Please tell me if you think this is true?

I wonder how many people know about this? A 36 year old female had an accident several weeks ago and Totaled her car. A resident of Kilgore, Texas she was traveling between Gladewater & Kilgore. It was raining,though not excessively, when her car suddenly began to hydro-plane and literally flew through the air. She was not seriously injured but very stunned at the sudden occurrence!

When she explained to the highway patrolman what had happened he told her something that every driver should know - NEVER DRIVE IN THE RAIN WITH YOUR CRUISE CONTROL ON. She thought she was being cautious by setting the cruise control and maintaining a safe consisten t speed in the rain.

But the highway patrolman told her that if the cruise control is on when your car begins to hydro-plane and your tires lose contact with the pavement, your car will accelerate to a higher rate of speed making you take off like an airplane. She told the patrolman that was exactly what had occurred.

The patrolman said this warning should be listed, on the driver's seat sun-visor - NEVER USE THE CRUISE CONTROL WHEN THE PAVEMENT IS WET OR ICY, along with the airbag warning. We tell our teenagers to set the cruise control and drive a safe speed - but we don't tell them to use the cruise control only when the pavement is dry.

The only person the accident victim found, who knew this (besides the patrolman), was a man who had had a similar accident, totaled his car
and sustained severe injuries.


I've never heard this before today and I can't decide if it really makes sense.

I also "snopesed" it for you:

http://www.snopes.com/autos/techno/wetroad.asp

Although some of the valid info has gotten garbled apparently.

Snopes.com

(that exact story---Kilgore TX) BUT the long and short is that they say it's probably a good idea NOT to use your cruise control under conditions like that. So...kinda' true, but that exact story might be apocryphal story.

how cruise control works. http://www.autoeducation.com/blog/item/741/

Even though a clutch or brake is depressed, the control may take quite a lot longer. And in an emergency situation, a half second is like an eternity. That's one possible explanation.

:-)

I had heard of that already though. I know somebody who went through an intersection and took out a streetlight. At a low rate of speed initially, and a high one after the car decided it was time to go.

I mean, I'm sure it was considered, right?

I have no idea about the girl from Texas, but the part about the cruise control killing you on slick roads is absolutely correct, I see it every winter, especially when people are driving SUVs.

I drive a truck over-the-road, averaging 140,000 miles/yr for the last 15 years. Probably 100,000 of those miles every year are with my cruise control engaged.

Not on slick (or potentially slick) roads.