Have you seen this?

[Des]

Got emailed this yesterday, (sorry if it's a repost).
I think someone is telling 'kaa kaa'....
What do you think?

NEVER KNEW THIS BEFORE

I wonder how many people know about this?

A 36-year-old female had an accident several weeks ago and totalled her
car. A resident of Wollongong, NSW, she was travelling between
Wollongong & Sydney. It was raining, though not excessively, when her
car suddenly began to hydroplane and literally flew through the air.

She was not seriously injured but very stunned at the sudden occurrence!


When she explained to the policeman what had happened, he told her
something that every driver should know - NEVER DRIVE IN THE RAIN WITH
YOUR CRUISE CONTROL ON. She had thought she was being cautious by
setting the cruise control and maintaining a safe consistent speed in
the rain. But the policeman told her that if the cruise control is on
and your car begins to hydroplane -- when your tyres lose contact with
the pavement, your car will accelerate to a higher rate of speed and you
take off like an airplane. She told the policeman that was exactly what
had occurred.

The policeman estimated her car was actually travelling through the air
at 10 to 15 kms per hour faster than the speed set on the cruise
control. The poclieman said this warning should be listed, on the
driver's seat sun-visor - NEVER USE THE CRUISE CONTROL WHEN THE PAVEMENT
IS WET OR ICY, along with the airbag warning. We tell our teenagers to
set the cruise control and drive a safe speed - but we don't tell them
to use the cruise control only when the road is dry.

The only person the accident victim found, who knew this (besides the
policeman), was a man who had had a similar accident, totalled his car
and sustained severe injuries. If you send this to 15 people and only
one of them doesn't know about this, then it was all worth it. You might
have saved a life.

[EvilChief]

welcome to yesterday ...

[WILDTRAKPX2]

Yeah Des... a repost and a crock of ИИИИ too mate.

[Steffo]

If anyone actually believes that... my oh my...

[Des]

Originally Posted by Shockwave XR8

Yeah Des... a repost and a crock of ИИИИ too mate.

C'mon, I'm sure you've seen vehicles launch into the air after hitting a puddle before!

[gozza]

is there any merit about the cruise control accelerating tho when you hydro plane?

[WILDTRAKPX2]

Originally Posted by Des

C'mon, I'm sure you've seen vehicles launch into the air after hitting a puddle before!

lol. aquaplaned once... hope it never happens again! As for the cruise control BS, well...........

[EA2BA]

What a load of BS as has been said.

Soon as you touch the brake pedal the cruise turns off, so as if you would suddenly take off.

thanks for the laugh.

[Des]

Originally Posted by Shockwave XR8

lol. aquaplaned once... hope it never happens again!

I was driving down the M4 late at night with it raining pretty good sitting on 110, all of a sudden the Festiva flares up and the speedo reads 130....Hello aquaplane and hello new tyres tomorrow.

gozza, I don't reckon you'd have too many troubles with the cruise control. The revs might flare up momentarily, but then it'd read overspeed and back off.

[WILDTRAKPX2]

Originally Posted by Des

I was driving down the M4 late at night with it raining pretty good sitting on 110, all of a sudden the Festiva flares up and the speedo reads 130....Hello aquaplane and hello new tyres tomorrow.

gozza, I don't reckon you'd have too many troubles with the cruise control. The revs might flare up momentarily, but then it'd read overspeed and back off.

Mate, your avatar is freaking me out.

[Mechan1k]

Originally Posted by Shockwave XR8

Mate, your avatar is freaking me out.

Looks like Rodney Dangerfield

[Des]

Originally Posted by Shockwave XR8

Mate, your avatar is freaking me out.

Good looker hey!? Gives me a little laugh every time I see it. :
Another email I got "Mullet Cops", crack up....

[GTFORDMAN]

Originally Posted by EA2BA

What a load of BS as has been said.

Soon as you touch the brake pedal the cruise turns off, so as if you would suddenly take off.

unless your in a BMW, there has been more than a few reports of there cruise control going haywire, the most resent one being in brittan :

[gozza]

Originally Posted by Des

gozza, I don't reckon you'd have too many troubles with the cruise control. The revs might flare up momentarily, but then it'd read overspeed and back off.

cheers
i don't know much about cruise control

i aquaplaned the other night only doing about 100-105 in the wet...pretty hairy for a few secs...felt like i was on ice....my tyres are ratИИИИИ tho

[Pedro]

Originally Posted by Mechan1k

Looks like Rodney Dangerfield

More like Danny LaRue hehe

[The Monty]

The policeman estimated her car was actually travelling through the air
at 10 to 15 kms per hour faster than the speed set on the cruise
control.

