2018 Clarity new owner, lots of questions

I can't answer all of you questions, but
3. There should be a play button on the bottom of the screen for play/pause (I personally use Stitcher and Waze all the time, and I have a little play/pause thing on my dash screen
4. There aren't any AFAIK. You need to release it from the trunk side.
5. You can adjust the number of car lengths with ACC from the steering wheel, but in high speed with lots of traffic (in NYC area for me), yeah--the assholes will cut you off.
6. The update just syncs you and the Honda server. The car has it's own logic. Try doing "find my car" in the app. It sometimes updates the other stuff (but my app odometer is ~3,000 miles off IIRC)

There are two different manuals. The long one can be downloaded, or you can request a paper copy (at least I, as an original owner, could). The short one is 90 pages or so. The long one, about 500.

 

Climate control is on the screen settings. Rear set releases are in the trunk. Agree on the ACC, I just use it like normal cruise. Don’t recall the rest

 

Written manuals requests

https://owners.honda.com/manualrequest/2018/Clarity%20Plug-In%20Hybrid

 

If you don't already have it, I highly recommend downloading the ~600 page electronic manual. You can get it here:
http://techinfo.honda.com/rjanisis/pubs/OM/AH/ATRW1818OM/enu/ATRW1818OM.PDF

Here is how you switch to a regular Cruise Control mode...



Interestingly, there seems to be no provision (at least, not documented in the full manual) to choose between Fahrenheit and Celsius. That seems to be a function of whether you have a US model or a Canadian model. Maybe there is something in the hidden diagnostics menu, but I can't recall.

 

LOL See post #5

 

I think the written "full" manual only applies to original owners... May be worth a try though.

 

Two car lengths at what speed?

 

Hum...

In Driver's Education Class (A long, long time ago), I was taught that a safe following distance was one car length for every 10 MPH.
At 60-80, you should be 6-8 car lengths behind !!

I think following too closely is the single greatest risk that contributes to most accidents.

OK, I will not distract this thread any more with my soap box !

 

60-80 may have been humor. Although in California maintaining a 1-2 car length gap at those speeds is somewhat normal behavior.

It may just be me, but I’ve always considered Cruise Control, for Cruising. You know, out on the open road on a long trip. Set the speed where you don’t risk a speeding ticket type of travel. The Adaptive part slows the car when necessary and resumes the set speed when appropriate. It saves all that, tap the brakes, hit cancel, heaven forbid actually driving for a bit with your foot on the gas pedal and then resetting the thing again. What a pain.

It’s one of the few advanced features I find useful in newer cars.

It isn’t intended for use in heavy urban traffic. Unless you want to get pissed off about the way the car is behaving.

 

I agree... I also like ACC in general.
But, when it slows down when approaching slower traffic, it often doesn't react early enough for me and when it does, it can be herky-jerky.
It is also slow to return to your setpoint when the slowdown clears.

 

I think the rule now is 2 seconds - which corresponds to 2 bars on my ACC. The 2 seconds is for dry roads, daylight, not heavy traffic. Add seconds as each of those conditions change.

 

At 60 MPH (88 feet per second), 2 seconds is 176'. If the 'average' car is 15' long, then this is almost 12 car lengths (double the old rue-of-thumb).
Of course, I agree it is way easier to judge a 2 second time interval than to try and estimate 12 car lengths.

 

To switch between ACC and normal cruise - with cruise and ACC cruise deactivated (not engaged), press and hold the Interval button for one second. (pg 416 in manual)

 

2 second rule assumes a human driver...

ACC is not human. Throw the vintage driving school rule out.

IMO if the computer and radar and cameras are doing the driving, there is no reason ACC for all vehicles can’t be programmed to go into full tailgate mode...like 5 feet following distance. Imagine the fuel/energy we would save by having an entire nation of drafting. I’d expect EV enthusiasts to encourage and promote such hypermileing habits. I think the tech is here now. But since it apparently is not yet widely accepted, I believe the day is coming...

 

The tech may be here, Honda just didn’t put it in the Clarity. The computer and radar and cameras are doing the driving and that provides a less than satisfactory driving experience for some owners.

If you want to follow more closely behind the car in front and attempt to zoom forward when a gap opens up, turn that crap off and use your foot.