Traditional Cruise: Slow Responsiveness

Discussion in 'Clarity' started by Steven B, May 23, 2018.

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  1. Steven B

    Steven B Active Member

    I tried the Adaptive Cruise and decided that I didn't like it, so I switched to the traditional cruise. However, Honda needs to tighten up the system responsiveness. If you are in among other cars and you set the cruise, be prepared to upset the drivers around you. This system will allow the speed of the vehicle to vary around 4mph. For a 2018 model year, I would have expected a more responsive brain monitoring the speed and incline changes. Set the speed to 65mph on level ground and as soon as you remove your foot from the accelerator, the car will slow to 62 and then start working its way back to 65.

    If this is intentional behavior because it is somehow more efficient, I'm willing to lose 1% efficiency to drive a consistent speed on cruise.
     
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  3. KentuckyKen

    KentuckyKen Well-Known Member

    I’m only seeing mine drop a single mph and only very rarely on a hill to 2 mph.
    So I’m pleased with that.
    What bugs me (and the people behind me) is the lag and slow acceleration when the car in front speeds up. I almost always end up using the pedal to keep up. It’s also a little bit jerky with the brakes/accel.
     
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  4. Rajiv Vaidyanathan

    Rajiv Vaidyanathan Active Member

    YES! Thank you for pointing this out. It was a huge frustration for me on a couple of recent highway trips. If you happen to accelerate past a car and then move back into the right lane, the moment you take your fut off the accelerator, the car slows down considerably before climbing back up to the preset speed. This would clearly irritate the heck out of the car behind me (from their perspective, I moved into their lane in front of them and immediately slowed down).

    If anyone has any topis on how to avoid this, I'd love to hear.
     
  5. M.M.

    M.M. Active Member

    I'm glad I'm not the only one bugged by this. My previous car would never let the speed get more than 1mph off of whatever I had set it, even on a hill, but Honda's is loose at best. 2-3mph below isn't at all unusual if the slope changes, and it will overshoot occasionally as well.

    I'm also with KentuckyKen on the extremely light touch acceleration. I don't expect the cruise control to floor it to get back to speed, but it is such a gentle touch that it feels like you're going to be bothering cars behind you. This is true for both ACC while following someone and for increasing the speed or hitting resume after slowing down. Conversely, if you reduce the setpoint, it decelerates surprisingly aggressively instead of letting the car drift down more gradually. Basically, it's the exact opposite in terms of aggressive speed management than what I'm used to, and what I want.

    Also annoying: The cruise control in every vehicle I've ever driven (Acuras and Hondas included) will essentially hold the accelerator at a certain point, but if you push it past that will let you accelerate the car. The Clarity, however (and this might be an ACC feature, never tried traditional), will disable cruise control if you touch the accelerator.

    This is really annoying when trying to set it, because I'm used to holding the speed I want, turning cruise on, waiting a moment to let it set, then taking my foot off the accelerator so the cruise control takes over smoothly. Now when I do exactly that, the cruise control waits for 1-2 seconds after I take my foot off the accelerator to kick in, during which time the car will lose 2-3mph of speed (maybe more if I'm going uphill), before it brings it back to where I wanted it. As far as I can tell, it's impossible to turn on cruise control when you're at a particular speed and actually smoothly maintain that speed.

    Anybody know a trick to workaround that?
     
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  6. jdonalds

    jdonalds Well-Known Member

    When I'm in ACC and push on the accelerator the display shuts off for cruise, but when I let go of the accelerator the ACC resumes.
     
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  8. M.M.

    M.M. Active Member

    Right, that's the same thing I see, but since it's actually not doing anything during that time, and appears to take a moment to take over once the display comes back on, I always get a dip in speed when I take my foot off the accelerator, particularly on an uphill slope.
     
  9. jdonalds

    jdonalds Well-Known Member

    I agree with others. When I'm in the slow lane going 60mph behind a truck then pull into the next lane, with the cruise set to 75, I'd better make sure the cars in the lane are back about 1/2 mile. Automatic acceleration is very slow.
     
  10. rodeknyt

    rodeknyt Active Member

    We have a 2016 Pilot as well as the Clarity. What drives me nuts with both of them is that (at least using ACC) the system consistently maintains a speed that is one mph less than it's set for. And that is on flat ground with nobody close enough in front to register with the radar.
     
  11. Rajiv Vaidyanathan

    Rajiv Vaidyanathan Active Member

    Hahaha. This is interesting to read these experiences. I have the exact same thing, so it's a system problem. I almost always set the ACC for 1 mph above the level I really want it to maintain.
     
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  13. AnthonyW

    AnthonyW Well-Known Member

    I find it is a little more responsive when I turn off Econ mode.


    Sent from my iPhone using Inside EVs
     
  14. ab13

    ab13 Active Member

    The Toyota system is similar, slow to accelerate and brakes late and hard. Doesn't seem too good at keeping the set speed after it has slowed down behind a car.
     
  15. jdonalds

    jdonalds Well-Known Member

    Yea I was wondering if it would work better in Sport mode. Next time I get a chance I'll test it.
     
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  16. Tacoma Soccer Dad

    Tacoma Soccer Dad New Member

    I took it out of econ mode for this morning's commute. I felt cruise control was significantly more responsive. It did stay 1 mph below the set speed, but I can live with that. Until this morning, the car (we've named her Gizmo) has typically been 1-4 mph below the set speed.

    My understanding of econ mode is that it provides acceleration and climate control in a more moderate way. It makes sense that cruise control would be less responsive.

    It was only one drive, but it didn't seem like a get a lot different electric range when I turn Econ off. I may just start driving without Econ.
     
  17. Timothy

    Timothy Active Member

    I just did a 800 mile trip almost all with the ACC. I also had it in Sport Mode and that worked very well. In normal mode the acceleration was frustrating but I thought it was fine in sport mode. Sport mode also helped using the ACC in stop and go traffic.
     
  18. jdonalds

    jdonalds Well-Known Member

    When we turn econ mode off we find it is to easy to cause the ice to fire up.
     
  19. insightman

    insightman Well-Known Member Subscriber

    OMG, after hypermiling in 3 Insights for 19 years, the idea of not driving in ECON Mode is unthinkable! The only time I would turn on my Insight's A/C was for my wife's and my annual late-July anniversary drive to a fancy restaurant (if it wasn't too hot, I'd turn it off for the drive home).

    In reality, however, it's great that Honda included modes that favor driveability over efficiency for those who don't want to accept the sacrifices of the hair-shirt ECON mode. OK, OK, I'll admit I tried SPORT Mode for a minute to feel the difference.
     
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  20. vicw

    vicw Active Member

    I've been pretty happy with Adaptive Cruise, especially when the vehicles ahead of me slow down & back up to speed. I have even had it track a moped directly ahead of me. Of course I was watching especially carefully that time, to make sure it didn't crawl into it.

    The only gripe I have with it is when the car directly ahead of me turns off to a side street, mine invariably suddenly slows down excessively for a brief moment, then gets back up to speed. It's almost like it tracks the vehicle as if it were still directly ahead of me, and it calculates the distance and speed accordingly. I don't know if mine is unique that way, but I suspect they all do it. I would think that's a bit of weak programming.
     
    Last edited: May 29, 2018
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  21. KentuckyKen

    KentuckyKen Well-Known Member

    I thought you drive like Mr. MaGoo!
     

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