Cruise control- I just don’t get it

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Ken7

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I’ve owned more cars than I care to admit. In every one of them, the cruise control, whether adaptive or not, has been intuitive and easy to figure out.

However the Clarity’s cruise control leaves me scratching my head. In every car I’ve ever owned, you turn on the cruise system, press set, and the cruise maintains the speed at which you press set. Not the Clarity, at least not our Clarity. It seems to ignore your current speed and instead it initially goes to the speed it wants.

Likewise, every other car I’ve owned will gradually accelerate as you press the appropriate button for that command. Release the button, and the car stops accelerating. Not the Clarity. Instead, in very small numbers on the dash (easily missed), it indicates the speed you’ll eventually come to as you call for more cruise speed. However it doesn’t take much of a button press to rapidly increases your ultimate cruising speed as indicated by those small numbers. If you don’t see those small numbers rapidly increasing, you get the feeling your driving a car suffering from ‘unintended acceleration’. Why? Because even after you’ve removed your hand from the cruise control, the car keeps accelerating until it reaches the speed shown by those small numbers.

Again, I’ve never seen this kind of behavior before in any car I’ve owned. I only tried this today, since my wife came home yesterday saying, “I can’t figure out the cruise control”. I actually made fun of her...until this morning. :)
 
I just showed my wife the tiny cruise control #s and she said she never ever noticed them. Therein lies the problem, they’re simply too small to be easily noticed.

It seems like the system defaults to 55 on the highway, without an obvious way to change that default (I looked). Around here, that would get you killed. ;)

At speeds below 55, it does seem to lock on to your current speed when you engage it. However with those tiny, rapidly increasing numbers that indicate what your new speed will be, the system for accelerating is not good IMO.
 
According to the manual it should set it to 25 if driving below 25 mph, or the current vehicle speed above 25 mph. When you press the +/- buttons it should increase/decrease by 1 with each click, but if you hold it down it will continue to change by 5. So if you hold it down it can change very quick, the number can change faster than the car response.

"When driving at about 25 mph (40 km/h) or above: Take your foot off the
pedal and press the −/SET button when you reach the desired speed. The moment you release the button, the set speed is fixed, and ACC with LSF begins.
When driving at slower than about 25 mph (40 km/h): If the vehicle is moving
and the brake pedal is not depressed, pressing the button fixes the set speed to about 25 mph (40 km/h) regardless of current vehicle speed. If your vehicle is stationary, you can set the vehicle speed even with the brake pedal depressed."
 
ab13 said:
According to the manual it should set it to 25 if driving below 25 mph, or the current vehicle speed above 25 mph. When you press the +/- buttons it should increase/decrease by 1 with each click, but if you hold it down it will continue to change by 5. So if you hold it down it can change very quick, the number can change faster than the car response.

"When driving at about 25 mph (40 km/h) or above: Take your foot off the
pedal and press the −/SET button when you reach the desired speed. The moment you release the button, the set speed is fixed, and ACC with LSF begins.
When driving at slower than about 25 mph (40 km/h): If the vehicle is moving
and the brake pedal is not depressed, pressing the button fixes the set speed to about 25 mph (40 km/h) regardless of current vehicle speed. If your vehicle is stationary, you can set the vehicle speed even with the brake pedal depressed."
Click to expand...
We were just driving on a local road and I was going 35. When I hit the set button, it remained at that 35mph. So that does seem to be consistent with what you've extracted from the manual.

As for the speed increase using the + button, I'll have to look at that behavior again. It does seem to be a different behavior than most cars. But the depicted numbers that the car eventually arrives at when you've changed the set speed with the + button, are far too small and I'd bet that many drivers won't even know they're there. My wife totally missed it until I pointed it out to her.

I also need to look at the speed arrived at when I hit the 'set' button. I know I was going at about 65 when I hit the set button, and the car would not stay at that speed. It settled on 55.
 
I've never had that issue with the cruise control. Are the small numbers you are referring to the speed it shows under the car icon where it shows if lane keep assist is active in the top right corner?

The only problem I have had is with adaptive cruise, and I'm sure I would have this problem in most cars with a similar system: I don't notice when it slows down on its own because of the car in front of me. A few miles go by before I realize I am only going 60 when I was originally going 70. It really isn't something I can complain about since it is just really good at doing it and I don't notice the speed change since it is so fluid.
 
loomis2 said:
I've never had that issue with the cruise control. Are the small numbers you are referring to the speed it shows under the car icon where it shows if lane keep assist is active in the top right corner?

The only problem I have had is with adaptive cruise, and I'm sure I would have this problem in most cars with a similar system: I don't notice when it slows down on its own because of the car in front of me. A few miles go by before I realize I am only going 60 when I was originally going 70. It really isn't something I can complain about since it is just really good at doing it and I don't notice the speed change since it is so fluid.
Click to expand...
Yup, those are the numbers. IMO they're easily missed due to their tiny size. I feel like I need to put on my reading glasses. The adaptive part of the cruise control is actually fine. I have no complaints with that aspect of it.
 
loomis2 said:
I've never had that issue with the cruise control. Are the small numbers you are referring to the speed it shows under the car icon where it shows if lane keep assist is active in the top right corner?

