that's a bit of a worry Chris. remember reading of something similar in a motoring mag years ago, when the same happened to a guy towing a caravan. ? what do our forum techies make of this ? JohnW

the cruise control actually had nothing to do with this accident it would have happened whether it was on or not a cruise control is not controlled by actual ground speed and therefore cannot be affected by any outside influences such as water or ice on road, it has no idea of the actual speed you are travelling the cruise control computer has a sensor (one of many) on the main gearbox/transmission shaft and a pickup/reader sensor on a static position of the gearbox, all it does is to count any given number of rotations of that sensor on that shaft and translates that to a rotational speed (kph) which is desirable to the driver, it may read something like 3,000 shaft rpm equates to 100 kph, the computer doesnt know that it is doing 100 kph it just knows that is where you want the shaft speed to rotate at and adjusts engine speed accordingly if you jack up the driving wheels, whack the vehicle in gear and set the cruise to 50 kph it will run the driving wheels up to the equivelent shaft rotational speed, but you are actually going nowhere the same with the aquaplaning, tyres "float" above the water which is above the road, cruise will maintain the "rotational speed" of the shaft but what the vehicle does is exactly the same as it would if you had full control of it in the first place after loss of friction (aquaplaning, mud or ice) it will gain speed, lower friction = faster pace, the only laws that effect the vehicle now are newtons and gravity, nothing you or the cruise control can do about it, the main trans shaft will continue to rotate at the same rpm regardless or vehicle speed I remember reading somewhere a long time ago of an american who bought a new winnie and took off on to the highway, got out of town and set the cruise control whereupon he got out of his seat and went out the back to make a coffee thinking the cruise control had "full control" of his vehicle, he was dismayed to find that his vehicle "crashed"

I heard that story also, ------and he won the court case on the ground the salesman told him that the vehicle could drive itself, who said something about commonsense

that's the one Mike

thanks Dave now i can relax. JohnW

I don't have it in my Cruiser, ironic as that may seem. I certainly wouldn't tow anything heavy with cruise control activated. To me, it's similar to the number 5 gear, or the over-drive equivalent. The guy with the out of "control" Winnie must have put his hands on the wheel, his feet on the pedals, and his brain in neutral. Stay safe and exercise common sense. Chris

I use cruise control all the time when on the open highway, wet or dry, I tow the camper trailer with cruise on, the magna has plenty of brute force and the trailer is only about 600 kgms, doesnt even know it's back there when in hilly country or windy terrain or heavy traffic then I leave it off, but driving long distances my bones "cramp up" so I whack the cruise on just to move my legs around, just a touch on the brakes or a flick of the switch and I have total control back in my hands it's a great thing and I wouldnt be without it now but as in all things common sense must prevail!!

mike and Judy wrote:

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I heard that story also, ------and he won the court case on the ground the salesman told him that the vehicle could drive itself,
who said something about commonsense

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Yes but that was the American Legal Sysytem....

 

Going away Easter.......I used the cruise control most of the time.....the Paj kept creaping up in speed...the cruise control....fixed that.....and even worked on the steep hill that was just before the Mt Barker turnoff on the way to Adelaide on the Highway...I too wouldnt use it in wet and windy conditions It has Active Stability Control Active Stability Control gives a quick response in an emergency situation because of high pressure from the Hydraulic Brake Booster, and is optimised for all driving situations and each transfer position 2H, 4H and 4HLc. It doesnot operate in 4LLc for maximum traction. ASC operates by increasing or decreasing the brake force on diagonally opposite wheels, depending on whether the car is understeering or oversteering, to bring it back in line Also has MATT The MATT system consists of - Stability Control (ASC) Active Traction Control (ATC) Engine Brake Assist Control (EBAC) Super Select II Multi-Mode Anti-lock Braking System (ABS) Electronic Brakeforce Distribution (EBD) Hill Hold Assist (Auto only) Mitsubishi Body Optimised Suspension (MBOS). ACTIVE TRACTION CONTROL (ATC) WITH ENGINE BRAKE ASSIST CONTROL (EBAC) Maintain traction on the most slippery or rugged of surfaces with Active Traction Control. This intelligent system automatically controls the engine output so driving wheels are prevented from spinning. Sensing loss of traction in an independent wheel, it applies braking force to that wheel and sends extra power and torque to other wheels with traction to keep you moving. Youll have superior control when stepping down steep descents with the incorporation of Engine Brake Assist Control (EBAC), because you wont be losing engine braking and traction due to slipping wheels. This system works automatically when descending steep slopes in 4LLc mode. lot of things.....I hope none go wrong... LOL Dave

My Patrol 1990, has all the above, plus more, plus the bast computor that man has devised ------------------------------ME\ Give it any job and it will do it, gaurenteed, no fuss, striaght away, no hesitation, The best car in the world is useless unless the driver knows his own limitations and the car And one of the biggest factors is the tread on the tyre

yep all this stuff is great ( I hate looking under the bonnett of the magna) until it goes wrong, we see it all the time a computer/sensor failure in any of these prementioned goody baskets = big $$$$$ and what is more most of these things are not used and are not necesary I love our toyota because of it's simplicity, if it has spark and fuel then she will go, either one can be tracked down and repaired on the road, a modern vehicle can have all the above but have a failure in a sensor and you are not going anywhere aqua planing is rare these days because of tread design, gone are the days of "closed" pattern tread wherein the water was able to build up inside the tread and then lift the tyre off the ground having a modern open tread pattern where the water is "pumped" out quickly has aleviated most aquaplaning and it is now a very rare occurance the best tread for dry weather and hard surface is of course a bald tyre or "slick" (maximum ammount of rubber connected with the road) the only reason that a tyre has tread at all is for wet weather, mud, gravel and grip on "rough", loose surfaces