Adaptive cruise control

[Monobrow]

I have had the new 2023 fiesta active x for a week now but couldn’t get the package I wanted and so wondered if I could get the adaptive cruise control retro fitted by Ford ?

[unofix]

No.

[Monobrow]

On 4/1/2023 at 8:58 PM, unofix said:

No.

Thanks 

 

[DaveT70]

If your car has a radar fitted then you can activate it yourself, with FORScan.

It's not easy, lots of coding in different modules, plus you need to change the steering wheel switches.

But it's doable

[Blatto]

In my opinion you aren't missing much by not having it.

I posted on these forums some time ago about the fact that even on it's longest distance setting (about a 2 second gap) it's still way too close for safety and planning ahead.

I've since moved onto a Mazda 3 which has adpative cruise control and it's longest distance setting is about 2.2 seconds.

I've tried it quite a few times just to see how it works but I can't see why anyone would want to follow the car in front so close. You cant see far enough ahead of the car in front to plan ahead, and it leaves you at the bare minimum stopping distance if anything was to happen.

Strangely the Mazda radar seems to detect the car ahead at about 4-5 seconds gap (shows a symbol on the dash display when a vehicle is detected), which would a much more sensible following distance, but it doesn't maintain any gap until you are about 2 seconds from the car in front.

I've seen You tube videos of some VW models keeping a 4 second gap so it's obvioulsy technically possible.

The other 3 Mazda settings are Suicidally/homicidally way to close, I think the lowest setting on the Mazda is under 1 second.😲

I seem to remember the ford manual referring to it's shortest distance (similar to the Mazda) as "Sport" setting. Should have been called suicidal setting.

 

 

[DaveT70]

10 hours ago, Blatto said:

In my opinion you aren't missing much by not having it.

I posted on these forums some time ago about the fact that even on it's longest distance setting (about a 2 second gap) it's still way too close for safety and planning ahead.

I've since moved onto a Mazda 3 which has adpative cruise control and it's longest distance setting is about 2.2 seconds.

I've tried it quite a few times just to see how it works but I can't see why anyone would want to follow the car in front so close. You cant see far enough ahead of the car in front to plan ahead, and it leaves you at the bare minimum stopping distance if anything was to happen.

Strangely the Mazda radar seems to detect the car ahead at about 4-5 seconds gap (shows a symbol on the dash display when a vehicle is detected), which would a much more sensible following distance, but it doesn't maintain any gap until you are about 2 seconds from the car in front.

I've seen You tube videos of some VW models keeping a 4 second gap so it's obvioulsy technically possible.

The other 3 Mazda settings are Suicidally/homicidally way to close, I think the lowest setting on the Mazda is under 1 second.😲

I seem to remember the ford manual referring to it's shortest distance (similar to the Mazda) as "Sport" setting. Should have been called suicidal setting.

 

 

The car will brake way before you even realise that the brake lights have come on on the car in front

[Blatto]

10 hours ago, DaveT70 said:

The car will brake way before you even realise that the brake lights have come on on the car in front

Yes I realise that, I've had a play with my Mazda radar cruise control. But it still leaves the problem that you can't plan ahead at such short following distances, you cant see far enough ahead to see what's happening.

If there's a a sudden stop ahead of you the car will be doing a full on emergency stop rather than a more gradual controlled stop, if you had a reasonable distance so see ahead and react accordingly. That will also cause problems with the inevitable idiot who is following about 2 cars lengths behind you  on most occasions. He'll just plough into the back of you.

 

[bertj]

Just for info - on VW's (i.e. Golf 7.5) the distance to the vehicle in front can be varied with a steering wheel button. Also a set distance will increase the faster you go.

[DaveT70]

13 hours ago, Blatto said:

That will also cause problems with the inevitable idiot who is following about 2 cars lengths behind you  on most occasions. He'll just plough into the back of you.

Agreed, that's more the issue

[Blatto]

10 hours ago, DaveT70 said:

Agreed, that's more the issue

Yes, that's why I would like a much further following distance than 2.2 seconds (the max in the mazda).

One way of reducing the chances of the idiot behind following too close is to leave a much bigger gap to the car in front.

That way if anything happens in front, you can slow down more gradually and decrease the risk of a rear end collision.

I'm not using mine as I don't think it's with such short folling distances but they could be useful if they incresed the maximum distance to 5 or 6 seconds.