What Do You Know About Cruise Control?

[REH]

Did you know with some cars when your on cruise control, when you press decelerate, let's say, 2 times the cars drop 2 miles per hour and when you press the accelerate button 2 times the car goes 2 mile an hour faster? This is with my Silverado.

However, I tried this with a Mazda MPV and it doesn't decel that way. You have to hold the decel button until you reach your desired speed. The accel button works the same as the Silverado though.

All these years of using cruise control and I just discovered this. Amazing!

[Udrivecrap]

hahaha... i noticed that on the rental cars :D

[REH]

hahaha... i noticed that on the rental cars :D

so you knew about it too? Mike said he knew about it also. I guess it's something you have to just discover on your own. The controller doesn't tell you.

[Udrivecrap]

that's cuz i like to push all the buttons while i drive... my wife yells at me whenever i do that... "stop it!.. we are gonna crash!!!"

pffffffft.... she dunno what she's talking about :D

[kombi731]

its been that way a while?
my 96 does that its 1mph per/tap for me I just hold the button down though


If I ever go GM Stage 3 the cruise buttons do nitrious/other stuff... I would cry w/o my cruise control :( and A/C

[REH]

If I hold the accelerate button in my truck, it goes full throttle. It embarrassed me a few times.

[idiosyncratic]

:burnout: not! you were embarrased :color_: because of all the attention you were getting :woot:...
.
sometimes i call cruise control my ticket saver... because i tend to drive faster than my cruise control. :grin: :crazydriver:

[spike109u]

I love my cruise control! There's this one new road I take to get back home, and almost every day I see a cop waiting to bust somebody for speeding there (The new pavement is tempting!). If it wasn't for my cruise control, I'd always be getting pulled over. It's good if you're lazy too. :gapteeth:

[REH]

You know what . . . I use my cruise control all the time . . . even in the 25mph zones. What really bugs me is, when I'm on cruise control mode, I'm at a constant speed, so when the road goes uphill and down, the other cars around me accelerate and decelerate. People look at me as if i'm ####'g with them. That's why there should be a device in your rear window that comes on when you are on cruise control, reading "cruise ON".

[Udrivecrap]

when they give you stink eye.. just give middle finger :D

[REH]

I tried a few more cars with cruise control. Some work better (as in: natural driving) then others. Is this leading into train driving where cars are locked together in one lane? Wouldn't that be great?

[MasterFunk]

I tried a few more cars with cruise control. Some work better (as in: natural driving) then others. Is this leading into train driving where cars are locked together in one lane? Wouldn't that be great?


nah, its going more nuts than that:
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080106/D8U0MAJO0.html
GM is researching driverless cars... :ohnoes:

[ArchangelX]

The new Mercedes S class drives and brakes on it's own. :wtf:

[MasterFunk]

The new Mercedes S class drives and brakes on it's own. :wtf:

Yeah but thats a Mercedes....

could you imagine a huge piece of GM engineering coming at you going 65mph with no driver? :ohnoes:

[REH]

From what I heard in Japan is that Toyota's going to make their cars non servicable to any other than Toyota. Then I fished around here with that theory and I was reminded that Americans ain't going to go for that. Americans demand a choice. I just bought a OBDII engine anylizer and come to find out, fed regs require cars that all sold in the US (since '96) are mandated a unified recepticle to take the OBDII and alike. Goes to show you the power of the free nation.

"Freedom rules!"

[MasterFunk]

I'm free to keep my 1974 car and drive it forever, as long as I live. They better never outlaw it, or I shall lead an armed revolt. No ABS, no traction control, no power steering, no emissions devices at all, no cruise control, no air bags, no a/c, no over-drive, and so on and so on..... :)

[REH]

Okay, I hear ya. You wanna old school engine anylizer? The thing is a tank, but worikng like a champ.

[Act162this]

The new Mercedes S class drives and brakes on it's own. :wtf:

cool!

our Sienna came with laser-equipped cruise control, so it knows if there is a car in front of you, and automatically applies the brakes or throttle to maintain a safe following distance (with the cruise control on).

if a car pulls out in front of you unexpectedly, the laser rangefinder detects this and automatically applies enough brake to get you back to a safe following distance.

caveat: this is by no means a substitute or surrogate for heads-up driving, but it is kinda nice to set the cruise control for the speed limit and not have to worry about tickets. when the laser detector goes off now, i don't even look at the speedo b/c i know what it is...

[Act162this]

I just bought a OBDII engine anylizer and come to find out, fed regs require cars that all sold in the US (since '96) are mandated a unified recepticle to take the OBDII and alike. Goes to show you the power of the free nation.

