Can not get ACC to work properly!

[MNSteve]

Also, in my experience again, the ACC drives the car a mile-per-hour slower than the speed I set, so I set it one mph faster than I actually want to go. I don't remember it overshooting the set speed.

Also my experience. I chalked up the one mph difference as a rounding issue between the ACC and the speedometer, and I use the same technique. I haven't noticed the overshooting; maybe that's because I haven't yet experimented with the ACC operation in SPORT mode.

I find the Clarity ACC rather different than the ACC on my CRV which uses all the same controls and should function the same. The CRV version detects a vehicle in front of me that's travelling slower than the target speed and matches that slower speed so smoothly that I sometimes find myself driving slower than I intended because I didn't notice the transition. The Clarity charges up to the slower vehicle and then actually brakes sharply to adjust its speed, a behavior I have never observed in the CRV version.

 

[David Towle]

The Clarity charges up to the slower vehicle and then actually brakes sharply to adjust its speed, a behavior I have never observed in the CRV version.

Thank you MNSteve !! for being the first person to confirm that I am not just imagining the sharp (and very annoying) braking. It repeats too, after the strong regen, sometimes it falls behind the car ahead, accelerates strongly to catch up, and then has to brake again.
Additionally if I pull into the left lane to go around the slower car, after it hesitates a few seconds it does a full bore acceleration to catch up to the speed that is set. Also annoying.
The only way to make it work rationally is by constantly manipulating the speed so its set no more than 1 or 2 mph above the car in front. And that's a lot easier to do with standard cruise control than with ACC mode.
I do think hills exaggerate this behavior, so my guess is many of those not experiencing this problem live in a flat area.

 

[MPower]

Now that I am back home in the land of hills, I will try to monitor the ACC, but I did not notice aggressive breaking on my recent trip. In fact several times I found I had been cruising along at 50 mph, because I had glided up behind a slow moving truck. I always had the distance set at max. Maybe that makes it less aggressive because it does not get surprised and think it has to act quickly.

 

[rodeknyt]

Our Clarity replaced a 2010 Chrysler 300C that had ACC traits similar to the Honda. I developed the habit of hitting the cancel button and then the resume button when someone changed lanes within the follow distance. That works pretty well in the Clarity, too. An annoyance to be sure, but works better than constantly adjusting the speed setting or riding out the harsh braking and slow speed resumption.