Will cruise control turn off for safety if a car starts to fishtail or do you have to tap the brakes? Thanks to all.
Yes it does.
I can’t speak for all cars, but I n the two cars I’ve had that have had both (2010 Jetta and a 2017 A4) it does.
Since traction control activates the brakes, I would assume that would automatically disengage cruise control.
You shouldn’t be using cruise control if you’re driving in conditions that fishtailing is possible.
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Every car I have ever driven with these features will drop cruise as a first step to mitigate problems.
Did something happen to prompt this question ? Rey , it might be a good idea to check your tire tread and the age of your tires because I suspect hydroplaning .
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Thank you all for your answers. Guys, I really need help with this as I do not understand what happened to the car. The roads were clear, no rain, no snow. The car is AWD but we started to fishtail anyway. I assumed it was black ice that I didn’t see but black ice is usually no longer than 20 feet at most. My speed was around 80mph, I switched lanes and sped up on a pretty straight stretch of highway and the car went crazy. It has never done this before. I feel like the cruise control didn’t shut off and nothing interfered for safety. I remained calm, turned into the direction of the skids and stayed off the brakes. I am a careful although fast driver and was very familiar with this vehicle that’s only around a year old. It couldn’t have been parts that wore out. The tires were factory but I drove with them the winter prior. The only other thing that happened was the electronic parking brake was accidentally pulled then released maybe 15 minutes prior to this. I tapped the brakes to make sure they worked. Could this have been the issue? Thanks again.
What are you doing driving 80 MPH when there is a possibility of Black Ice ?
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It’s entirely possible that the electronics in your Alfa Romeo screwed up, because Italian cars are not exactly known for rock-solid systems engineering.
As we don’t know how old your vehicle is, or how old your tires are, we can’t judge as to whether or not it’s likely the tires were a factor.
There are relatively few places in the US where 80mph is the speed limit on a highway, so the main conclusion that we can reach is that you decided to go overly fast when the temperature was below freezing, which is never a good idea.
That may be sort of true at stop lights, but on highways that see rush hour, black ice can be miles long.
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I just assumed that there was after we started to slide. When we came out of the car, I still didn’t see any ice.
The vehicle and tires were only a year old like I mentioned. The speed limit was 70mph, I only sped up to get in the left lane and pass the car next to me. The temperature was 34, the sun was out. As much as I’ve been reading about black ice, I’ve never seen it be miles long even on the highway.
Since we still don’t know what you drive beyond that it’s an Alfa, my best guess would be you punched it too hard and hit something slippery, like maybe road salt that hasn’t been washed off, and fishtailed.
At that point maybe you overcorrected, or maybe the, uh, less than stellar electronic systems in your Alfa reacted poorly. No way for us to know from here.
Thanks, do you think doing a car diagnostic would be able to help and see what happened? Like pulling the box out of the car?
Pulling what box out ? I guess if you ask since this unknown Alfa should be still under warranty your dealer might be the place to start.
My guess is that you have high performance tires and they are not noted for bad weather traction .
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And “bad weather” includes cold, because summer tires aren’t set up to be pliable and grippy when it’s cold.
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34 is too warm for black ice. At that temperature, water from melted ice is a possibility, but you said the roads were clear…
That is why I am confused. Temperature earlier that day did hit a low of 32 but when we drove through, there was nothing on the roads. There were barely any cars too, the highway was pretty empty. It’s like there was a glitch all of a sudden, I don’t know how AWD can lose control like that.
I’ll note that a lot of people complain that the factory tires that come on Alfas sold in less-than-tropical zones suck. “Zero grip” is a complaint I saw more than once in a cursory check.
Of course, we STILL don’t know what you drive – you know, it’s not like we’re going to come find you and murder your family if we know what car we’re talking about. Stop making us cast about in the dark and guess. Tell us what you drive.
I didn’t think it was that big of a deal, the forum only asked for the manufacturer of the car. The model is the Stelvio, which I don’t know how that helps you with the issue that I am voicing.
Yeah it sounds like dry or not, you over drove the traction of your tires. Ice reduces traction but dry roads does not provide unlimited traction. But as mentioned above, you never want to use cruise in the winter when ice is possible. In the old days with standard rear ends it wasn’t so bad with one wheel only spinning. Add positraction and it could be a disaster. Now add AWD and same issues as posi-traction only doubled with two axles. So good tires and slow down a little.