premium i drive 52reg…touch the brake pedal cruise disengages…have to flick resume to get cruise on again…
My TGX is equipped with ACC (Adaptive Cruise Control). The computer automatically measures the speed and distance to the vehicle in front and once a preset minimum separation is reached, my truck is slowed to match the speed of that vehicle.
A brilliant system that has only one major drawback: when Mondeo Man cuts in front from lane 3 and brakes sharply to make an exit at the last second.
So at motorway exits I am always prepared to give a quick boot of the GO pedal to override the system before the truck nose dives into the tarmac under full braking.
DAF95XF:
Cruise Control:
loving most of the comments about me
has anybody else noticed when driving a Renault premium on the CC when you do come to brake sometimes the CC does a bloody good job at trying to fight you by re-fusing to disengage. You slow down take foot of brake and the truck starts accelerating again
No, but I have found that by lightly braking that it engages the retarder and the CC carries on as before…
The CC will resume as before if the vehicle has come below the set speed of the cruise control.
Going down a hill with CC engaged if the speed increases above a set point, a gear is automatically dropped and Exhaust brake comes into play until the set speed is resumed and everything goes back to normal.
Back when I was driving 7.5 tonners I thought that cruise control was bordering on dangerous but that was mainly after seeing drivers going along the road with seats reclined,feet up and only just able to reach the wheel with their fingertips.
After I passed C+E I had a job through the agency where I had to run up to Durham from Spalding then on to Blaydon. Some of the trucks had CC and some didn’t. You had to be on the juice all the way to get there and back in time. When I was driving one without CC it was really hard graft whereas driving one with CC it was a lot easier. So on balance I would give it a qualified thumbs up nowadays. You do have to remain alert and aware and that in my opinion is a little difficult with the seat reclined and your feet up.
It’s a bit like the guns argument, safe as long as it’s not in the hands of an idiot.
JISL to ESL:
Just to clarify things, I don’t like Cruise Control,
A bit harsh 
removalboy:
JISL to ESL:
Just to clarify things, I don’t like Cruise Control,A bit harsh
and thats putting it lightly 
like all things CC has a time and a place when not in CC mode use the SL
JISL to ESL:
‘…Discuss…’
I highly rate my (much used) cc when commuting in my motor and spend huge chunks of working days between cc and the limiter. I get a regular ‘thumbs up’ for my decent fuel consumption - and don’t drive like a paedo’ cruising the schools to achieve it either.
Since I copped a speeding ticket through over relying on the limiter and if it doesn’t work ‘as per’ then I’ll often defect it too …which does the VMU dudes heads-in, but as I mutter to them, ‘if it wasn’t specced on the fleet - why have it?’
PS: How about those not liking cc having a genetic ‘control-freak’ condition? Discuss?
diggertony:
premium i drive 52reg…touch the brake pedal cruise disengages…have to flick resume to get cruise on again…
On mine. it used to stay engaged, when you were braking on an over run, unless I got slower than the cruise control speed.
They are IMO a god send, in normal conditions, and even more so in roadworks, set to 50mph and now you don’t have to panic about getting a ticket.
I think CC is great. If you fall asleep then you fall asleep, probably wouldn’t matter to much. Saves you getting cramp in your leg or DVT through being in the one position to long. Other added benefits are you can reach over to your passenger locker whilst on the move, reach over to get the milk out the fridge or other such things
Mike-C:
Other added benefits are you can reach over to your passenger locker whilst on the move, reach over to get the milk out the fridge or other such things
Like expressing yourself through the medium of darnce: TAKE IT AWAY, TARZAN
Keith, I agree, if you don’t like cruise control, don’t use it, don’t get your knickers in a twist about it, it’s just a little switch 
Mike, Again I agree, now before the HSE brigade get on my back, I would still be in control of the vehicle, I’m talking about leaning over a bit, not getting out of the seat, well not unless I was Following Wheelnut in Belgie, I mean he’s hardly likely to brake when he’s in the bunk, now is he
Willy G, I thought of the guns don’t kill, people do, argument, but I’d rambled on enough in my 1st post, i’ve got a second wind now though
I’m sure someone will come up with some statistics now about cruise control related accidents, as we know cruise has become standard in pretty much every lorry on the road today, this has occured over the last 15yrs or so, that corresponds with an increase of rear end lorry/lorry accidents, well that’s obvious then, it’s that murderous cruise control causing all these crashes, well not exactly, cruise isn’t the only thing to change in the last 15yrs, we have speed limiters, traffic is far worse, there are more foreign vehicles & drivers on the roads, not just the foreign lorries, but also the millions of immigrants that have absolutely no idea how to drive, more & more roads where people are too busy watching for cameras than watching the road, decreased stopping distances as vehicles get better brakes (which require, but do not get, increased thinking distance) the list is endless & even if the use of cruise control is a factor in any accident then surely it’s the misuse of cruise control that was the factor, it’s like all the other factors, in 99.9999999% of cases an accident is caused by somebody doing something they shouldn’t be doing, whether it’s intended, accidently or unknowingly, it’s the human element that causes it
newmercman:
Keith, I agree, if you don’t like cruise control, don’t use it, don’t get your knickers in a twist about it, it’s just a little switch
The biggest challenge that I’ve had as a ‘pro cc’ driver, was to convince a VMU dude of a cc snag that had bugged me all that day. He was adamant that I was a puff and that bodge tape over the entire stalk would make the snag vapourise. He has since left to ‘…go back on the busses - where it’s better…’ (Clearing up the residue of ‘kid-sick’ - is he sure?)
