DANGER/Adaptive Cruise Control Malfunction

Bamacommander · September 16, 2021

Had my cruise set on 75 going down the highway and came upon a Semi truck, the adaptive cruise didn’t slow me down like it normally does. All of a sudden my seat vibrated , a bell went off, and a message came across the screen saying that the adaptive cruise temporarily unavailable. Immediately , put the foot on the brake and missed ramming into the back of the Semi. Not fun! Turned off the cruise then back on again , 10 minutes later another malfunction with no cars in front of me. Called the dealership to see if there was a recall or TSB, they were unaware of one. My truck is 2 months old with 2600 miles. This is a serious issue , came close to getting into a very serious accident. Taking the truck in on Monday , which is the first appointment I could get after calling several dealerships. I do a lot of highway driving and I need to be able to rely on my vehicle, this is not a good situation . GM if you read this please respond and let me know how I can get in touch with someone regarding this.

AirForceAngler · September 16, 2021

Just because you have adaptive cruise doesn't mean you don't have to pay attention to your surroundings and safely operate your vehicle.

10 minutes ago, Bamacommander said:

I do a lot of highway driving and I need to be able to rely on my vehicle, this is not a good situation .

It's Tim · September 16, 2021

46 minutes ago, AirForceAngler said:

Just because you have adaptive cruise doesn't mean you don't have to pay attention to your surroundings and safely operate your vehicle.

Correct answer.

shakenfake · September 16, 2021

Obviously he was paying attention to his surroundings, he didn't hit the semi truck.

Comments like these don't help the man. If what he says is true then this is something that needs to be addressed by GM.

AirForceAngler · September 16, 2021

5 minutes ago, shakenfake said:

Obviously he was paying attention to his surroundings, he didn't hit the semi truck.

Comments like these don't help the man. If what he says is true then this is something that needs to be addressed by GM.

"All of a sudden my seat vibrated , a bell went off, and a message came across the screen saying that the adaptive cruise temporarily unavailable. Immediately , put the foot on the brake and missed ramming into the back of the Semi. "

That's not what it sounds like to me. Sounds like panic braking.

KARNUT · September 16, 2021

I don’t use it on freeways only two lane roads. I find myself while paying attention like usual going slower behind slower vehicles. The slow down is so seamless. Where as regular cruise you know when Your approaching a vehicle. I lose my flow. Two lanes it’s more relaxing.

Silverado4x4 · September 16, 2021

15 minutes ago, AirForceAngler said:

"All of a sudden my seat vibrated , a bell went off, and a message came across the screen saying that the adaptive cruise temporarily unavailable. Immediately , put the foot on the brake and missed ramming into the back of the Semi. "

That's not what it sounds like to me. Sounds like panic braking.

I agree 100% so I guess if he hit the truck it would have been GMs fault. People think with all these features they can just sit back and read a book while driving down the road.

shakenfake · September 16, 2021

20 minutes ago, AirForceAngler said:

"All of a sudden my seat vibrated , a bell went off, and a message came across the screen saying that the adaptive cruise temporarily unavailable. Immediately , put the foot on the brake and missed ramming into the back of the Semi. "

That's not what it sounds like to me. Sounds like panic braking.

Did he hit the semi? He felt the vibration and the bell went off and to top it all off he read the screen. I think he must have been paying some attention

Edit: I'm willing to bet "Barely missed the semi", is he is a couple car lengths away and is exaggerating.

Edited September 16, 2021 by shakenfake

Bamacommander · September 16, 2021

Are you guys nuts. I was able to avoid the truck because I was paying attention. It wasn’t a panic situation , but it was a close call. The adaptive cruise is supposed to be a safety feature . Right now mine is not . They have all these technology features so as to make the vehicle safer to drive. I wanted to alert others of a potential serious issue with regard to this matter, and see if anyone else has had any problems. Try to avoid speculating as to what I did or didn’t do because you weren’t in the truck with me when this happened and more then likely your getting it wrong .

tstone06 · September 16, 2021

It has happened to me a couple times, never when coming up on a vehicle but just driving down a 2 lane road. All the same alerts that went off for you. It was unavailable for about 10 minutes one time then the other was probably only a minute.

It's Tim · September 16, 2021

44 minutes ago, Bamacommander said:

Are you guys nuts. I was able to avoid the truck because I was paying attention. It wasn’t a panic situation , but it was a close call. The adaptive cruise is supposed to be a safety feature . Right now mine is not . They have all these technology features so as to make the vehicle safer to drive. I wanted to alert others of a potential serious issue with regard to this matter, and see if anyone else has had any problems. Try to avoid speculating as to what I did or didn’t do because you weren’t in the truck with me when this happened and more then likely your getting it wrong .

https://www.caranddriver.com/research/a32813983/adaptive-cruise-control/

What Is Adaptive Cruise Control?

"These sensory technologies allow the car to detect and warn the driver about potential forward collisions. When this happens, red lights begin to flash, and the phrase 'brake now!' appears on the dashboard to help the driver slow down. There might also be an audible warning."

calgator73 · September 16, 2021

Thankfully you did not wreck your truck. I have had very similar experiences with the adaptive cruise control.

Most commonly it is when the sun is very low on the horizon and blinding the camera sensor. Other times it is in high fog conditions or other conditions of extremely reduced visibility. Any kind of ice buildup directly in front of the camera will also disable your adaptive cruise.

It may not actually be a system malfunction it may actually be a limitation of the camera based system I think there's a warning about this in the owner's manual too I'll have to look it up later.

One thing I didn't think of is closure rate...with good visibility and moderate closure rates on the highway it really does work well. High closure rates...it does freak out.

Good luck

Edited September 16, 2021 by calgator73

It's Tim · September 16, 2021

3 minutes ago, calgator73 said:

Thankfully you did not wreck your truck. I have had very similar experiences with the adaptive cruise control.

Most commonly it is when the sun is very low on the horizon and blinding the camera sensor. Other times it is in high fog conditions or other conditions of extremely reduced visibility. Any kind of ice buildup directly in front of the camera will also disable your adaptive cruise.

It may not actually be a system malfunction it may actually be a limitation of the camera based system I think there's a warning about this in the owner's manual too I'll have to look it up later.

Good luck

Using any type of cruise control while driving in fog or on ice is probably the cause of 100+ vehicle pile-ups that always end up on the news.

AlaskaErik · September 16, 2021

I never once had a problem with the radar adaptive cruise control in my car. Although it rarely gets used, the two camera Subaru Eyesight system in my wife's Outback has always worked flawlessly. I always thought it was a bad idea to have an ACC system based on one camera. GM dropped the ball on this.