I find this impossible. Your car stops accelerating when it reaches the cruise control limit. Id like my Fairmont to pick up 10-15 ks an hour in about 2 secs (the average time of an aquaplane, max), while in the air(?)

[act2617]

What.....a .....lot ....of BS

[Trevor 57]

All very interesting comments guys, but......

I used to work for a driver training company that has a 4 acre concrete sid pan (the same place where the SpringNats are held), this skid pan can be completely flooded with water and I can tell you that a hydroplaning vehicle gains speed. I did this weekly in cars and semi-trailers for over 7 of the 13 years I worked there.

1st point - If the cruise control is engaged then it is working off a speed sensor.

2nd point - If a car is hyroplanning that car is essentially doing what a water skiers does, sliding along on top of the water. The wheels of a car hydroplanning will slow down significantly (with out crusie on). I have seen this first hand and on heaps of training videos out of the States as well as from tyre manufacturers. Thats the feeling you have when you hit a deep bit of water after rain and your steering wheel jerks in your hands, and you can feel the car pull to one side and slow down. It normally frightens the ИИИИ out of ya!

3rd Point - ....so, if the wheels are not touching the road surface AND they are slowing down AND cruise control is on, THEN the car WILL accelerate up, as the computer is telling the wheels to get back to the pre-set cruise control speed.

So.... the problem is definetly real.

[Gammaboy]

Originally Posted by Big_Trev

3rd Point - ....so, if the wheels are not touching the road surface AND they are slowing down AND cruise control is on, THEN the car WILL accelerate up, as the computer is telling the wheels to get back to the pre-set cruise control speed.

So.... the problem is definetly real.

Couple of points:
1) Most cruise systems use the speedo sender for their speed input.
2) Most Speedo drives are in the gearbox, picking up off the output shaft.
Hence, the simple fact that the speedo drive is directly related to what the engine is doing means it can't happen.
3) The cruise systems generally have *very little* maximum throttle opening.

So as a result I call Bullsh*t

However, if for some stupid reason the thing used front ABS tone rings for its cruise control input, and didn't have traction control hooked in, then I can see how it would accelerate.

However, if the car is aquaplaning, how can it accelerate when it has no traction?
I know it can certainly feel like you've sped up when you start sliding on wet grass, but it defies logic for it to actually accelerate.

[bundy bruiser]

my Falcon launches like an aeroplane and it doesn't even have cruise control....lol

[big_waity]

I will have to try that some time.

[jabba]

Originally Posted by Gammaboy

Couple of points:
1) Most cruise systems use the speedo sender for their speed input.
2) Most Speedo drives are in the gearbox, picking up off the output shaft.
Hence, the simple fact that the speedo drive is directly related to what the engine is doing means it can't happen.
3) The cruise systems generally have *very little* maximum throttle opening.

So as a result I call Bullsh*t

However, if for some stupid reason the thing used front ABS tone rings for its cruise control input, and didn't have traction control hooked in, then I can see how it would accelerate.

However, if the car is aquaplaning, how can it accelerate when it has no traction?
I know it can certainly feel like you've sped up when you start sliding on wet grass, but it defies logic for it to actually accelerate.

I can not explain how it happens, But I can confirm that it does happen.... I was the victim of aqua planing while the cruise control was on.....

It was in a AUII XR8 ute, manual... The water got under the wheels and the engine sped up quickly (like 2 sec). That was enough to cause the car to flick side ways. The rest of the ride I was just a passenger. 4 -360 spin on the road another 360 spin on the medium strip, took out the toll sign with the front left side of the ute and knocked out about 4 road reflectors....Blood scary ride.....

I don't drive in the wet with cruise any more

[McobraR]

Originally Posted by Gammaboy

However, if the car is aquaplaning, how can it accelerate when it has no traction?
I know it can certainly feel like you've sped up when you start sliding on wet grass, but it defies logic for it to actually accelerate.

