Having used this quite a few times now, I feel that I can not stop myself from ■■■■■■■■ about it any longer.
I nearly ended up being rear ended by some absolute ■■■ in a car transporter on a Motorway, I was running at 85 clicks as I normally do (Allows for easier overtaking both sides of the fence) and the number of times this ■■■■■■■■■■■■■ decides to slow down as I am near the top of a hill whilst in lane 2 is pathetic. Anyways, the transporter was following me too close and he wasn’t expecting my vehicle to drop 5-7 km/h as it was about to go downhill, god knows why he didn’t pull out before as I would have cancelled cruise til he was past. Anyways he didn’t and nearly rear ended me, violently swerved into lane 2 and came past blasting the horns and offered me some coffee… all because of this ■■■■ that allegedly saves fuel.
You can over ride it by putting it in AP/MP mode, but then it drops down gears when going up hill when it doesn’t need to and gives you a ■■■■ driver score. What happened to the Driver Driving the vehicle?
Its OK when going along an empty motorway, but NOT when it is busy, when the GVW is less than 25 tonnes (you end up slowing down even when you are free wheeling), when you are overtaking, when you are being overtaken or even after you have overtaken.
I had the Merc version of this (PPC) on a demo a few months ago and thought it was a good piece of kit. Never had any problems or felt it was dangerous in any way. If I was in lane 2, presumably overtaking someone, I would knock the CC off so the truck didn’t slow down near the top of the hill. Problem solved.
With driving becoming so involved, it’s almost as if they’re trying to justify getting rid of the driver. Hmm, time for a conspiracy theory. Driverless vehicle convoys…?
damoq:
I had the Merc version of this (PPC) on a demo a few months ago and thought it was a good piece of kit. Never had any problems or felt it was dangerous in any way. If I was in lane 2, presumably overtaking someone, I would knock the CC off so the truck didn’t slow down near the top of the hill. Problem solved.
Yep, and knock the cruise off until you are a good way from the vehicle, knock off the cruise when you have someone behind you, knock off the cruise in heavy traffic… infact, just KNOCK OFF THE CRUISE ALL TOGETHER!
As I said in the last post, running empty you lose about 5-7km/h climbing the last bit of the hill, then you keep loosing clicks going down the hill as you have no weight to push you down. Surely a system like this would have been set up to know the difference between a loaded and empty trailer.
Also, it is more dangerous for the tossers behind you that sit all the way up your arse end not expecting your CC to cancel as you hit the top of a hill (Like Mr Car Transporter)
Wouldn’t you drop out of cruise when circs requires a lorry driver not a box of tricks.
It’s not dangerous per se unless left to its own devices, like all this electronic crap they should be used when of benefit, and not left permanently engaged to take control of the lorry when a driver should have taken over.
Pity the poor transporter driver-on-a-mission, sounds like another bulging eyed half wit that won’t need to worry about collecting his pension, he’ll not be around to receive it.
damoq:
I’m sure you can change the settings a bit. You can adjust it so it doesn’t loose too much speed at the top of a hill.
You can put it into AP/MP Mode which changes down to 11 on the slightest gradient as well as gives you a ■■■■ driver score on the Scrapia Telematics (Which bonuses are paid from) - Hardly fuel efficient either
You can run in A or M which will go from 85 to 78-89
OR
You can run in AE or ME which will go from 85 to 75 - 89
Does the SAP still increase your speed before going up a hill if you are in 50mph road works? As most of the UKs roads now have this “Road works” feature you might as well deactivate it otherwise a NIP will be landing in your doormat
I had a new streamline on demo and found that feature really annoying that it would drop the power before you had topped the hill, fortunately I don’t have to adhere to any fuel bonus scheme so I just cancelled it out.
We have PPC on our Actros’. As a whole I quite like it. I set it to 85km/h +4 so the engine brake kicks in at 90 to prevent any overspeeds. Even going downhill in a loaded double decker it still never went above 90. Unlike the old Actros which just roll and roll and …
In Auto Economy mode you can adjust the under run speed down to -3km/h so at the top of a hill it will slow to 82 then pick up speed on the way back down. You can switch this off if running in normal Auto mode but as I’m not in any rush I leave it on.
