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Mobility
in city driving; heavy traffic such as during
rush hour; on curvy, winding roads, slip-
pery roads or roads with sharp curves such
as highway off-ramps; during inclement
weather such as snow, strong rain or fog;
or when entering interchanges, service/
parking areas or toll booths. It is also
important to regulate your vehicle's speed
and distance setting within applicable legal
limits. Always be ready to take action or
apply the brakes if necessary, especially
when the system is actively following a
vehicle in front of you.<
Always remember that the range and
ability of the system does have physi-
cal limitations. It will not apply the brakes or
decelerate your vehicle when there is a
slow-moving vehicle, stopped vehicle or
stationary object ahead of you, as for
example, at a traffic light or a parked vehi-
cle. Also, the system does not react to
oncoming traffic, pedestrians or other type
of potential traffic such as a rider on horse-
back. It is also possible that the system
may not detect smaller moving objects
such as motorcycles or bicycles. Be espe-
cially alert when encountering any of these
situations as the system will neither auto-
matically brake, nor provide a warning to
you. Also, be aware that every decrease in
the distance setting allows your vehicle to
come closer to a vehicle in front of you and
requires a heightened amount of alert-
ness.<
If while your vehicle is actively following a
vehicle in front of you and the vehicle
ahead speeds up or the lane ahead
becomes clear, then your vehicle will
accelerate to the speed you have selected.
Be aware that changing to a clear, unob-
st r uc ted lan e w il l als o r esu lt in y ou r v eh icle
accelerating.
Be certain to deactivate the system
when you pull into an exit lane for a
highway off-ramp.<
Also, vehicles traveling in a staggered man-
ner on a highway may cause a delay in the
system's reaction to a vehicle in front of you
or may cause the system to react to a vehi-
cle actually in the lane next to you. Always be ready to take action or apply the brakes
if necessary.
Active cruise control can only decelerate
the vehicle to approx. 20 mph/30 km/h. If
the system reduces vehicle speed below
20 mph/30 km/h or if DSC/ABS is engaged
while driving, the system will automatically
deactivate.
Remember, the system cannot stop
your vehicle. In addition, the system is
deactivated whenever the driver applies
the vehicle brakes, shifts the transmission
from drive/D to neutral/N, or deactivates
DSC. After any deactivation, the system will
no longer automatically activate the vehicle
brakes, which means the driver must inter-
vene and resume manual braking. You
should then reactivate the system only
when you are fully aware of the prior speed
and distance settings.<
Active cruise control may brake when you
reduce the stored desired speed; however,
the driver must constantly monitor traffic
and intervene if necessary.
When you switch off the engine or ignition,
active cruise control is fully switched off,
too, and any settings you have selected are
canceled.
Behavior in curves
Because of the limited range of the system,
it is possible that in curves or on the peaks
and valleys of hilly roads, a vehicle ahead
may be recognized late, or not at all. There-
fore, it is up to the driver to select a speed
that is prudent in view of the curves and
terrain of the roadway.
Driving
80 In approaching a curve, it is possible that
active cruise control would react briefly to
a vehicle in the adjacent lane. In addition,
the system can sense if your vehicle is in
a curve and may not accelerate. If your
vehicle decelerates in either case, you can
choose to overcome the deceleration by
briefly pressing the accelerator pedal.
Driver interventions
Remember actions by the driver
always supersede and take priority
over the system's automatic actions. Any-
time the driver presses down on the accel-
erator pedal, any automatic braking action
by the system is interrupted until the pedal
is fully released. After doing this, release
the accelerator and the system again con-
trols your cruising speed and distance set-
ting. While driving with activated system,
resting your foot on the accelerator pedal
will cause the system not to brake even if
necessary. Be certain that floormats or
other objects on the vehicle floor do not
interfere with movement of the accelerator
pedal.<
While active cruise control is capable
of braking your vehicle automatically
when you approach a slower vehicle
ahead, it is important to be aware that the
ability of the system to apply the brakes is
also limited, if you are driving down a steep
grade or when you reduce your desired
speed sharply. The system cannot stop
your vehicle. It uses only a portion of brak-
ing system capacity and does not utilize the
full capacity of the vehicle braking system.
Therefore, the system cannot decrease
your speed for large differences in speed
between your vehicle and the vehicle ahead. Examples: during emergency brak-
ing, when you approach a vehicle traveling
at a much lower speed than your own
speed such as approaching a toll booth or
when a much slower vehicle cuts in front of
you at close range.<
Whenever active cruise control
recognizes a situation that
requires driver braking because
the system capacity has been
reached or has been exceeded,
the system alerts the driver by flashing this
symbol in the instrument cluster and
sounding a chime.
Swerving vehicles
When a vehicle moves from an adjacent
lane into your lane, active cruise control will
not recognize this vehicle until it is fully in
your lane ahead of your vehicle.
Malfunctions
The build-up of foreign material, e. g.,
snow, ice, dirt, road debris, etc., can lead
to reduced detection performance of active
cruise control. You should check the sen-
sor under the front bumper and clean it as
necessary prior to driving your vehicle.
If the sensor becomes covered by foreign
material or has a malfunction, it is possible
that the sensor will no longer be able to
detect vehicles in front of you. After the
system recognizes that the sensor is no
longer functional, a message is displayed in
the Check Control and an acoustic signal is
emitted, refer to page83. Also observe the
additional information provided in the Con-
trol Center.