Have you ever hydroplaned?

stingerlsu02

It's not the cruise control that will cause you to hydroplane...it's the sudden change in direction, acceleration or deceleration.

When you are driving at a steady clip, the tires are in an equilibrium with the water on the road. If it suddendly shifts the weight of the car onto part of the tire (such as a sharp turn which puts the weight on the outside tires), you lose traction and if not corrected properly, the car will lose control and you will hydroplane.

I think the thing to understand about cruise control is rain is that it lulls you a little bit because it's so steady. If you have to respond to an urgent situation, you will have a slower reaction time but a quicker reaction (or over-reaction). What I mean by this is that it may take you longer to respond, but your response will be more quickly executed (and, most likely, too much response..causing over-correcting).

Joanne

My brother hydroplaned once and got into a serious accident. This is why you should ALWAYS drive slowly when it rains, and look out for pools of water on the road.

Dick Skinner

Yes, hydroplaning is when water on the road surface is deep enough to break contact between your tire treads, and the road surface. (it can also be caused by the "waterjet" effect.)
It'd be best not to be in cruise if you hydroplane, as you'll have less control over your car when you regain control. The physics of a car's inertia hydroplaning, is similar to if you were on ice.

Adam the Engineer

Yes.

Hydroplaning occurs when you step on the gas or brakes hard in response to hitting a puddle when you're traveling fast. If this happens to you, you should let off the gas and try to keep your wheels straight. If you do, you should be ok and will just drop back onto the pavement.

When you hydroplane your tires actually leave the pavement and rest on a layer of water. That is why you lose control.

legendarydd0g

yes, hydroplaning is very dangerous although cruise control shouldn't matter that much as long as you don't hit the brakes or change ur car's momentum

tex

Yes. A small truck in a big rain. It was scary . I don't know if CC makes it any more likely to hydroplane, but not running it would make for smoother control of your vehicle.

SCHSFAN

Yes, I have. Very frightening. You will have much better control of your vehicle if you are not using your cruise control.

foolish

yes Brown shirt tails !!!!!!!!! haha

Amanda

Yes, but not with the cruise control on. I was trying to stop quickly. I've heard this too.

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