# Adaptive Cruise Control



## joemarcum (Jun 2, 2017)

Curious if any new owners have tried out the adaptive cruise control ... looking for commentary on how this works in stop-go traffic. This would be a first VW for me, although I had a 2005 Audi A4 previously. 

Perhaps other VW owners could comment if the adaptive cruise is in Atlas is the same as other VW implementations.


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## truckasaurus1 (Jun 23, 2015)

Works really well on the highway, pretty much the same as with other vehicles I've driven. I only tried stop and go once, and it did slow down and ultimately stop the car. When the car in front got moving again, it didn't immediately start up again (i don't know if it was waiting longer of if its designed to make the driver intervene) so i tapped the gas and it went going again. I didn't wait longer because i wasn't sure how it was supposed to work and I didn't want to be "that" guy in traffic.


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## utsava (Jun 5, 2002)

truckasaurus1 said:


> Works really well on the highway, pretty much the same as with other vehicles I've driven. I only tried stop and go once, and it did slow down and ultimately stop the car. When the car in front got moving again, it didn't immediately start up again (i don't know if it was waiting longer of if its designed to make the driver intervene) so i tapped the gas and it went going again. I didn't wait longer because i wasn't sure how it was supposed to work and I didn't want to be "that" guy in traffic.


It says in the manual that it requires manual intervention after a full stop to get going again. So it seems this is by design.


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## truckasaurus1 (Jun 23, 2015)

That's good to know, i'd rather the car not be capable of taking off on its own. I wish the manual weren't so poorly organized....


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## walksonair (Aug 29, 2017)

...or you could hit "Resume" on the steering and it will get going again.


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## der_apoteker (Mar 27, 2017)

It does work well on the highway but I noticed that the vehicle pretty much needs to be directly in front of you 

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## blerg (Aug 16, 2017)

it works well unless people in front of you changes lanes. 
If the car in front of you takes the exit lane and slows down my car also slows down although the lane in front of me is empty.
Also if someone comes into your lane it detects the car pretty late and brakes hard to keep distance.

It seems to me the radar can only track one vehicle at a time and thus is unaware of dynamic changes is front of you.


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## EPilot (Jul 27, 1999)

Tanner Foust drives an Atlas and posted this a few days ago.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BX5gW4iFULD/


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## rhgti1 (Sep 8, 2004)

blerg said:


> it works well unless people in front of you changes lanes.
> If the car in front of you takes the exit lane and slows down my car also slows down although the lane in front of me is empty.
> Also if someone comes into your lane it detects the car pretty late and brakes hard to keep distance.
> 
> It seems to me the radar can only track one vehicle at a time and thus is unaware of dynamic changes is front of you.


I have the exact same experience with cars in front taking the off-ramp and cars getting in front. Pretty much stopped using ACC because of that.


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## not_so_furious (Mar 21, 2002)

I used the ACC in stop and go traffic for the first time yesterday. I really liked it, and thought it made the drive significantly less annoying. I found myself frequently messing with the distance setting (you can adjust how much distance to keep between you and the car in front of you). At higher speeds, I didn't mind having a bigger gap, but at slower speeds I felt like it could follow closer. Because if you leave a big enough gap, surely someone is going to dart in front of you and the ACC will brake to maintain space.

If you find that the car is braking for something you don't care about (like after a car changes lanes), you can just over drive it by stepping on the gas until you pass whatever obstacle it was avoiding.


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## jkopelc (Mar 1, 2017)

Does anyone know if there is a way to set the cruise control without it being adaptive? I understand the merits in traffic, etc but I am more of a guy to just set my speed and keep it there on long drives. If I come up on someone going slower I just pass and continue on my way. Not a fan of being slowed down behind a vehicle especially when I am about to execute a passing maneuver.


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## richyrich999 (Oct 20, 2008)

jkopelc said:


> Does anyone know if there is a way to set the cruise control without it being adaptive? I understand the merits in traffic, etc but I am more of a guy to just set my speed and keep it there on long drives. If I come up on someone going slower I just pass and continue on my way. Not a fan of being slowed down behind a vehicle especially when I am about to execute a passing maneuver.


Read the manual but I'd assume if you accelerate or otherwise interfere, you're back in control so just do your overtaking then flick it back on. Easy.


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## nkresho (Aug 8, 2010)

You can also set the threshold for slowing to be closer, so it doesn't interfere as early. Then keep an eye on the little golf in the MFD and the line approaching it.


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## Bluemeansgo (May 14, 2017)

It's a minor inconvenience having the car slow you down at you approach a car. However, leaving the ACC on and passing will yield better fuel economy overall as it accelerates much more smoothly than your average driver. I always have it set on the closest setting and the ACC has trained me to switch lanes earlier.


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## walksonair (Aug 29, 2017)

I was driving through the first snowfall of the season and suddenly my ACC turns off and cant be re-engaged...says that the sensors dont have a view. When I park I see the front bumper is covered in a layer of snow...I understand that theyre needed for Adaptive cruise but I wish I could just have regular cruise if I cant get the adaptive portion. Ah, first world problems but I had to use my gas pedal the whole highway trip!  Anyone know anything about this or have better experience? Would be nice just to have regular cruise if I cant use adaptive...or get some anti-ice heaters out to the bumper!


