Speed limits are set based on safe driving conditions for that stretch of road. I don’t care if it’s out in the boondocks they set that limit because there are hazards present.
MOST 25 mph sections exist in urban or suburban areas where houses are densely packed, children are playing, cars parked along side of road etc.
Car makers don’t design systems for the one individual’s desire to creep along taking pictures of birds. The car is designed for the typical use and that is not cruising deserted gravel roads in the backcountry.
This argument about the computer and control hardware not being able to maintain speeds below 25 is difficult for me to believe. I can manually adjust the throttle for any speed so the hardware could do it if they chose to allow it.
Twin Tubo: there is no posted speed limit on most roads I use for birding and, I think that means that it’s 45mph on gravel and 55 on pavement in this state. This has nothing to do with speed limits and, in any case, I’m proposing to drive at far UNDER the speed limit in places where there is little traffic and often no houses or other buildings at all - for miles. Just because it might be unsafe in some circumstances, doesn’t justify giving it the axe; speeding is unsafe, but we build cars that can do it casually and give everybody the opportunity to do so.
meaneyecatz: one can end up in a ditch for a lot of reasons, like due to speeding, in all cases it’s the driver’s responsibility to avoid it - mine is no different.
I don’t know if anyone outside the guys that made the decision knows for certain WHY cruise control levels even have lower limits, but it doesn’t matter. It is what it is. And unless you can find a protocoll to reprogram that criterion, you’re stuck with it. Sorry.
TT, the argument that speed limits are based on safe driving conditions breaks down when you travel to different states. A town road with a 35mph speed limit in Texas can have a 20mph speed limit in Nebraska, and it’s not because Nebraskans can’t drive safely.
Speed limits, especially on municipal roads, are often set for revenue generation.
NJ Frank- it has everything to do with speed limits. We’ve gradually veered from the reason for cruise control limits to why you can’t do this for your hobby. The reason you can’t do it for your hobby is that the cruise control is designed not to engage below certain speed limits for normal driving.
Just because it might be unsafe in some circumstances, doesn’t justify giving it the axe
Oh yes it does! You have ONE scenario against millions of others where it IS a safety issue. Your preferred usage profile is significantly in the minority. I’ll give you an analogy- I prefer to not have my lawn mower shut off the blade if I get off of it. Should they not have a safety provision on all lawn mowers because I don’t think it’s necessary?
I have yet to experience a cruise control that worked below 35. This is total news to me in 35 years. Wait maybe my 1970 suburban went down to 30. That was a long time ago.
@Fodaddy “Under what circumstances would it be practical to have your cruise control set at 10-25 MPH? I can’t think of a single one.”
If you are road hunting pheasants on back gravel roads in Minnesota or South Dakota, it would be nice. But like someone commented, the reality is it just ain’t gonna happen.
And earlier contribution said that the reaction time from your foot on the floorboard to the brake pedal as opposed to from the accelerator to the brake pedal would be quicker. We are now assuming that people are incapable of using common sense and hovering their foot over the brake pedal while cruise control is set. I imagine it would be much safer in a school zone to have your foot hovering over the brake pedal and scanning the area for children that may be a hazard then to be consistently looking at your speedometer to make sure that you are not breaking 20 miles an hour. How often should you lose sight of a hazard in the road if you are consistently looking at your speedometer? If you cannot look down to text, why is it any safer to have to maintain a speed limit while scanning an area for obstructions and Hazards?
So, because you can’t find a use for it, it shouldn’t be available to the public? If people that were hunting pheasants on the road in The Dakotas couldn’t find a use for an elevator, Would we not allow them to be available to other people?
Are you saying that you cannot reasonably judge your speed without constant reinforcement from looking at a speedometer? When hazards are present, it is far more important to go slow enough to manage the conditions than to focus on keeping the speed constant at the speed limit. If you can’t do that, the answer is simple. Slow down.
Wow, 6 years ago and I still agree with what I said. It’s a good thing Car Talk has crashed several times over the past 20 years so stuff can’t be dragged up from 1990.
I do it to obey the speed limit in towns like Mora, NM, and before you condemn this practice of using cc in towns, understand that I’m usually not in stop and go traffic when I drive through this village, I usually AM the traffic.
Many years ago when it was somewhat popular I used to install a lot of aftermarket cruise controls.
The last procedure was taking the car out for a test drive and adjusting a couple of pots in the module.
One of them controlled the speed variation (or centering it was called) and the other was setting the minimum speed for engagement.
This was usually set at 25 MPH per the instructions. They did not want someone to use cruise control while motoring around in low speed traffic.
All of my cars have a 25 MPH minimum for cruise operation and it’s assumed this was done for the same reason as the early aftermarkets.
Back in the mid '80s I installed cruise control in my '81 Accord.
It had the two pots.
The limit pot set the minimum speed, but the maximum set speed was 2X the minimum.
So I set the minimum to 40mph, giving a maximum of 80mph.
I have never understood why people condemn this. If cc can remove one thing that needs my attention so that I can pay more attention to other things, like kids running out in front of my car, that’s a good thing.
That is about the only time I use CC. We have a 1 1/2 mile road with a 25mph speed limit. There are 3 school zones. It is the city police “happy hunting grounds”. My 2010 Kia Forte SX is a 6 speed M/T. The CC works perfectly at 25mph in 3rd gear. I always use it on non-school days. On school days all but about 5 blocks is 20mph from 7:30AM to 5:30PM. The CC holding 20mph would be nice then. I tried 2nd gear but the computer will have none of that. With the exception of before school, lunch break, and after school the students are inside so CC use would be safe as I avoid the times when students are outside. The middle and high school brats shuffle in the crosswalks creating the most traffic congestion possible.
I have tremor in my right foot and use adaptive cruise control to avoid pumping the gas pedal. When slowing in traffic, my CC kicks out below 28 mph. I’d be grateful to be able to have it continue serving me below 28 mph. With the choice of longer CC distance between cars, there would be no safety issue. with a 2018 Toyota, is it possible to lower the limit from 28?