Whilst most of the time the ACC is fabulous thing, the random nature of automated braking when approaching a vehicle can make it a thrilling and exhausting experience.  
 

Does anyone know if you can turn off the adaptive bit and have it operate as a normal cruise control system?  
 

Thankyou. 

Edited 25 March, 20215 yr by Ajdude

I think you can't do that.

You can reduce the distance of the car ahead on the system to the minimum and be careful to step on the the brakes as you wish. One crucial thing, is where you rest your foot when using ACC, because 1 sec of delay on moving your foot to brake pedal in case of system malfunction could be catastrophic.

 

On the other hand I have one case where ACC did the job perfectly, ahead of my reactions and determined the danger seconds before my reaction, BUT I had the bad luck on motorway, where there was a difficult situation ahead of me, which ended to multi cars collision. Before my intervention, I remember myself screaming why ACC doesn't apply breaks? I lost 1 sec and avoided the crash by luck breaking and changing lane at the same time. The car behind me crashed on the pile up. 

 

In conclusion, don't relax on the systems! 

@cppgr Good to hear you're OK and avoided the pile up.

 

And you make a good point. All to easy to forget these are driver Aids - NOT Substitutes

Thanks for  the responses and yes, fully agreed aids, not substitutes and tbh the reason I'd prefer to disable the active part is reduce some of the reliance on the system and maintain the appropriate driver engagement without complacency. 

Closest alternative would be using the speed limiter rather than the ACC. It is a shame you can't turn off the adaptive bit. 

 

Radar in my last car went and couldn't use it at all annoyingly. 

That safety system is there for a purpose, not for decoration or ornament.

 

As cppgr stated it does have a good use, you just need to have the confidence to let it do its thing.

 

As I've said before if you isolate it, so it doesn't work and you're involved in a serious incident where you or third party gets seriously injured, then police investigations may check whether the system was working or not.

 

If they were to find it in a deliberately isolated and they then say it was a contributory factor in the incident, you could find yourself in a very difficult legal situation and possibly facing serious charges, which could incur jail time.

 

These systems are becoming more and more common and standard equipment as the EU tightens its grasp on car equipment regulations, so trying to avoid them will become almost impossible to do and more than likely impossible to manually override, other than by an expert mechanic for technical reasons. 

 

Irritating it maybe, but should the worst happen, it could save your life, your family or friends life and a third party life too.

 

As The Beatles song goes Let it be.

Edited 28 March, 20215 yr by TheWanderer

My impression, after driving my Mk 4 Octavia 1.5 eTEC for a week, is that the ACC will react to vehicles or objects that are not straight ahead (with some unhelpful results) only if you use it with lane assist turned off. Turn on lane assist, and it seems to react only to the road in front (in your lane). 

8 hours ago, MWB said:

My impression, after driving my Mk 4 Octavia 1.5 eTEC for a week, is that the ACC will react to vehicles or objects that are not straight ahead (with some unhelpful results) only if you use it with lane assist turned off. Turn on lane assist, and it seems to react only to the road in front (in your lane). 

 

Thanks. That may explain why I thought mine was a bit erratic in the way it reacted to things, most notably a brick barn close to the side of the road on the outside of a sweeping bend. No white lines and the Lane Assist hadn’t locked on to the muddy verges; ACC slowed the car as I approached the barn. When I get the chance I’ll drive that road again and see if it does the same.

12 hours ago, MWB said:

My impression, after driving my Mk 4 Octavia 1.5 eTEC for a week, is that the ACC will react to vehicles or objects that are not straight ahead (with some unhelpful results) only if you use it with lane assist turned off. Turn on lane assist, and it seems to react only to the road in front (in your lane). 

Thanks.  I will try that.   I’ve a long run on Wednesday so will see how it behaves with the lane assist turned on.