Cruise control has been around since the Sixties, but it has evolved as the car around it has evolved.  It’s useful for long, punishing drives, such as one I took just yesterday from northern New Jersey to Long Beach Island.  That said, there are some times when it’s useful, and others when it should be avoided.

It’s not hard to use cruise control, so I’ll keep this part brief.  Turn on the switch, find the speed at which you are comfortable on the highway, and hit the toggle switch (whether it is behind the steering wheel or on the wheel itself) to set the car for that speed.  Some will use the gas pedal itself to control your speed (an unnatural feeling if you naturally rest your foot on the gas), and others may use a set of sensors that don’t move the pedal.  As most know, hitting the brakes deactivates cruise control, and hitting “Resume” afterwards will put you back to the former speed selected.  It’s a pretty simple thing to use, but there’s another form of cruise control that’s been getting my attention to some extent.

Radar-guided, or adaptive, cruise control, revolves around the other cars on the road.  This will maintain a following distance as opposed to a set velocity.  It’s useful, but not my cup of tea, as I’d rather have the control over how far away I am from another car.  All that being said, though, it can be useful to avoid tailgating or to keep pace with the rest of the cars on a highway.

There are some times where cruise control is simply not ideal, though.  If you’re looking to control your speed, cruise control should obviously be avoided.  THat said, because cruise control attempt to keep your speed constant even on the most minor of elevation changes, fuel economy suffers too–so if you’re on a quest to make the most MPG out of whatever you have, I suggest not using cruise.  It’s also not the smartest thing to use when the weather gets wet.  In the rain, because you’ve given up the gas pedal to a computer, your control over the car’s speed and your sense of grip lessens–so if you start hydroplaning with the cruise control activated, it might be more of a challenge to bring the car back under control.  In fact, you might not notice hydroplaning until the front or rear of the car goes out of control–and if you’re at 70MPH with the cruise control on, that’s not at all a safe situation.  Snow and ice?  Just don’t even think about it–that loss of control is all the more drastic on those surfaces. Cruise control is a pretty useful device, but knowing how, where, and when to use it is imperative.

-Al