Car lunged forward when pulling into a parking lot (cruise control got engaged)

[kennelh]

It won't start at a low speed (I though it was 25 MPH), but it will resume once cancelled at any speed. In you are in bumper-to-bumper traffic and the car comes to a complete stop for ~10 seconds, it will disengage but you can make it resume by pressing the center button.

Update: I was out this afternoon and decided to see what happens when I activate cruise control while stopped. It set the target speed to 15 MPH and began to accelerate. When moving but less than 15, it would turn on but not engage.

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[stealthytolkien]

Update: I was out this afternoon and decided to see what happens when I activate cruise control while stopped. It set the target speed to 15 MPH and began to accelerate. When moving but less than 15, it would turn on but not engage.

Be careful, please.

Actually, when this happened, I wasn’t stopped. My experience when the car is stopped and cruise control engagement is exactly the same as yours. Car sets it at 15 mph and starts moving.

Now, what you’re observing when the car is moving under 15 mph, it wouldn’t engage cruise control but turn on, is exactly what should have happened in my case. The only nuance here is that I wasn’t moving in straight line but turning sharply into a parking spot like I said above. But that technically still counts as moving under 15 mph and my observation should have been the same. Except, it wasn’t!

 

[Mach1E]

Update: I was out this afternoon and decided to see what happens when I activate cruise control while stopped. It set the target speed to 15 MPH and began to accelerate. When moving but less than 15, it would turn on but not engage.

Ok, this seems like a bug.

And since it’s reproducible, it also may explain the OP’s situation.

I could also see 15 mph being confused with 75 (meaning the OP didn’t see 75).

There’s no way the car should resume to 75 if you never set it to 75.

But either way, hitting the cruise button at 0 mph should NOT make it accelerate to 15 mph.

I’ll have to try this out as well (not in a parking lot of course).

 

[JohnFoxeSheets]

In my experience, cruise control will only engage below 15 mph if it detects a car sufficiently close that it "thinks" it can follow it. My guess is that your car "saw" another car and therefore engaged when you accidentally enabled it. (I too have done that before, though in my case it was turning left and I had a brace on my wrist which I think is what bumped the button. What I experienced was that the car suddenly started to accelerate as I was making the turn. That's because the car that it had "seen" - which allowed it to engage from a speed below 15 mph - was suddenly out of view as it had already made its left hand turn and so my car thought it was cool to speed up to 15 mph.)

You can also engage cruise control at a stop as long as there is a car in front of you. The speed limit will be set to 15 mph.

When the cruise control button was accidentally hit, I am 100% sure that after I slammed the brakes, the screen showed 75 mph crossed out like I said in my post.

Is there any chance that what you saw was actually 15 and not 75? I can imagine being flustered enough in that situation to misread the digits.

 

[AliRafiee]

It won't start at a low speed (I though it was 25 MPH), but it will resume once cancelled at any speed. In you are in bumper-to-bumper traffic and the car comes to a complete stop for ~10 seconds, it will disengage but you can make it resume by pressing the center button.

You can also just tap the throttle to resume.

 

[Mach1E]

In my experience, cruise control will only engage below 15 mph if it detects a car sufficiently close that it "thinks" it can follow it. My guess is that your car "saw" another car and therefore engaged when you accidentally enabled it. (I too have done that before, though in my case it was turning left and I had a brace on my wrist which I think is what bumped the button. What I experienced was that the car suddenly started to accelerate as I was making the turn. That's because the car that it had "seen" - which allowed it to engage from a speed below 15 mph - was suddenly out of view as it had already made its left hand turn and so my car thought it was cool to speed up to 15 mph.)

You can also engage cruise control at a stop as long as there is a car in front of you. The speed limit will be set to 15 mph.


Is there any chance that what you saw was actually 15 and not 75? I can imagine being flustered enough in that situation to misread the digits.