Anyway, the bloke considered them Satan’s own contribution to roadcraft - despite my (mincing about?) telling him that:
a) They help me concentrate on stuff outside the cab - like totty & idiots, etc
b) We aint gonna undo technology
c) ‘Listening’ for the right speed is soooo 1950’s. With so many ratios over three speed ranges, ie, 30, 40 & 50, it is also an unreasonable ask.
d) Anything to help me avoid another ticket is worth keeping servicable
e) Since kit such as cc is cited by observers & vehicle manufacturers, etc, as ‘making our job easier’, I suggest it falls within the overall rationale behind why our pay is now relatively crap compared with a million years ago: On that argument alone, why not use it? Surely to ignore it is to make one’s working life harder? Maybe it still comes back to a reticence that some drivers are unwilling to ‘push through’ a minor (?) discomfort barrier rather than give-in and learn how to ‘tickle the stick’. Maybe vehicle/motoring psychologists ought to consider whether a L/H cc or R/H cc stalk engages better with our brains - as more friendly to use, etc?
PS. I’ve recently started to accelerate via the cc rather than the conventional throttle to see my consumption improve. Can any techie advocate that such an improvement is feasible - or is ‘full throttle on the stick’ (which is only an on/off selector anyhow) the same signal to the fuel computer as what a size twelve boot to the floor would be?
I wouldn’t be without it, just like i wouldn’t be without my auto gearbox!
philmots:
I wouldn’t be without it, just like i wouldn’t be without my auto gearbox!
didnt realise sainsburys trucks could reach high enough speeds for the cruise control to work 
Cruise control is a good thing, however it is only as safe as the person behind the wheel.
Keith, as far as I’m aware there is no fuel saving from using cc to accelerate, it will apply full throttle until you reach cruising speed, that’s why they reccomend not using cc in a rolling hills situation, it will continually strive for it’s set speed, whereas an experienced driver may use the momentum of the vehicle & not use any throttle whatsoever. In the case you describe it will have no detrimental effect on mpg, you’re accelerating anyway so whether you push the button (throttle) or flick the switch (cc) it makes no difference.
I agree that it’s a useful piece of technology, it does make life easier & it’s a pain in the arse when it doesn’t work
ROG:
They are developing a CC where the driver has to keep the foot anywhere on the pedal except fully on or fully off so that when CC is used it will keep the set CC speed - this will allow the driver to put the pedal fully down to increase speed immediately if needed and taking the foot off the pedal will disengage the CC - very sensible
That’s will be even more annoying - CC is set for you to give a rest for your feet. If you will have to keep your pedal pressed all the time, but not fully pressed, it’s even worse than just press it right to the bottom…
If they need something to keep you awake, what about the thingy which is in train engines (at least in Polish ones) when you have a light coming up on the dashboard in irregural intervals and you have to press the button. If you don’t press it, the sound goes up and if you do not react to that, brakes are engaged.
Just been to Paris and back…Cruise control not working. I had pins and needles in the right foot for 2 days…and I wasn’t even pressing hard!
Well I wasn’t the only one who found the cruise control on the D series
“I had a D series Ford that had a really heavy throttle, it did about 64mph flat out, when going up the motorway I used to wedge the wheelbrace that normally lived behind the driver’s seat between the dash & the throttle, if I needed to brake I could knock the wheelbrace out & hit the middle pedal with one movement, of course traffic volumes were a lot lower than today”
When I told a young lad I’d started working with recently that once I’d sorted the ‘cruise control’ out on the motor I was driving everything was fine
He argued with me for over 1/2 hour that the Eurocargo 7.5 tonner didn’t have cruise control He had never heard of improvisation
Long live cruise control
Regards
Dave Penn;