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## ice4life (Nov 6, 2017)

walksonair said:


> I was driving through the first snowfall of the season and suddenly my ACC turns off and cant be re-engaged...says that the sensors dont have a view. When I park I see the front bumper is covered in a layer of snow...I understand that theyre needed for Adaptive cruise but I wish I could just have regular cruise if I cant get the adaptive portion. Ah, first world problems but I had to use my gas pedal the whole highway trip!  Anyone know anything about this or have better experience? Would be nice just to have regular cruise if I cant use adaptive...or get some anti-ice heaters out to the bumper!


There is a way to override the ACC and use regular cruise for instances like that. It's in the manual.


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## JohnNS (Sep 21, 2015)

ice4life said:


> There is a way to override the ACC and use regular cruise for instances like that. It's in the manual.


Pretty sure there's an ACC on/off setting in the menu system somewhere. Don't have the manual in front of me, just from memory.


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## jkopelc (Mar 1, 2017)

Has anyone confirmed this or tried it out?


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## 0macman0 (Nov 6, 2017)

jkopelc said:


> Has anyone confirmed this or tried it out?


Nope, because it is pretty awesome 


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## Atlas123 (Sep 18, 2017)

I am pretty sure you CANNOT turn it off. I think you?ll get used to it. 

There are a few tweak and behaviors that might help;
- In modes, put ACC in sport ? it will accelerate back up to speed faster when you do pass
- reduce following distance to min
- get in the habit of putting the foot on the gas to speed it up when you are approaching a car, just as you are probably in the habit of putting it on the brake with non-ACC cruise


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## GoBlueVDubDude (Sep 14, 2004)

Atlas123 said:


> I am pretty sure you CANNOT turn it off. I think you?ll get used to it.
> 
> There are a few tweak and behaviors that might help;
> - In modes, put ACC in sport ? it will accelerate back up to speed faster when you do pass
> ...


Yep. These are my exact same observations I’ve had when using ACC in my ‘16 Touareg. 


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## ice4life (Nov 6, 2017)

Atlas123 said:


> I am pretty sure you CANNOT turn it off. I think you?ll get used to it.
> 
> There are a few tweak and behaviors that might help;
> - In modes, put ACC in sport ? it will accelerate back up to speed faster when you do pass
> ...


I read that damn owners manual inside out last night trying to figure out a way to go back to reg cruise. You cannot you are right! My mini had a way to switch between the adaptive and regular cruise. You would hold down the cruise power button for 3 seconds and it would switch modes.


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## Daekwan (Nov 5, 2017)

walksonair said:


> I was driving through the first snowfall of the season and suddenly my ACC turns off and cant be re-engaged...says that the sensors dont have a view. When I park I see the front bumper is covered in a layer of snow...I understand that theyre needed for Adaptive cruise but I wish I could just have regular cruise if I cant get the adaptive portion. Ah, first world problems but I had to use my gas pedal the whole highway trip!  Anyone know anything about this or have better experience? Would be nice just to have regular cruise if I cant use adaptive...or get some anti-ice heaters out to the bumper!


Wait. Why would you want to use cruise control in the middle of a snowstorm? If so much snow is falling on the vehicle thats is covering up the sensors on the front bumper then you should absolutely be maintaining manual control of the speed. I can understand the complaint that the ACC feature cannot be turned off.. but this seems like a terribly unsafe reason to want to turn it off. 

If it was snowing that badly that the front sensors were covered.. or you simply wiped them clean and they remained that way.. then the ACC should begin working as normal and you would have your cruise control back.


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## ice4life (Nov 6, 2017)

Daekwan said:


> Wait. Why would you want to use cruise control in the middle of a snowstorm? If so much snow is falling on the vehicle thats is covering up the sensors on the front bumper then you should absolutely be maintaining manual control of the speed. I can understand the complaint that the ACC feature cannot be turned off.. but this seems like a terribly unsafe reason to want to turn it off.
> 
> If it was snowing that badly that the front sensors were covered.. or you simply wiped them clean and they remained that way.. then the ACC should begin working as normal and you would have your cruise control back.


Well said. Driver's Ed 101 was do not use cruise in bad weather due to hydroplaning concerns.


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## onsiteaudio (Mar 13, 2018)

i too had this experience last night in light to moderate snow fall. to me it wasnt quite that bad of weather at the time but my blind spot monitoring was acting erratic, lane assist failed with a warning on the dash and adaptive cruise failed with a warning on the dash. at first i thought it was odd to have systems failing in bad weather and i thought my electrical systems were going haywire. but it hit me after stopping for gas that 1) snow was indeed covering the sensors and 2) after thinking harder yes it is dumb to want cruise control during snow fall when you should be in more manual control of your vehicle. duh.

BUT what happened to me that was extremely odd is my windshield wipers suddenly froze mid windshield and an error message popped up. that does indeed seem to create a dangerous situation if i suddenly cant clear my windshield. after about 5 min and diverting max heat to the windshield, the wipers began to work again but i had a wiper fail warning on the dash until next fillup and now all is back to normal again with snow passed. anyone else have wipers seize up mid trip?

-Ken
black/black sel (non-premium) 4 motion


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