And Scania are not to blame for this incident, the ■■■■■■■■ transporter moron is. If knocking off cruise nearly resulted in a rear end collision what would he have done if you had to slam on ■■?
But he knew 100% you weren’t going to slam on didn’t he, he was one of those special drivers who I see every day who can see into the future.
Our Mercs are hit n miss. Some work fine and others seem to wipe when they feel like it. You can ditch the sensor and set the speed yourself if you like. Switch off, wait 4 seconds then switch back on for a 4 second gap etc etc.
I had a demo euro 6 XF a few months back that had anti collision sensors on the front, when I was coming up to slip roads off of duals/m’ways I had to be alert incase it hoyed the anchors on thinking I was going to rear end someone, even though they weren’t in my lane. First time it did this was scary as hell, if anyone was up my arse they would have been in the back of me. All these gadgets need to have abit better fine tuning. Hopefully before they go fully auto with no driver I will be in my box or atleast retired.
The Actros I use copes well, I set it for 82kph + 6 on m’ways, 80 + 4 on DC’s and 65 + 2 on SC’s. Usually have to intervene now and agin to drop it down a gear a bit early when faced with a steeper incline fully freighted but all in all it works quite well. Oh it will do 84 but i save 2 kph for an overtake + I’m payed by the hour so bollox
Switch the CC off in roadworks though as cars tend to panic and pull in front then slam the brakes on.
Apologies to anyone behind me on an SC when I’m doing spot on 40mph but thats the legal limit till next year and I’m sticking to it.
I have noticed I control the trucks speed more with the right hand stalk than the foot pedal.
Radar19:
I’m confused. What does this thing actually do?
I’m guessin it reads the up and down bits on roads and automatically computes the power / engine retardation required based on load and upcoming incline / descent.
Unfortunately it needs some fine tuning as it cuts the power off too early, instead of waiting for when you reach the top of the hill ready for the down bit and letting her go a little it decides to cut the power off before the crest is reached and stuff.
Radar19:
I’m confused. What does this thing actually do?
I’m guessin it reads the up and down bits on roads and automatically computes the power / engine retardation required based on load and upcoming incline / descent.
Unfortunately it needs some fine tuning as it cuts the power off too early, instead of waiting for when you reach the top of the hill ready for the down bit and letting her go a little it decides to cut the power off before the crest is reached and stuff.
But what do i know
It cuts back early to save some fuel. It trys to let your momentum take you up the last part of a hill and down the other side using as little fuel as possible. Its not designed to get you from A to B in the quickest possible time, but instead to get you there using the least amount of diesel.
damoq:
It cuts back early to save some fuel. It trys to let your momentum take you up the last part of a hill and down the other side using as little fuel as possible. Its not designed to get you from A to B in the quickest possible time, but instead to get you there using the least amount of diesel.
Gets a thumbs up from me then, but it would still feel a bit strange lifting off too early. I know fuel economy is king but surely after struggling to get to the top of the hill I would rather have a bit of the power curve to spare to get over the top to start the decent.
I’ll admit it doesn’t feel right when it backs out near the top of the climb. But the fuel returns prove that the technology works. We had an Actros on demo for a week in June. It done a Glasgow to Leicester trunk at night with a loaded DD and I used it doing multi drop round Glasgow also with a DD during the day. It averaged 9.5mpg which was well over 1mpg better than anything else in our fleet.
Dipper_Dave:
damoq:
It cuts back early to save some fuel. It trys to let your momentum take you up the last part of a hill and down the other side using as little fuel as possible. Its not designed to get you from A to B in the quickest possible time, but instead to get you there using the least amount of diesel.
Gets a thumbs up from me then, but it would still feel a bit strange lifting off too early. I know fuel economy is king but surely after struggling to get to the top of the hill I would rather have a bit of the power curve to spare to get over the top to start the decent.