Ok, so is the idea that it will only do this if it thinks you’re reactivating cruise control in heavy traffic?

I get that as a feature, but obviously that feature can be dangerous.

Some more data just testing on my own car (21 GTPE with BC).

I couldn’t get it to activate.

Tried from a stop and slow speeds.
Tried lane keep on and off.
1PD on and off. Autohold on and off.
Tried just hitting the cruise button.
Tried just hitting resume
Tried setting cruise to 17 mph, stopping and hitting resume.

Always got the same error message. No cars near me.

 

[JohnFoxeSheets]

Ok, so is the idea that it will only do this if it thinks you’re reactivating cruise control in heavy traffic?

I get that as a feature, but obviously that feature can be dangerous.

Some more data just testing on my own car (21 GTPE with BC).

I couldn’t get it to activate.

Tried from a stop and slow speeds.
Tried lane keep on and off.
1PD on and off. Autohold on and off.
Tried just hitting the cruise button.
Tried just hitting resume
Tried setting cruise to 17 mph, stopping and hitting resume.

Always got the same error message. No cars near me.

Actually while it would also reactivate from a stop, it will also active from a stop.....but only if it detects a car in from of you. That is the necessary prerequisite when either stopped or traveling below 15 mph.

As for it being dangerous, unexpected sudden acceleration is indeed dangerous. I personally like being able to engage cruise control (hands-on BC) while at a stop. But I don't like that I can accidentally engage it. Obviously Ford can't move the button on our cars to prevent accidental engaging. But perhaps they could add a requirement to approve the engagement of the button. ("BlueCruise engaged below 15 MPH - Hit OK to accept" or something similar.)

 

[Mach1E]

Actually while it would also reactivate from a stop, it will also active from a stop.....but only if it detects a car in from of you. That is the necessary prerequisite when either stopped or traveling below 15 mph.

As for it being dangerous, unexpected sudden acceleration is indeed dangerous. I personally like being able to engage cruise control (hands-on BC) while at a stop. But I don't like that I can accidentally engage it. Obviously Ford can't move the button on our cars to prevent accidental engaging. But perhaps they could add a requirement to approve the engagement of the button. ("BlueCruise engaged below 15 MPH - Hit OK to accept" or something similar.)

The fix is much easier-

Only allow activation above 15 mph. No need to change the “resume” setting.

There is no scenario where you have cruise control turned off, you’re below 15 mph, and it should automatically turn on to 15 mph.

That shouldn’t be a feature. Especially some obscure feature where it requires the car to detect something in front of you and only then it automatically accelerates.

Seriously………. Who thought they should have a car accelerate automatically when it detects something in front of you??

If that’s truly the prerequisite, it should be clearly documented somewhere.

 

[stealthytolkien]

In my experience, cruise control will only engage below 15 mph if it detects a car sufficiently close that it "thinks" it can follow it. My guess is that your car "saw" another car and therefore engaged when you accidentally enabled it. (I too have done that before, though in my case it was turning left and I had a brace on my wrist which I think is what bumped the button. What I experienced was that the car suddenly started to accelerate as I was making the turn. That's because the car that it had "seen" - which allowed it to engage from a speed below 15 mph - was suddenly out of view as it had already made its left hand turn and so my car thought it was cool to speed up to 15 mph.)

You can also engage cruise control at a stop as long as there is a car in front of you. The speed limit will be set to 15 mph.


Is there any chance that what you saw was actually 15 and not 75? I can imagine being flustered enough in that situation to misread the digits.

There’s always a chance that I thought it was 75 where it was 15. I was shaken enough to believe my eyes. I am not going to deny that possibility. But that possibility is low.

Now that some of you have tested it. I’m going to keep an eye on it.

 

[JohnFoxeSheets]

The fix is much easier-

Only allow activation above 15 mph. No need to change the “resume” setting.

There is no scenario where you have cruise control turned off, you’re below 15 mph, and it should automatically turn on to 15 mph.

