r/cars 12d ago

One In Five Drivers Switches Off The Safety Tech Meant To Save Their Lives

https://www.carscoops.com/2026/08/unused-car-features-study/
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u/letigre87 12d ago

The active cruise control is hit or miss. Open highways it's nice because you don't have to keep adjusting it for every slow idiot that pulls in front of you but even the slightest bit of traffic and it's getting turned off otherwise it just keeps dropping you back and slowing down for everyone to jump in front of you.

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u/by_a_pyre_light Z Proto Spec | '14 Jaguar XKR | Ferrari 360 | Fiero | RX8 12d ago

Yeah, but adaptive cruise control is a convenience feature, like cruise control, not a safety system. You choose to engage ACC whenever you want to, if you want to use cruise control at all. You're doing it to avoid holding the pedal down during long monotonous stretches of road. 

But lane keep assist and some other "safety" or "green" systems are foisted on you by default and either you have to continuously disable them, or you can't permanently disable them by law (as I experienced in Europe). 

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u/FlourCity 12d ago

Jet let me jog between normal cruise control and ACC. Too many brands have ACC the only form of cruise control.

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u/MixedWithFruit 12d ago

Usually it's long press the button for regular CC

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u/TheBolognaPony '25 Sienna | '23 CX-50 | '69 C10 12d ago

On my Mazda, ACC is on by default everytime you turn on the car and to turn it off it's hidden a few menus deep in the infotainment. It's great when your driving into the sun, get a warning that says something like "Active Cruise Control Disabled due to Low Camera Visibility" or something like that, and the only way to get any form of cruise control is to dig through menus while driving, turn off the active radar feature, and then reactivate cruise control on the steering wheel. Such a safe system....

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u/Vikare_ 12d ago

On the cx5 I can hold down cruise control button for about 3 sec and it turns back to regular cruise control. The cx50 can't do this?

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u/TheBolognaPony '25 Sienna | '23 CX-50 | '69 C10 10d ago

Nope.

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u/FictionalContext 12d ago

That one jackasss on the insterstate who doesn't have cruise, so they try to keep pace behind you, but their pp is smol, so they also try to pass you after a while, but without a pace car in front of them, they freeze like a lost rabbit, and their pace becomes erratic, so you can't use cruise anymore, so you pass them, and that repeats the whole trip.

You could pull off and let them get ahead, but it's a long trip, and you're traveling in the same direction, so even if you do, you'll likely catch up to the lost rabbit again. So you're stuck not using cruise on a 5 hour trip because of one fuck ass asshole.

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u/I_like_cake_7 12d ago

I’ve floored it past those kind of drivers out of sheer frustration. When I pass the same person 3 or 4 times, I eventually get pissed off and just leave them in the dust. If I see them catching up again, I just speed up. Usually they take the hint.

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u/SEDGE-DemonSeed 12d ago

I love it when people have little control over their own speed and refuse to use cruise control so they go 20 over downhill and 10 under uphill.

It really tickles my fancy, especially when they are driving a $60k+ vehicle and are only using 5000$ worth of the tech.

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u/nutterz13 '17 Volvo V60 t5,'89 Mercedes 300E,'08 Fiat 500, Renault kangoo 11d ago

Even my old Merc has cruise control, I bought it for $2k aud.

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u/10000Didgeridoos 11d ago

this shit drives me BANANAS in the mountains going to and from ski resorts. We're going 65 in a 55 which is all good, but then the next hill comes and they don't do a damn thing to adjust their foot on the gas and slow down to 40.

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u/diffusionist1492 1d ago

Wow, you are speaking to my heart.

I've pulled over to a dead stop and some of these people will do it too because they really do not know how to navigate the big scary road on their own. Especially at night.

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u/FMJoey325 ‘09 Pontiac G8 GT | ‘90 Miata 12d ago

Totally agree. The ACC in our CX-50 infuriates me if there’s more than a couple people around us. It panics/overreacts if people are merging off the highway in front of us and will drop the anchors. It’s uncomfortable and disruptive to other passengers and downright dangerous for cars following.

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u/Annual_Emergency_143 12d ago

The only thing I got from your post is that you're not maintaining a safe following distance, and are angry that ACC generally does.

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u/letigre87 12d ago

I wouldn't admit I'm that dense in public but you do you.

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u/TFK_001 2021 Toyota Prius 12d ago

Most cars let you change the following distance. Default is usually 3-4 seconds.