Adaptive cruise almost caused an accident

RUN-8 · Saturday at 1:30 PM

lcat63 said:
Was following a pickup towing a landscaping trailer. On a rural 4 lane highway, with a grass median. I was in the right lane, behind the pickup. Original speed was 58, and there was a red traffic light ahead. The truck started slowing down, as did I. There was a small Hyundai stopped at the intersection in front of the truck. The left lane was open beside the Hyundai, and the truck abruptly swerved into the left lane. The speed was approximately 40 MPH when the truck changed lanes. With the stopped Hyundai directly in front of me, the adaptive cruise did not continue to brake. It apparently didn’t detect the Hyundai at all, so I got on the brakes as hard as I could. Stopped with a foot and change to spare, but if I hadn’t hit the brakes hard, I’m pretty convinced I would have plowed into the stopped car. I’ve got the following distance set to the maximum, and it still comes in a little hot for my tastes with stopped traffic ahead. So just when my confidence in adaptive cruise was getting pretty good, this happened. Bottom line, you better have decent reflexes because you don’t get much warning when things don’t go right.

Why in the hell are you using cruise control approaching a traffic light controlled intersection?

bluebullet · Saturday at 2:15 PM

Nostr0m0 said:
IDK if I'd call this a failure of the LC or not, more so a failure on the driver's part. I would never ever trust cruise control to handle stationary traffic at stoplights.

My USAA Safe Driving app reports hard braking which can be caused by me avoiding bad behavior of other drivers, e.g. unannounced U turns in city traffic. Adaptive Cruise can put you to sleep b/c you rely on it too much.

Doggman1525 · Saturday at 4:28 PM

lcat63 said:
Yeah, the big takeaway is don’t let your guard down. If this was early on, I would have been on the brakes out of caution. But you get used to something working, and assume it will. And we all know what happens when we assume.

A close call is just a passing grade in the University of Life.

lcat63 · Saturday at 6:20 PM

PDPete said:
My take is that adaptive cruise control is not meant to be “auto drive”…yeah, it’s pretty “smart”, but not really intended for use in stop and go traffic like that…what likely happened was that when the pickup cleared your path the LC started to resume its set cruising speed because it didn’t have enough time to process the stopped vehicle ahead.

I’m a big fan of the adaptive cruise control on these, but if I’m coming up to an intersection or red light, I’m applying the brakes manually…hell, I’ll disengage CC even if I’m just coming up on heavier, less predictable traffic on the highway.

This was on a rural stretch of highway. A single intersection with a traffic light. It didn't accelerate when the lead vehicle moved left. It didn't do anything at all (including continuing to gently brake). It apparently didn't detect that there was another stopped vehicle ahead after the lead vehicle moved. I was waiting for it to slow down, almost too long. It's never failed to do so. Now that I know it can't be trusted, I'll adjust my driving accordingly.

I've been through the manual multiple times following this. No applicable warnings to how my vehicle was being operated. No distractions - I watched it all happen.

Area 51 · Saturday at 6:48 PM

OMFG, wishing ones life away on future tech that is in its infancy.

Nostr0m0 · Sunday at 4:05 AM

lcat63 said:
This was on a rural stretch of highway. A single intersection with a traffic light. It didn't accelerate when the lead vehicle moved left. It didn't do anything at all (including continuing to gently brake). It apparently didn't detect that there was another stopped vehicle ahead after the lead vehicle moved. I was waiting for it to slow down, almost too long. It's never failed to do so. Now that I know it can't be trusted, I'll adjust my driving accordingly.

I've been through the manual multiple times following this. No applicable warnings to how my vehicle was being operated. No distractions - I watched it all happen.

I'm just glad you didn't hurt anyone else while learning that you should be the one to be driving when you're behind the wheel and not the cruise control.

Alpha Puppy · Sunday at 4:30 AM

Geez, give the guy a break. One of the main reasons I've liked this forum so far is the maturity of its members and lack of bullying and other typical Internet antisocial behavior. Some of you guys are undoing that. Get a grip. The OP was just relaying an experience in which the tech did not behave as expected and all of a sudden he is public enemy number one? Sheesh. You all should take a chill pill.

HarvLC · Sunday at 5:49 AM

I think much of the reaction was prompted by his chosen title for the thread and the implied lack of humility & responsibility. Sadly, that has been a growing problem in this forum.

Phillyfisher · Sunday at 7:55 AM

Appreciate the OP posting this- any first hand knowledge of how the adaptive cruise control behaves in real life is helpful to all. A similar situation could easily arise on a highway where someone darts out of a lane with slowed traffic ahead. It is unfortunate that he is being berated for word choice and for be willing to admit he was too trusting of the adaptive cruise control.

ultane · Sunday at 8:39 AM

lcat63 said:
The truck moved out of the way, and I was waiting for the braking to resume.

I have noticed the same phenomena.

So I changed the way I use Adaptive Cruise Control, staying alert at all times.

Just because you are using Adaptive Cruise Control, doesn’t mean that you can’t apply the brakes, yourself. Why wait?

But your thread title makes you seem like a drama queen.

Area 51 · Sunday at 8:40 AM

ultane · Sunday at 8:44 AM

lcat63 said:
I'll adjust my driving accordingly.

Good choice…

ultane · Sunday at 8:45 AM

Area 51 said:
View attachment 35751

Gotta love internet forums..

Area 51 · Sunday at 8:46 AM

Idiots, this thread should be titled, Adaptive Stupidity, maybe just fixed stupidity not even adaptive.

ultane · Sunday at 8:55 AM

Area 51 said:
Idiots, this thread should be titled, Adaptive Stupidity, maybe just fixed stupidity not even adaptive.
View attachment 35753

You’re definitely ‘on a roll’.

Maybe had a little too much coffee this morning?

Area 51 · Sunday at 9:25 AM

Virginia must be a really easy state to get a driver's license, no common sense required.

HarvLC · Sunday at 10:02 AM

Phillyfisher said:
It is unfortunate that he is being berated for word choice and for be willing to admit he was too trusting of the adaptive cruise control.

One, blaming Toyota vs oneself doesn’t simply result from hasty word choice. Two, when reading the original post, I really don’t see any meaningful admission. If it were instead prefaced with a “I should have known better, but…”, this thread would have concluded much sooner.

RUN-8 · Sunday at 12:41 PM

ultane said:
You’re definitely ‘on a roll’.

Maybe had a little too much coffee this morning?

There is no such thing as “too much” coffee.

A person can also never have too many books, too much good whiskey, or too much ammunition.

EOD Guy · Sunday at 2:11 PM

RUN-8 said:
There is no such thing as “too much” coffee.

A person can also never have too many books, too much good whiskey, or too much ammunition.

You didn't mention the most important of them all........ "Too much common sense"

Midwest Duo · Sunday at 6:07 PM

HarvLC said:
I think much of the reaction was prompted by his chosen title for the thread and the implied lack of humility & responsibility. Sadly, that has been a growing problem in this forum.

Yes. And OP could change the title and add in a little humility and responsibility. Jus sayin.