Blue Cruise versus Adaptive Cruise Control?

[CameraCarl]

I picked up my new 2023 Mach-E last week and have a question about Blue Cruise that the dealer could not answer. I traded in a 2021 Escape Hybrid, so I am familiar with the adaptive cruise control features of recent Ford vehicles. I like the ability to set a speed and distance from the vehicle in front of me, and have the car maintain it. But I really don't want to drive hands free. (I am sure lots of people love it, but I don't feel comfortable with it...yet...maybe someday...). Anyway, my question is: can I get the functionality of adaptive cruise control without engaging Blue Cruise?

Yesterday when I turned on the cruise control at highway speeds, a message popped up asking if I wanted to engage Blue Cruise. Since I didn't want hands free driving, I turned off the cruise control until I could research it further. I couldn't find a decent explanation in the owners manual. And the many threads on these forums address operating with Blue Cruise but don't seem to answer my question about using cruise control without Blue Cruise, so I am asking if anyone can help me understand it all. And I don't want to go back to the old fashioned "dumb" cruise control which only sets the speed and does not adjust my speed if I approach a slower vehicle. Thank you in advance.

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[AliRafiee]

Yes. There is a setting under the driver assist menu to only activate adaptive cruise

 

[jgcom]

Or, push the button on the steering wheel to toggle lane centering off.

 

[racker]

Well, you could also just activate Blue Cruise and... just not let go of the steering wheel. If you move the wheel it will "obey you" and deactivate Blue Cruise.

Then you could try letting go for a few seconds at a time, etc.

 

[Mirak]

To fully answer your question, we first need to get some terminology straight. First, there are two variants of BlueCruise: “Hands On” BC and “Hands Free” BC.

HOBC is generally considered Adaptive Cruise Control + Lane Centering, but you’ve gotta keep your hands on the wheel. It is also free.

HFBC allows you to use ACC + LC without hands on the wheel on certain approved roads (divided highways). And you’ve got to pay a subscription for this.

If you’re asking whether you can use ACC without LC, sure. Just turn off LC.

Or, you could keep LC turned on and just keep your hands on the wheel. That would probably be the better, safer approach.

Either way, you don’t have to pay for HFBC if you plan to keep your hands on the wheel, because the hands free functionality doesn’t actually enhance the accuracy of LC.

Does that help?

 

[RickMachE]

Strongly advise the OP to sit and go through the manual and every setting on the screen, to understand exactly what each does. Otherwise, we'll soon be reading "my car zoomed to 80mph for no reason".

 

[CameraCarl]

Wow! So many responses so quickly. Thank you all!

I am used to having lane centering alerts (via a vibrating steering wheel) as part of the active cruise control. So I really don't want to turn off the lane centering. Thus, it sounds as if I want Hands On Blue Cruise, as suggested by Mirak above. IS there a way to just activate this without HFBC? Or do I just drive with Blue Cruise on and my hands on the wheel?

And, Rick, thanks for the suggestion about RTFM. I have been working my way thorugh the manual. I'm on page 269 so far, and it is nigh on worthless. 50% of it is legal CYA warnings, 15% is unintelligible engineer speak and the rest is superficial to the point of worthlessness. For the stuff I want to know more about the manual says "visit www.owner.Ford.com for more details." Well, duh, the website is as little use as the manual. So I find it useful to ask for users' help rather than try to suss useful information out of an owners manual co-written by lawyers and engineers. I hope everyone here continues to be helpful as I work my way though a car which is more complicated than any I have owned.

 

[hybrid2bev]

Wow! So many responses so quickly. Thank you all!

I am used to having lane centering alerts (via a vibrating steering wheel) as part of the active cruise control. So I really don't want to turn off the lane centering. Thus, it sounds as if I want Hands On Blue Cruise, as suggested by Mirak above. IS there a way to just activate this without HFBC? Or do I just drive with Blue Cruise on and my hands on the wheel?

The vibrating steering wheel is Lane Keeping not Lane Centering. Lane Keeping is to alert you and help keep you from drifting out of the lane. Lane Centering works to actively keep you in the center of the lane.

Yes, you can have HOBC (ACC+LC) by turning off 'Hands Free' in the Cruise Control menu.

 

[ack154]

Or, push the button on the steering wheel to toggle lane centering off.

This is how I drive mine 99% of the time. I don't care for the lane centering to begin with but it let's me use the ACC and not even think about it. And I have no current plans to ever renew/reactivate BC/hands free. Especially not at the current prices.

Honestly I really just appreciate that when I get in the car every day I don't have to turn OFF the lane centering each time I start the car. Some of the other automakers seem to be like that and have all the stuff turned on by default all of the time.

 

[Stanmckinney]

I hate Bluecruise but use adaptive cruise all the time.

 

[BMT1071]

Wow! So many responses so quickly. Thank you all!

I am used to having lane centering alerts (via a vibrating steering wheel) as part of the active cruise control. So I really don't want to turn off the lane centering. Thus, it sounds as if I want Hands On Blue Cruise, as suggested by Mirak above. IS there a way to just activate this without HFBC? Or do I just drive with Blue Cruise on and my hands on the wheel?

And, Rick, thanks for the suggestion about RTFM. I have been working my way thorugh the manual. I'm on page 269 so far, and it is nigh on worthless. 50% of it is legal CYA warnings, 15% is unintelligible engineer speak and the rest is superficial to the point of worthlessness. For the stuff I want to know more about the manual says "visit www.owner.Ford.com for more details." Well, duh, the website is as little use as the manual. So I find it useful to ask for users' help rather than try to suss useful information out of an owners manual co-written by lawyers and engineers. I hope everyone here continues to be helpful as I work my way though a car which is more complicated than any I have owned.

So, RTFM is always a good idea, but you can also just sit in your car and go through the menus. The majoirty of the choices have the "i in a circle" on the right side of the screen which describes what the setting does.

 

[RickMachE]

So, RTFM is always a good idea, but you can also just sit in your car and go through the menus. The majoirty of the choices have the "i in a circle" on the right side of the screen which describes what the setting does.

Which I suggested along with the manual.

 

[67 Stang Convertible]

Strongly advise the OP to sit and go through the manual and every setting on the screen, to understand exactly what each does. Otherwise, we'll soon be reading "my car zoomed to 80mph for no reason".

The Forum is my Manual!!!

 

[dgilles428]

To fully answer your question, we first need to get some terminology straight. First, there are two variants of BlueCruise: “Hands On” BC and “Hands Free” BC.

HOBC is generally considered Adaptive Cruise Control + Lane Centering, but you’ve gotta keep your hands on the wheel. It is also free.

HFBC allows you to use ACC + LC without hands on the wheel on certain approved roads (divided highways). And you’ve got to pay a subscription for this.

If you’re asking whether you can use ACC without LC, sure. Just turn off LC.

Or, you could keep LC turned on and just keep your hands on the wheel. That would probably be the better, safer approach.

Either way, you don’t have to pay for HFBC if you plan to keep your hands on the wheel, because the hands free functionality doesn’t actually enhance the accuracy of LC.

Does that help?

Very helpful, thank you.

 

[handymache]

I love Blue Cruise, and it was one of the reasons why I got MME. I push the button on the steering wheel and let it do the magic.

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