"Freedom rules!"

yep - it's kinda nice. OBDII and CAN-equipped vehicles, i believe, have that standard plug. also... the plug is supposed to be placed in a certain location, no more than a specified distance from the steering wheel (i think it's like 12" or something? dunno - don't have my manual near me).

makes it easy to find the plug and run diagnostics on all of our cars before they go in for service, so i can see if it's something i can do myself.

[Udrivecrap]

i like my scan tool... you just need to know why the codes are coming out. so, you don't go changing all kine parts you don't have to. just because your scan tool gave a reference to a sensor or circuit being out of its parameters or range doesn't necessarliy mean that particular sensor or circuit is faulty.


CAN was first developed by Robert Bosch GmbH, Germany in 1986 when they were requested to develop a communication system between three ECUs (electronic control units) in vehicles by Mercedes. They found that an UART is no longer suitable in this situation because it is used in point-to-point communication. The need for a multi-master communication system became imperative. The first CAN silicon was then fabricated in 1987 by Intel


once understood, OBDII systems are quite easy to diagnose. that's what i've been told... i think its getting easier for me. i haven't bought a part i didn't need in a long time.. LOL! :D

[ikeyballz]

huh car that drives itself gotta be more comforting than that lady in the other lane applying makeup.

:P

im with ma[i]ster funk there.. old school cars ftw. whats gonna happen when the russians-edit- chinese bomb us with a EMP! death to all fuel injection systems! lol

[Udrivecrap]

hahahaha yeah, i still got one car that is mechanical everything. only the MSD and the Pioneer deck is digital

[idiosyncratic]

cruise control?
.
izzat mrs cruise on birth control? :gapteeth:

[Rob]

Okay, I hear ya. You wanna old school engine anylizer? The thing is a tank, but worikng like a champ.


That analyzer is almost as big as his 2002!

[mrbkkt1]

cruise control is for panties... that's why evo's don't come w/ them.....
although now that i mainly commute w/ the evo, cruise control isn't a bad idea.

[Rob]

Turbo cacs and CC not a good idea... I watch the boost gauge climb as I travel up H2 with the GN... as the CC tries to match road speed with desired speed the gauge is all over the place...

[MasterFunk]

Okay, I hear ya. You wanna old school engine anylizer? The thing is a tank, but worikng like a champ.

Is that like a three gas exhaust analyzer it always says to use in my repair manuals? :fingersx:
I'd love to give it a try to see if the webers would work better.... but..... i'm living in Ohio now.... so yeah, shipping would prolly be expensive. :cripple:

[REH]

That analyzer is almost as big as his 2002!

Rob, I'm serious, you want it? It's great for old American cars where you have to check the tach&dwell. It even comes with a manual. Please pick it up . . . please?!

[REH]

cool!

our Sienna came with laser-equipped cruise control, so it knows if there is a car in front of you, and automatically applies the brakes or throttle to maintain a safe following distance (with the cruise control on).

if a car pulls out in front of you unexpectedly, the laser rangefinder detects this and automatically applies enough brake to get you back to a safe following distance.

caveat: this is by no means a substitute or surrogate for heads-up driving, but it is kinda nice to set the cruise control for the speed limit and not have to worry about tickets. when the laser detector goes off now, i don't even look at the speedo b/c i know what it is...

See . . . the technology is already on the market for traveling in a train.

[Udrivecrap]

Rob, I'm serious, you want it? It's great for old American cars where you have to check the tach&dwell. It even comes with a manual. Please pick it up . . . please?!
hahaha Tom... you still got that thing eh? :D

now i know of two people who want to get rid of those machines ... i think its cool.

can i test the fuel mixture with that thing? is there a probe?

[Act162this]

See . . . the technology is already on the market for traveling in a train.

yep - halfway to realizing the MB land train concept. i think they use lasers to set distances between vehicles, and they have sensors that read embedded strips or markers in the lanes to keep the cars centered in their lanes.

i think i saw a video where they had drivers in the MBs actually reading the paper as the cars played follow the leader down a test track.

[Udrivecrap]

when i was just a kid traveling from California to Hawaii by myself.. this one time, i sat next to this crazy old dude reading a book who told me in 20 years we will have chips in our bodies under our skin and cars will be magnetic with metal strips in the center of our roads. we won't have to drive anymore, just ride. :weirdo:

[REH]

The day will come when we have the land train.

Is it just me, but lately I've noticed some really bad driving. Every time I go to town, I see near misses and one time this guy runs a red light and plows right into this truck in front of me. I dunno, it seems like the bad drivers are from the mainland. What's a rarerity now-a-days is a local waving thank you when you let them in. Off topic, but I feel the roadways are getting more dangerous.