The car wont accelerate when aquaplaning, the wheels just start to spin faster, and once the car eventually gets traction (meaning it gets out of that water puddle)...THATS when the car will jerk, since the wheels are spinning faster than it should

[XR-ENVI]

speaking of cruise control
i dont know if this is for all models but my brother had an ef and the brake lights were out, this meant that when he put on the brakes whilst he was using cruise control, the car did not actually slow down, due to the fact that the crusie control is set up with the lights sensor or something. so in other words you might get a bit of a fright when the cc doesnt turn off, but clicking the off button will work even though braking doesnt!

[coyote]

Originally Posted by XR-ENVI

speaking of cruise control
i dont know if this is for all models but my brother had an ef and the brake lights were out, this meant that when he put on the brakes whilst he was using cruise control, the car did not actually slow down, due to the fact that the crusie control is set up with the lights sensor or something. so in other words you might get a bit of a fright when the cc doesnt turn off, but clicking the off button will work even though braking doesnt!

On an EF the Cruise control switch for brake is on the pedal used to switch the lights, but not effected if lighting system is functional or not.
Same as for clutch

[Des]

Couple of interesting post here now. Thinking out loud. With a BF fitted with ESP, this wouldn't be as much of a problem as the ESP would detect a total loss of traction and start doing whatever is necessary to aid return to normal, meaning it would be easier to regain control. This is how they program and test these set ups. In a BA with only traction control, am I right in saying that the traction control runs off of the ABS sensors? Then the traction controls would recognise that the front and rear wheels would have a large discrepancy and would apply the rear brakes and shut down power, therefore negating the cruise control (possibly even disabling it, though I'm not sure if that is programed in).
As to whether you accelarate when you aquaplane? I don't know, physics tells you that everything works at a loss, therefore unless your applying a physical motive force, you are under a constant or linear state of decelaration. You may initially accelarate possibly due to the aquaplane state having less friction, though you would soon start to slow down, all be it at less of a rate than if you had total traction.
In a car with traction control or ESP, I reckon it would automatically switch off the cruise control. In a car without these I'm not sure anymore....

[Trevor 57]

Originally Posted by coyote

On an EF the Cruise control switch for brake is on the pedal used to switch the lights, but not effected if lighting system is functional or not.
Same as for clutch

If the brake light switch breaks (which is common on these models) then what he is saying is correct. I am not sure about the lights though, however when I blew a brake light fuse, the cruise wouldn't work.


BTW, with regard to cruise and hydroplaning:

Originally Posted by gammaboy

Couple of points:
1) Most cruise systems use the speedo sender for their speed input.
2) Most Speedo drives are in the gearbox, picking up off the output shaft.
Hence, the simple fact that the speedo drive is directly related to what the engine is doing means it can't happen.
3) The cruise systems generally have *very little* maximum throttle opening.

So as a result I call Bullsh*t

Yeah, but what about the ECM, that is where the problem is.

[The Monty]

I just find it impossible for a car to accelerate with no traction. No traction, means you can not accelerate. You know what happens if you try to accelerate hard in wet conditions, with only a little traction? You only accelerate slowly, although your WHEELS will start spinning faster, but the car will not gain much speed. So if I had no traction, the wheels would spin, yes, but the car would continue to carry its initial speed, not accelerate, but most likely DE-cellerate due to the friction being placed on the tyres by the water. Even if your speedo actually reads it is going faster, your car probably will not be, it will just be your wheels spinning faster. And add to the argument that the cruise control stops when it hits the specified speed, and you are travelling at this specified speed, why would it accelerate, (make the wheels go faster)? Because the car is De-cellerating due to the friction applied to the tyres by the water on which you are aquaplaning. If any of my points are wrong, I am sorry, it is just what I believe to be true, and the only way to learn is to listen and understand other peoples arguments, and debate them, and not argue, as you would not gain any knowledge.

[Tote]

What about if the car was aquaplaning on a treadmill going the same speed in the opposite direction (someone had to say it)
/runs and hides
Tote

[EL_Alley_Cat]

Even if it was true I don't have cruise control, I have the poverty pack on my car lol. The only extra danger I could see is if you aquaplane you'd back off the accellerator, well I do, if you have cruise control on it may take you a sec or so more to touch the brakes to turn it off? Maybe? I dun really know that much about cars lol