Cruise Control

for me its not that much of a problem.. instead of flicking up (resume) just continue accelerating untill you reach your desired speed and flick down (set)

thats what i do, and its not any more or less of a hassle either way, just a diffrent technique

 

This must be the Toyota way... I've been driving Toyotas for a while and they all have this cruise control behavior.

What I want is a lower speed cruise, easily doable with the HSD, so I could cruise at 20 or 15 through school zones.

That and an adjustable band of speeds, so if it's set at 45, the car speed could range from 40 to 50 without the surge if the speed drops going up a hill, and applying some regen braking if momentum takes the speed up. <_<

 

....

 

There's a good reason they don't allow cruise control below 30 mph. Why? Because people might use it to go 15 to 20 in school zones or other areas where the speed limit is low because children and other pedestrians might walk out into the street.

When the posted speed limit is below 30, there is usually a good reason, such as children/pedestrians entering the road, sharp turns, or whatever. In such situations you should be actively driving the car with your foot on the pedals, ready to stop if necessary. What you should definately not be doing is relaxing with foot away from the pedals and unable to respond quickly.

 

I find the cruise resume feature annoying. But, I get up to speed I want and hit set. It's a Toyota thing. Don't know why they did this.

 

I don't like it either..

Toyota.. are you listning?

 

i use the cruise everyday...i've gotten used to it and find it perfectly fine. but i do recall in other cars having that resume feature....not a huge problem for me tho.

 

Where I live (New York City - Long Island) I have never had a chance to use cruise control. Same goes for "pulse and glide". There is never a time when you are not in very dense traffic and you must be alert to cars in front, behind and beside you. Must be nice to drive an empty road.

 

My 1990 Ford Probe was the same way (except it went down to 25 mph). Using it for nearly 15 years I have no idea there were other ways so I'm used to it. Besides, I just use it on the freeway so there really isn't much of a chance of it going below 30 mph (unless there's a lot of traffic).

Hmmm, that's a thought. If you're on cruise control at 30 mph and you have the Coastal EV switch, what would happen if you pull the stalk for more than 2 seconds? I suppose it would drop out of cruise control and then activate the EV mod.

 

I'm used to Ford cruise and it stores your last known speed to use as resume. Rural highways often times have stoplights at intersections with local roads. If you were driving 60 and have to come to a stop, and after the light you will return to 60, it certainly is nice to just tap resume and have the system lock in. Toyota's logic doesn't work for a lot of the rural U.S. and should be reexamined.

 

There are two design items that drive me nuts on this car. The cruise control, and the ridiculous granularity on the radio volume.

 

I have to agree with you, jeromep. Ford's cruise control did work well . . . . but that's about the only compliment I have for them. I do like the way the Prius cruise control increases and decreases the speed. One push equals one mph. It's very accurate and smooth.

 

Come down, come down off your high horse! In Oregon, many schools have 24/7 20 MPH zones, by state law. Yeah, 2 a.m. driving past the school, you can get busted for driving over 20. I never advocated inattentive driving.

OK, I want a 5 MPH cruise control so I can be in parades... And the Prius cruise control only maintains at about 24 or 25 MPH.

 

Mine always resumes when I get back up to speed, i've even set mine at 25 MPH in a residential zone where there was a cop and it worked just fine (going up a hill).

 

Bill, I believe Toyota is already developing a 0-30 MPH dynamic cruise control. The dynamic cruise controls they have now on the Sienna or their Lexus models are for highway speeds. Due to the traffic they have in Japan, they are developing a low speed cruise control that will actually stop the car for you if the traffic stops. This will be ideal for Los Angeles freeway driving, especially on a Friday afternoon. Imagine setting the car's max speed to 70, and never having to do anything for the rest of your freeway trip except steer the damn thing. Sah-weet!

Oh, and this will probably be Japan only like their automatic parallel parking. Bastards!!!

 

But they have IPA in Europe, too! It's just us Americans that they think can't handle the advanced technology. And aparently they can't tell the difference between the US and Canada, so the Canucks get swept up in the "no IPA" net, too. Same deal with the EV button. The Canadians do get the auto headlights, though.

 

How about the self driving cars where you don't even have to steer?

 

One thing I really like about Toyota's cruise control is the ability to change your speed in 1 mile/hr increments; tap down once (set) to reduce speed by 1 mile/hr, tap up (resume) once to increase by 1 mile/hr. Since discovering this, I find myself using this feature quite often. I don't recall if this is talked about in the manual.

Rick S