[Act162this]

yep - noticed fewer and fewer drivers give the "thank you" wave or shaka. not just the mainland drivers who may not know about it, but locals, younger drivers, etc... i guess if their parents don't wave "thank you", then they won't know about it or don't think it's necessary.

those that display the aloha spirit are a dying breed, as fewer and fewer drivers pass on the spirit/tradition... until the aloha wave is just a memory.

used to bother me when people didn't wave when i let them in, but now i don't even expect it - more like i'm surprised if somebody does the "thank you" wave.

[Udrivecrap]

do you notice people honk more nowdays? must not be the locals... i remember we never used the horn when i was growing up. i used to push the horn button to see if it still worked and to see what it sounded like.

[REH]

yep - noticed fewer and fewer drivers give the "thank you" wave or shaka. not just the mainland drivers who may not know about it, but locals, younger drivers, etc... i guess if their parents don't wave "thank you", then they won't know about it or don't think it's necessary.

those that display the aloha spirit are a dying breed, as fewer and fewer drivers pass on the spirit/tradition... until the aloha wave is just a memory.

used to bother me when people didn't wave when i let them in, but now i don't even expect it - more like i'm surprised if somebody does the "thank you" wave.

I'm glad to hear that it's not just me then.

[Act162this]

The day will come when we have the land train.

Is it just me, but lately I've noticed some really bad driving. Every time I go to town, I see near misses and one time this guy runs a red light and plows right into this truck in front of me. Off topic, but I feel the roadways are getting more dangerous.

i'd have to agree with you on this one - bad driving is on the rise. i don't know if it's "just" carelessness, or if people are driving like they just don't care. lately when i've been cut off, it doesn't matter if i hit the horn or not, they cut in, make me change lanes or hit the brakes anyway...

they don't even look to see who's honking or if they're in danger, they just cut in and go on their merry way. i figure if they're not surprised, they *meant* to do that, and just counted on me yielding. or give you the stink eye *after* they nearly run you off the road, like it's my fault they had to run me off the road.

i figure if the horns on the van aren't loud enough, and they can't see a freaking minivan next to them, then maybe i need to put some air horns on the van... that should get their attention. :pirate1: harr!

[Act162this]

do you notice people honk more nowdays? must not be the locals... i remember we never used the horn when i was growing up. i used to push the horn button to see if it still worked and to see what it sounded like.

actually, i think honking is more related to bad driving than honking for honking's sake. on some of my older cars, i don't even know what the horn sounded like - never had to use it except for safety checks... but that was a while ago.

seems like i've used the horn on my wife's minivan more in the past year than on all my other cars combined. and i'm not talking like frivolous use, i mean using the horn to avoid an imminent collision due to unsafe lane changes, red light running, you name it.

sometimes even the horn isn't enough, i honk and they still try to merge into the side of me, cut me off anyway, and then look all offended. sometimes i wish i still had the all-steel chevelle so i could just drive right through them. (no road rage here).

i think i need a louder horn - if i could figure out how to take the front grill off (stupid plastic fasteners) i'd be putting dual air horns on it. the safety check guy is going to get a bit of a surprise if he's standing in front of the van and tells me to beep the horn...

[Udrivecrap]

we had a van with the horn that went "arrruuuuuuuuuugah"

[REH]

I hate it when someone's tailgating you to let you know you're either going to slow or get out of my way. And then they aggressively pass you only to go slow in front of you, wtf? That really bugs me. Usually I have a high tolerence for bad drivers. I figure they're just ignorant.

And that is why I want to get a little sign in the back window that says "CRUISE ON", meaning I'm on cruise control. Which means I'm at a constant speed and YOU"RE the one that's speeding up and slowing down like an idiot.

Reminds me. . .one day I was on the freeway "on cruise control" and this lady thought I was f@#&*ing with her because I would pass her going uphill and she'll pass me going downhill. She finally waved her middle finger at me, and was like "you stupid, dumb, ignorant, you know what. I should produce and market that cruise control sign. When they see that, they'll be like, duuhh?!

[Udrivecrap]

people would think you are on a car cruise :beatup:

nah, its a good idea... you would need to bring that up with the manufacturers for the best results :D

[Act162this]

we had a van with the horn that went "arrruuuuuuuuuugah"

heh... cool!

i was thinking more along the lines of the air horns that sound like a semi. i know people are putting train air horns on their vehicles, but that's too much for me... that's kinda over the top. i like having interior space and my hearing intact.

they have compact air horns that mount underhood, they're about 118 db, so louder than stock but not ridiculously loud like the train horns. i figure that should get the attention of IUDs (Inattentive, Underinvolved Drivers).

