Cruise Control's Contradictory Effects
By Sara Hoffman
There is many a beauty about using cruise control while driving long distances – it prevents speeding tickets, gives the foot a rest, and can save gas. Drivers may think it will ease driving in bad weather conditions, but rainy weather is one case where relying too heavily on cruise control can have the opposite effect.
If your car does begin to hydroplane (meaning that the tires actually rise up on top of the water like water skis), braking is the worst thing to do – and yet it is the most commonly used way to disable cruise control. Cruise control also maintains the speed of your car while you’re trying to decrease speed without hitting the brakes. The safest thing to do if it begins to rain even a little bit, is to disable cruise control. If you lose control of the car, decrease speed by taking your foot off the gas and regain control before using the brakes.
Driving in rainy conditions is no time to be on auto-pilot, hydroplaning can literally make a vehicle take off instantaneously like an airplane if speed isn’t reduced. The risk of driving with cruise control in the rain isn’t worth taking. Though it’s not as well-known as it should be, this risk is serious enough that some cars, like the 2010 Toyota Sienna Limited XLE, won’t let you set the cruise control when the windshield wipers are on.
Source: The National Safety Commission
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