geko29

It absolutely does. There's a solenoid that directly actuates the plate on the throttle body. This causes the throttle cable to move because it's physically attached to that same lever. This in turn causes the accelerator to drop. It doesn't "press" the pedal, so to speak, but the end result is the same.

My current car is drive by wire, and thus does not have a throttle cable. But every previous vehicle I've had (including the Ford Ranger in question here) was not, and pressing the resume button would always cause the accelerator pedal to fall away from my foot unless I was already traveling faster than the resume speed.

spwolf

interesting... Ford had a lot of fixes for the cruise control in past 4-5 years... of course, important part here is that you and everyone else could still brake... or in case of this happening on the highway like some complaints, person would have plenty of time to do something (neutral, brakes, ignition, etc).

mmarshall

Folks, given that geko29 is an engineer, while maybe not 100% correct on every point, I think he's in a position to speak with some credibility....especially on a complex issue like the electronics in today's cars.

chikoo

Yup. The software is correct. But the software relies on the hardware to provide the right signals.

oldcajun

You're going to have a tough time with airliners then. All the Airbus models from the A319 on up are full fly by wire systems. Boeing transformation has been a bit slower, but all their new airplanes will feature some version of fly by wire.
Steve

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

with all respect to geko29, those things happened 16/17 years ago, with an obviously defective, probably extremely primitive cruise control compared to anything on today's cars.

dicer

Yup the B has had it for many years too. I do not fly in those flying culvert pipes packed like sardine cans.

geko29

Perfectly valid points, all. However, I read a review in the past 7 days of a 2015 model car which, during the testing period, did a spontaneous full panic-stop on an empty expressway because the cruise control saw it was about to crash into a nonexistent car. Different expression of fundamentally the same problem that afflicted my Ranger.

Edit: It was C&D's long-term K900 tester: http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/...-update-review

Sulu

The software is likely reacting properly, relying on the signals that the collision detection system gives it. Those forward radar systems may react in funny ways.

Infiniti advertises that their forward collision alert can detect cars 2 ahead of you because they discovered that the signal is bouncing off the road, even under the car ahead of you.

The forward collision detection system (just an obstacle warning) on my ES can act wierdly if there is snow on the road ahead; it will sound the alarm even if there is nothing ahead, not even another car. I am thinking that the signal may be bouncing off the uneven surface of the road caused by tire tracks through the snow. In some cases, I have to turn it off (and rely on my eyes for obstacles ahead.)

The K900's pre-collision system may be reacting to some uneven surface that we know is not a problem but it does not know is not a problem: the radar sensors detect something and the software reacts -- correctly for an obstacle ahead -- by applying the brakes.

dicer

All you need to do is find out if all OBD2 can be controlled via telematics like onstar etc. All bidirectional scan tools can turn things on and off, that is how they test things. All onstar type systems can do the same like start the engine and turn it off and lock out the ignition key or what ever the device is that is used for that function. OnStar can unlock doors read all the diagnostics and with the above mentioned things it does I'm sure it has bidirectional control just like the scan tool.

yowps3

Can someone please tell me why these things only happen in 'Murika!!?

Sulu

if you are not in " 'Murika", why should you worry? Sit back, relax, have a good laugh and be thankful that you outside North America know how to drive cars, and can tell the difference between the brake and accelerator pedals.

chikoo

Holy Batman.

For the fun of it, I just tried out this on my IS250:
Put the car in gear, pressed down firmly on the brake, and hit the gas pedal.
Result: Engine RPM went up and Car surged forward as much as the suspension allowed.

btw:I have had my car recalled for the "fix" ages ago.

spwolf

what exactly did you think that the recall "fixed"? Dont try hitting the wall at speed, not fixed either :-)

chikoo

That braking cuts engine power?