Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) Questions.

[tsunami]

What is the maximum distance in front that the ACC can detect a vehicle?
(How far in front will ACC begin to slow down my vehicle if it detects a slower vehicle ahead?)
Owners manual states that the 4 'distance' gap settings are: (1) 100 ft; (2) 130 ft; (3) 165 ft; (4) 200 ft. How accurate are your gap settings?

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[Todd15Fastback]

Those settings seem really accurate to me. I used ACC on my 870 mile drive home after picking up my '15. I loved it. Glad I spent the money. Worked flawlessly.

 

[JimmyTwoTimes]

That was my main reason for not ordering adaptive cruise control (I have every other option)... the minimum is 100 feet? How is that useful? If you're that far behind a car in traffic, people are constantly going to be cutting in front of you, and your car is going to be constantly hitting the brakes and annoying the people behind you. What good is that?

I figured it would be something like 25' or 30' where you're far enough away to be safe but close enough that cars won't cut in front of you at speed.

 

[Helios1234]

I would have thought that the gap you set is time dependent rather than distance as the former will mean that the distance adjusts with respect to the speed of the car. That's how it is in my Mondeo anyway...

 

[tsunami]

ACC time gaps:

I originally just looked in the Owners Manual for ACC and only looked at the Distance Gap part of the chart. It turns out that the Distance Gap values given are for 62 mph! The chart also gives Time Gaps in seconds: (1) 1; (2) 1.4; (3) 1.8; and (4) 2.2 seconds.
Because ACC uses radar I had assumed that it was using set gap distances.

Is the Time Gap the 'time distance' between the two vehicles at any speed?
For example, travelling at 40 mph...(1) 1 second to close the gap; which would be closer than 1 second gap at 70mph?

Also...for anyone who has used ACC...how far ahead did the ACC first pickup the forward vehicle?

BLIS/Cross Traffic begins to notice cross traffic about 45-60 feet away.

 

[101charley]

This is precisely why I do not like and will not order ACC. I had it on a 2001 Mercedes CL600 and people would constantly cut in front of me and slow me down. After a few weeks I never it again. Complete waste.

 

[tsunami]

ACC and time gap?

"Some one pulls in front of me and slows me down"???
Isn't that what a rational driver would normally do?

 

[Todd15Fastback]

I figured it would be something like 25' or 30' where you're far enough away to be safe but close enough that cars won't cut in front of you at speed.

25-30 ft running 70mph is not enough space. That is 1-1.5 car lengths.

 

[Todd15Fastback]

I originally just looked in the Owners Manual for ACC and only looked at the Distance Gap part of the chart. It turns out that the Distance Gap values given are for 62 mph! The chart also gives Time Gaps in seconds: (1) 1; (2) 1.4; (3) 1.8; and (4) 2.2 seconds.
Because ACC uses radar I had assumed that it was using set gap distances.

Is the Time Gap the 'time distance' between the two vehicles at any speed?
For example, travelling at 40 mph...(1) 1 second to close the gap; which would be closer than 1 second gap at 70mph?

Also...for anyone who has used ACC...how far ahead did the ACC first pickup the forward vehicle?

BLIS/Cross Traffic begins to notice cross traffic about 45-60 feet away.

It picks up that car in front pretty quickly. I bet it is less than 25ft. When I was running 76mph and a car would cut over in front of me and the distance was over 100ft, the car would slow down instantly and then maintain the distance based on what setting I was on.

I truly like the ACC especially when driving long distances. I think it is worth the money.

 

[JimmyTwoTimes]

25-30 ft running 70mph is not enough space. That is 1-1.5 car lengths.

Correct. You ever spend much time driving on L.A. Freeways or NYC highways? That's about as good as you're going to get. If there's enough space between me and the car in front of me that I can see pavement (i.e., the view of the end of my hood doesn't blend into his rear bumper), somebody's going to cut in front of me.

Granted, that's normally at 50 mph instead of 70 mph, but still. I know I've merged into lanes at 50-60 mph where there was no more than two feet between me and the car in front of me thousands of times, never hit anybody.

 

[Todd15Fastback]

Correct. You ever spend much time driving on L.A. Freeways or NYC highways? That's about as good as you're going to get. If there's enough space between me and the car in front of me that I can see pavement (i.e., the view of the end of my hood doesn't blend into his rear bumper), somebody's going to cut in front of me.

Granted, that's normally at 50 mph instead of 70 mph, but still. I know I've merged into lanes at 50-60 mph where there was no more than two feet between me and the car in front of me thousands of times, never hit anybody.

Yep, I have. I lived on Long Island and upstate NY for 20 years .

I live in Atlanta now and the traffic is very, very similar. I am 100% virtual so I don't have to worry about commutes any more.

I will only use ACC when taking long trips and not during rush hour:cheers:

 

[Clink]

Yep, I have. I lived on Long Island and upstate NY for 20 years .

I live in Atlanta now and the traffic is very, very similar. I am 100% virtual so I don't have to worry about commutes any more.

I will only use ACC when taking long trips and not during rush hour:cheers:

Atlanta has some of the worst traffic I've ever been in, wish I was virtual this Tampa nonsense is pretty bad too...but not THAT bad

 

[GiddyUp15]

I love ACC! My drive to/from Denver was so frustrating. Most of the time traffic isn't that bad, but I can see why people in LA or NY would find ACC useless. I thought the gap at the lowest setting was pretty decent. I'll put it on setting 2 sometimes just to avoid any kicked up rocks/gravel. One thing I noticed is that I don't get nearly the amount of road rage. I used to get so pissed at people who stay in the left lane or drive so slow (most parts of 25 are speed limit 75) that I'd ride anyone's ass that made me cancel my cruise. But now, I aim to not ever touch the gas or brake during my commute, so I let the ACC do the work and just adjust my speed if I like via the wheel controls. pretty neat how accurate and far away it can tell when someone switches lanes in front of me or switches out of the lane and speeds back up. Very cool system IMO.

Side note, I've had the collision avoidance system kick in on me once, and was amazed how far away it detected a stopped car in front of me. I was ready to stop anyway but cool to see the feature in action.

 

[Todd15Fastback]

Atlanta has some of the worst traffic I've ever been in, wish I was virtual this Tampa nonsense is pretty bad too...but not THAT bad

Ha!! I for sure consider myself lucky. I know all the folks on my team feel the same way, being able to WFH 100% of the time:cheers:

 

[Todd15Fastback]

I love ACC! My drive to/from Denver was so frustrating. Most of the time traffic isn't that bad, but I can see why people in LA or NY would find ACC useless. I thought the gap at the lowest setting was pretty decent. I'll put it on setting 2 sometimes just to avoid any kicked up rocks/gravel. One thing I noticed is that I don't get nearly the amount of road rage. I used to get so pissed at people who stay in the left lane or drive so slow (most parts of 25 are speed limit 75) that I'd ride anyone's ass that made me cancel my cruise. But now, I aim to not ever touch the gas or brake during my commute, so I let the ACC do the work and just adjust my speed if I like via the wheel controls. pretty neat how accurate and far away it can tell when someone switches lanes in front of me or switches out of the lane and speeds back up. Very cool system IMO.

Side note, I've had the collision avoidance system kick in on me once, and was amazed how far away it detected a stopped car in front of me. I was ready to stop anyway but cool to see the feature in action.

That bright red light bar is fun at night along with that buzzing sound:lol:

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