That shouldn’t be a feature. Especially some obscure feature where it requires the car to detect something in front of you and only then it automatically accelerates.

Seriously………. Who thought they should have a car accelerate automatically when it detects something in front of you??

If that’s truly the prerequisite, it should be clearly documented somewhere.

Actually if I recall correctly, my Volvo XC60 worked the same way, though the minimum speed was 25 mph.

But the car doesn’t “accelerate automatically when it detects something in front of you”. It will allow cruise control activation below 15 mph if it detects something in front, and then after you have already started moving if it no longer detects something in front it will start accelerating to the set cruise control speed.

I (generally) find the feature useful, but I totally get it that others may not.

FWIW, here is what the (2022) Owner's manual says:

"Switching Adaptive Cruise Control On
Press the button to activate the system. When the system activates, the set speed is equal to whichever is greater, the current vehicle speed, or 15 mph when in imperial units or 20 km/h when in metric units. If the speed is too low, or other conditions are not correct for adaptive cruise control activation, the system enters standby mode. When you are below 15 mph when in imperial units or 20 km/h when in metric units, adaptive cruise control does not activate unless you are following another vehicle." [Emphasis added]

Regardless, I didn’t program it!

 

[Mache_Nor]

This has happened me too (view my created topics), where the car accelerated like a madman by itself on a parking lot. It happens from time to time (hard to reproduce, seems related to CC getting auto-engaged).
In my opinion there should be no questions asked, Ford should be forced to take a deeper look at this. As with the HVBJB recall they won’t do anything until they are forced by external pressure, so my advice is to report it to your country’s equivalent of road safety organ.

 

[azerik]

Been there done this,. Zippy decided to jump a few parking spots on it's own. But I saw the cruise engage. Mine was set to 45? Maybe 25 it's been a few months. I don't think it's the cruise button but rather being able to hit the button to turn it on, and click resume at the same time. There should be a delay, at least a 1/2 second.

 

[Mach1E]

Actually if I recall correctly, my Volvo XC60 worked the same way, though the minimum speed was 25 mph.

But the car doesn’t “accelerate automatically when it detects something in front of you”. It will allow cruise control activation below 15 mph if it detects something in front, and then after you have already started moving if it no longer detects something in front it will start accelerating to the set cruise control speed.

I (generally) find the feature useful, but I totally get it that others may not.

FWIW, here is what the (2022) Owner's manual says:

"Switching Adaptive Cruise Control On
Press the button to activate the system. When the system activates, the set speed is equal to whichever is greater, the current vehicle speed, or 15 mph when in imperial units or 20 km/h when in metric units. If the speed is too low, or other conditions are not correct for adaptive cruise control activation, the system enters standby mode. When you are below 15 mph when in imperial units or 20 km/h when in metric units, adaptive cruise control does not activate unless you are following another vehicle." [Emphasis added]

Regardless, I didn’t program it!

Well there you go.

It’s a feature not a bug.

Sounds like it needs some reprogramming so that it doesn’t confuse stationary objects with moving cars.

 

[azerik]

adaptive cruise control does not activate unless you are following another vehicle." [Emphasis added]

Regardless, I didn’t program it!

Except, in a parking lot it thinks the car in the parking space turned and you now have a clear shot at the road.

 

[Jimrpa]

I think those claiming such things should try to duplicate it. When you turn on cruise, it defaults to the speed you're currently at. It won't engage below 15mph.

What will happen when you're driving fast and one of the wheels come off the ground the 1 pedal braking ends. On another note, ford has mirrored the left steering wheel controls on the new explorer. Following distance and auto steer has been moved to the outside.

What is “auto steer “? The only things I found via Google were:
- Evasive Steering Assist
- Adaptive Steering
- Some stuff about people tying ropes and weights to their steering wheels in cars with adaptive cruise control to try to simulate BlueCruise Hands Free.

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