACC you can positions he ACC control knob to the center and it off. if im correct it will not work then until reset to on position


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Thanks Dan Gouker

 

[Stella]

On top of an XLR?????!!!!! Now that would be ludicrous.

I think it was on tosh.o but they showed a Arabian fella driving a Ferrari with the mattress on top the car with him and a buddy holding it down driving down a city street. I believe it was in Florida. I remember telling co workers the next day. What a ass.

 

[WB6BBZ]

Sure you can turn ACC off and on whenever you like, just like CC on my V. I met Tony Nguyen (pronounced Win, for those who don't know) who was the tech/designer of the ACC at Bowling Green at Rendezvous II. He searched me out at the hotel because he had read my post on testing and we had a long talk about the testing I did with the unit on city streets. There's probably an old post under ACC back in 07 about my testing which might be on the old XLR site. Basically, I covered the brake with my left foot to be able to stop if the unit didn't work to well. I put the ACC on behind a car doing 55 and we came to a red light the car slowed then at 8 MPH the warning light and the warning noise maker came on and the unit disengaged. I understand newer units on other manufactures will come to a complete stop without touching the brake.

Hi BOBO, FWIW, my 06 Base WILL COME TO A COMPLETE STOP by it's self unless I step on the brake and believe me, that's VERY HARD to keep from doing just to show off.