The only problem I have had is with adaptive cruise, and I'm sure I would have this problem in most cars with a similar system: I don't notice when it slows down on its own because of the car in front of me. A few miles go by before I realize I am only going 60 when I was originally going 70. It really isn't something I can complain about since it is just really good at doing it and I don't notice the speed change since it is so fluid.
Click to expand...

it would be better if these systems had a screen you could choose that showed the set speed and the current speed next to each other. Maybe with a graph indicator showing what percent of the set speed you are going.
 
Interesting how each individual see this differently.

This is the first car I've had that actually shows the cruise set speed in digits. I really like it. Yes the number display could be larger. Our 2008 Prius gave no indication at all. The 2015 Prius showed "Set" but no number. Same with my 4Runner.

When the car gets to the speed I desire I push the set button and take my for of the accelerator pedal. It just works.

If I tap the decrease or increase it changes by one mile per hour. If I hold the increase or decrease it rapidly changes in five mile per hour values.

My issues are not with cruise but rather with the ACC as it accelerates much too slowly and brakes too hard.
 
ab13 said:
it would be better if these systems had a screen you could choose that showed the set speed and the current speed next to each other. Maybe with a graph indicator showing what percent of the set speed you are going.
Click to expand...
I wish we had the HUD that the FCEV has! Though I don't know if the cruise control set speed shows up there.

Sent from my HTC 10 using Tapatalk
 
Somethings wrong with your Clarity. I push set and the cruise control sets it to that speed. There's the "RES" button to set the cruise control to the last known set speed.

I usually set my cruise control to 65 mph and all I do this push "RES" and LKAS.
 
ab13 said:
it would be better if these systems had a screen you could choose that showed the set speed and the current speed next to each other. Maybe with a graph indicator showing what percent of the set speed you are going.
Click to expand...
They do, the speedometer and the cruise set speed are close to each other, one shows the set speed the other shows the actual speed. Maybe not as straightforward as you are asking for, but the info is there.
 
I guess the cruise operates as expected to me. Hit the MAIN button to enable cruise if not already enabled. Hit the set button to set the speed at current driving speed, quick press +/- to change in 1 mph increments. Brake will automatically cancel it. Res button starts it again.

If adaptive cruise is following a car it shows up under the ACC LKAS green lights as a filled in car. If it is a car outline not filled in the system isn't following anything and will be going the set speed. The only weirdness I have noticed is in LKAS/ACC operation and not with cruise operation. If LKAS is disabled it shows nothing, otherwise if it is enabled it shows dashed lane markers when it doesn't detect lane markers and solid when the lane markers are detected.

Also, there is a way to force "Traditional" cruise without ACC, but it is in the owners manual and I don't know how to do it yet.
 
True. Pull on the left paddle when in cruise and there is s beep and the car drops out of cruise. Makes sense to me.
 
We have a 14 percent 1/2 mile long grade one mile from our house that we drive on 98% of the time coming and going from our house. I had been using the regen paddle to slow the car going down the hill. Just recently I learned that the car will use regen to slow itself going down that hill if I crank the cruise control speed down. So if I have cruise set to 45 at the top of the hill and want to slow to 40 I decrease the cruise speed to 40 and the car actively slows and maintains 40 down the hill without me touching the brakes or paddles. Nice feature.

This is different than any cruise system I've used before. In all other cases my cars would hold a car UP to a selected cruise speed but would do nothing to slow the car going downhill. True the engine in our 4Runner will act a little like an engine brake going down that hill but the SUV usually still gains speed without me toughing the brake.
 
loomis2 said:
I've never had that issue with the cruise control. Are the small numbers you are referring to the speed it shows under the car icon where it shows if lane keep assist is active in the top right corner?

The only problem I have had is with adaptive cruise, and I'm sure I would have this problem in most cars with a similar system: I don't notice when it slows down on its own because of the car in front of me. A few miles go by before I realize I am only going 60 when I was originally going 70. It really isn't something I can complain about since it is just really good at doing it and I don't notice the speed change since it is so fluid.
Click to expand...

I don't have any issues either. I do see how someone could miss the small numbers though. And yes, it's frustrating to look down and notice your speed is 5-10 mph below the speed limit because the person in front of you is moving along like a turtle.
 
ddrj said:
I don't have any issues either. I do see how someone could miss the small numbers though. And yes, it's frustrating to look down and notice your speed is 5-10 mph below the speed limit because the person in front of you is moving along like a turtle.
Click to expand...
Was that you behind me?
 
jdonalds said:
We have a 14 percent 1/2 mile long grade one mile from our house that we drive on 98% of the time coming and going from our house. I had been using the regen paddle to slow the car going down the hill. Just recently I learned that the car will use regen to slow itself going down that hill if I crank the cruise control speed down. So if I have cruise set to 45 at the top of the hill and want to slow to 40 I decrease the cruise speed to 40 and the car actively slows and maintains 40 down the hill without me touching the brakes or paddles. Nice feature.

This is different than any cruise system I've used before. In all other cases my cars would hold a car UP to a selected cruise speed but would do nothing to slow the car going downhill. True the engine in our 4Runner will act a little like an engine brake going down that hill but the SUV usually still gains speed without me toughing the brake.
Click to expand...
The Prius and Volt do this, as well.
 
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