In the old days everyone knew you shouldn’t use cruise control on snowy roads because your wheels could spin on an icy patch, and send you into a skid. However now with active stability control is it safe to use cruise when the roads could be slippery?
[b]What’s it say in the owners manual?
Tester[/b]
To be on the safe side, I will say ‘No’. Even with stability control, the cruise control may still cause the car to lose control.
NO! Absolutely not. Cruise control is great for dry roads and clear weather. When it’s raining or snowing you should NOT use cruise control. Doing so is asking for trouble, and all the dynamic stability control in the world will not save you butt.
You can safely bet that the owners manual has a warning against using cruise on any slick surface, along with heavy traffic conditons and city driving.
The owners manuals are half “Warnings” now; and for a good reason.
I also vote no. Under slippery conditions you need to pay extra attention to your driving. Cruse control tends to reduce that attention.
I have never seen anything on it, but I doubt if it would be a good idea even without the attention issue.
First thing I do when any vehicle starts loosing traction is take my foot off the gas. With Cruise you have to disengage Cruise control to do the same thing…But you have to do it WITHOUT hitting the brakes…
I’d NEVER use cruise on wet or snowy conditions.
I’ve found the “cancel” button to be pretty easy to press.
First thing stability control does when it detects wheel slip is cut back on the throttle. Pretty much the same as taking your foot off the gas. Even so, I would not be using cruise control in slippery conditions. The stability control is a backup to the supposed human intelligence that is driving the car. It’s not meant to operate in a day-to-day usage.