[Act162this]

people would think you are on a car cruise :beatup:

nah, its a good idea... you would need to bring that up with the manufacturers for the best results :D

how about getting one of those license plate frames or rear window LED bars that you can program to say whatever you want?

when you're on cruise control, you can flip a switch and light the thing up so "cruise control on" or something scrolls across it?

[Udrivecrap]

haha!.. yeah, those air horns are too loud. a friend of mine had those and disconnected one of the horns because it was too loud. never seen the compact air horn... i'll look for those at my local auto parts store... or wal-mart :beatup:

i dunno about the license plate thing. that is just to personal. in order for that to work it must be an industry standard. most people might not know what the hell it means when they read "cruise on" or "cruise control on" when they don't even know cars have that signal feature.

i think :D

[xurusaibobx]

i want a horn that says "thank you for cutting me off"

lol i only honk wen some one does that to me...

man the technology in cars now is crazy!

some systems will record crap you wish it didnt like TOP SPEED and like rev limiter...

[Udrivecrap]

hahaha... busted!

[MasterFunk]

All I need is to make a bumper sticker that says "How's my driving? Please call........." and put my cell phone number on it.

Then when somebody calls, they see me answer the phone, and I say "What you want you dumb fak?!? You cut me off first you son uva b|tch!" and so on, and so on.... :pirate1:

[MasterFunk]

some systems will record crap you wish it didnt like TOP SPEED and like rev limiter...

maybe it was mentioned here, but I saw a story on the new Skyline GT-R and its speed limiter....
The car's top speed is normally limited to like 119mph, unless the GPS system detects that you are on a recognized racetrack in Japan, and then it unlocks the speed limiter. They haven't programmed in the tracks in North America yet...

:really:

[Act162this]

haha!.. yeah, those air horns are too loud. a friend of mine had those and disconnected one of the horns because it was too loud. never seen the compact air horn... i'll look for those at my local auto parts store... or wal-mart :beatup:


the train air horns, or the car air horns? i think they're all around 115-118 db or so. the compact one is about there, too. takes only one bolt to mount, uses existing horn wiring, people say it's easy to mount. found one at checker's online.

you can hear the sound clips at the mrf (wolo) website, but the only thing is that the air horns are higher-pitched, kinda like the fiamms (think ferrari horn). i was hoping for a lower, bigger sound that would make people take notice. the replacement extra loud horns look like the oem horns, and mount similarly as well, and have a lower sound. i might check those out instead, since both the Sienna and T4R have dual horns anyway (one high, one low).

[Udrivecrap]

the car air horn kine... ooooh good to know Checker's has those horns. i must check this out to see if it will fit my style and application :gapteeth:

[Act162this]

they're pretty universal mounting, the only difference is some have an external compressor and some are one-piece units. also, the length of the trumpet horns varies somewhat, but they're all similarly loud.

also... if the local checkers doesn't have it, you can go to partsamerica.com and order it there, and pick it up at your nearest checkers to save shipping (assuming they have it in stock).

[Rob]

My new Harley has Cruise Control....

[Nick]

yep - halfway to realizing the MB land train concept. i think they use lasers to set distances between vehicles, and they have sensors that read embedded strips or markers in the lanes to keep the cars centered in their lanes.

i think i saw a video where they had drivers in the MBs actually reading the paper as the cars played follow the leader down a test track.

Adaptive cruise control has been around for some years now. As for the land train concept, some warehouses use that method for the forklifts. I have seen it in use at the American Honda Motors parts depot in Portland. It's a pretty good idea, but then again it takes away the fun of driving and yelling at stupid drivers.

[Nick]

yep - it's kinda nice. OBDII and CAN-equipped vehicles, i believe, have that standard plug. also... the plug is supposed to be placed in a certain location, no more than a specified distance from the steering wheel (i think it's like 12" or something? dunno - don't have my manual near me).

makes it easy to find the plug and run diagnostics on all of our cars before they go in for service, so i can see if it's something i can do myself.

Most cars CAN diagnostics is done through the 16 pin OBDII DLC. Location of the DLC will vary, but must be accessible from the driver's seat with one hand. Why some cars have it on the passenger side of the vehicle, I have yet no clue.

[NasTee]

I love my cruise control! There's this one new road I take to get back home, and almost every day I see a cop waiting to bust somebody for speeding there (The new pavement is tempting!). If it wasn't for my cruise control, I'd always be getting pulled over. It's good if you're lazy too. :gapteeth:

You better pray your speedometer is calibrated correctly.. lol!