Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Them’s The Brakes
So I’m driving along in the truck today and something weird keeps happening, like the brakes are engaging without any human intervention. I have these visions of brake or transmission problems, but I’m trying to figure out exactly what it might be. It feels hauntingly familiar.
Then I had an “aha!” moment and looked for where the cruise control is controlled. There it is, where I can’t see it through the steering wheel, flipped to “on.”
It was hauntingly familiar because it was the feel of brakes engaging by themselves when controlled by cruise control, trying to keep the car’s speed down to the specified number. Whatever it might have believed that to be, since we never “use” cruise control. I don’t think I even used it to speak of when driving across the country.
Looks like it’s remarkably easy to engage by accident. Always a good automotive design feature.