Maximum speed switch

Back in the 80’s ish, I was driving a truck, which may have been a Merc, and it had a switch on it, whereas, you could drive along at whatever speed you wanted, press the button and the truck would not go over that speed until switched off again.
It was very handy for 30/40/50mph limits.
This was the only truck I ever drove with this function.
Does anybody remember this ?
Was it pre-CC ?
What was it called ?

never encountered that, or ever heard of it…i suppose its equavalent to cruise control, which never came in till much later. i did hear about certain trucks that if you turned the key, it over rides the limiter…never worked for me though.

Switchable speed limiter?

I think Iveco Eurocargo may have it as an option. Pull r/h stalk towards you, then adjust max speed with + and - buttons. It’s not a cruise control: it just enables you to drive up to a pre-set limit but not through it.

Hilariously funny to leave it set at 5 mph before leaving the vehicle for the ‘agency’ when you go on holiday, apparently. On your return you just say that you always set it to the yard speed limit when entering the premises…health and safety, don’t you know?

Then Sammym can start a thread about it!

:smiley:

Yes I remember my dads Erf had one that was N reg first artic I drove legally.

i had it on my 1990 reg 143.
handy enough tool when you were poodling around the outskirts of cities,but not much use for anything else and a pain when you were putting your foot up on the dash or driving on the motorway using your left foot when bored as when you hit it you slammed the anchors on from the usual 70 plus down to 30 or whatever you last set it to…
always a good means of keeping you alert though… :slight_smile:

Our old 3 series rigids had it…needed resetting every time ignition was killed… was it labelled as ‘set speed’ or just ‘set’…early ‘speed limiter’ effort type thingy!

Sounds like the Limiter function, the newish Merc I drive has a switch for it next to the switch for the CC/ACC.
I also drove a Renault Master van with it and an early version Actros with it.
I don’t really use it, but I suppose it could be handy in roadworks.

Thought this was a standard feature of pretty much any lorry produced over the past couple of decades? I know our current (65 plate) MANs have it, as did the (59 plate) DAFs we had before and the (56 and 03 plate) DAFs I used to drive. I always thought it was just a standard feature of almost any vehicle with cruise control…

We have it on our eurocargo, it’s just a switch on the dash you press when you are at the speed you want.
To override it, press the button again, or press the accelerator all the way down onto the kick down switch.

It also resets if you change into neutral or reverse or turn the engine off.
Very handy for average speed camera zones on motorways.

Roymondo:
Thought this was a standard feature of pretty much any lorry produced over the past couple of decades? I know our current (65 plate) MANs have it, as did the (59 plate) DAFs we had before and the (56 and 03 plate) DAFs I used to drive. I always thought it was just a standard feature of almost any vehicle with cruise control…

Same here. My, 12 plate Merc had it, and my 17 plate DAF has it… so you know it’s not an optional extra! :laughing:

It’s pretty handy in busy 30mph zones.

Scania 3 Series had the switch , but we also had some 1988-89 FL10s with a short stick , about 2 inch long (retro fitted ?) on the left side of the dash that did the same thing.

It’s the button marked LIM. You can set it to err limit your speed to whatever you require.

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My daf has it. On a stalk one way sets cruise control other speed limit. I only use it when driving though 50 mph road works set it to 80km . Can probably change the settings to mph never tried works for me

My 13 plate Actros has got it. Set it using the cruise control stalk.

My car has the same thing, a max speed limit control and very handy it is too …

I can’t remember for sure but I don’t think I’ve had a truck that hasn’t had it. The 14 plate DAF I’ve got now has and it’s only a basic model.

The OP is reffering to pre cruise control, my Iveco (L reg ) had one fitted, it was more of a throttle control than a speed limiter , handy for warming it up on a morning

chaversdad:
The OP is reffering to pre cruise control, my Iveco (L reg ) had one fitted, it was more of a throttle control than a speed limiter , handy for warming it up on a morning

He is? His description of " it had a switch on it, whereas, you could drive along at whatever speed you wanted, press the button and the truck would not go over that speed until switched off again" sounds for all the world like a speed limiter, not a throttle control…

1of these was best, cut to diffrent sizes gave a good range of speeds :smiley:

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My father had a G reg Volvo FL6 and had one of these switches it was part of the Econacruse speedlimiter .Flick the switch at whatever speed you wanted like 30mph and the lorry would not go above the set speed