Cruise Control behaviour

Xaccers · Post by **Xaccers** » 16 May 2007, 00:33

It's even more fun when someone who's gotten used to left foot braking in an auto goes back to manual and just hits the clutch on it's own!

lolingram · Post by **lolingram** » 16 May 2007, 06:48

If you use some lateral thought (unlike the Dept of Transport) it makes sense to not keep alternating between throttle and brake in traffic with the right foot, when the left is ide all the time. I started to drive Autos in 1965 after ten years of manual boxes including Her Gracious Majestie's vehicles, and have never regretted training myself thus. IMHO it is the way to do it. Cruise control just adds another dimension with no feet al at all!

Many professional drivers do likewise since it it easy to makes progress in a very smooth manner, and also manouvre - forward/reverse seamlessly.

As a matter of interest (and assuming 2 properly functioning limbs) why would you want to left foot brake?

The official guide published by the Department of Transport (or whatever it is this week) recommends that the right foot is used except for maneuvering at low speed. Having had automatics in the past I can't really even see the point in that if the vehicle is functioning properly.

np · Post by np » 16 May 2007, 20:47

deian wrote:I wonder what happens if you press forwards and reverse at the same time on one of them?

We have three pedals too... two are the brakes, it's more car like really, the proper brake is in the middle like cars, and the one on the left just disconnects the gearbox so you can lift up the heavy stuff while driving without driving into anything else, pressing it more will push the brake.

I spent 8 yrs driving forklifts before becoming a digger driver.A Hyster forklift truck is best.Only 2 pedals,left is the brake,the right pedal is a big pedal,push i down to the right for foward,push it down to the left for reverse.Sometimes i could get it to kangoroo by pressing it in the middle

.Or sometimes it could be a bit of a bugger when i had press tools weighing 5 tons & costing £250k + on the forks.I had to get the pedal right then!!

f00lzz · Post by **f00lzz** » 17 May 2007, 17:57

lolingram wrote:If you use some lateral thought (unlike the Dept of Transport) it makes sense to not keep alternating between throttle and brake in traffic with the right foot, when the left is ide all the time.

No way! The brake is too close to the throttle pedal to make it safe to use with your left foot... if the brake was where the clutch should be... then maybe!! But regardless.. If you are braking with your right foot you don't need to be using the throttle anyway and if you are accelerating then you certainly wouldn't need to be braking..

lolingram · Post by **lolingram** » 17 May 2007, 19:02

What size are your feet?

PostPosted: Thu May 2007 Post subject:
lolingram wrote:
If you use some lateral thought (unlike the Dept of Transport) it makes sense to not keep alternating between throttle and brake in traffic with the right foot, when the left is ide all the time.

No way! The brake is too close to the throttle pedal to make it safe to use with your left foot...

f00lzz · Post by **f00lzz** » 17 May 2007, 19:31

Can't imagine why you would need to know that... it has no bearing on the thread!! However, I do agree that the benefits of CC are best enjoyed with an automatic transmission.

James.UK · Post by **James.UK** » 17 May 2007, 19:51

My Accord with the CC is an automatic, and the two buttons on the steering wheel allow me to increase-decrease speed in the manner described. But.. I still prefer to drive without it on!

As for how many feet to use in an auto, I have always driven with one foot on each pedal. If nothing else, it is faster than moving my other foot over. Maybe one day it may save someonbe from being hurt, inches can make all the differance at times..

.

Stempy · Post by **Stempy** » 17 May 2007, 20:00

I can understand the reasoning behind the left foot braking but I think in general automatic cars are designed for right foot braking, the brake pedal never seems to be in the right position for comfort and ease of use by the left foot. The only time I've used left foot braking is to hold the car on the throttle for a quick getaway, somewhat like a jet plane before take off.

James.UK · Post by **James.UK** » 18 May 2007, 01:03

Hi Stempy.

Oddly enough, every automatic I have ever driven has had a footrest to the left of the brake pedal... except.. The Citroen ZX 1.9D !!!!! I had to make one up and fit it myself.. dohhhh.

But having said that, it is only usefull on long motorway journeys when traffic allows for it. In town my feet are too busy to use it..

One more odd thing about the ZX auto is, I get quite a lot of braking from mine when I take my foot off the accel pedal and the car changes down into 3rd gear, and it's a handy feature, sadly on most auto's doing that is a bit like going into neutral, virtually no drag from the engine whatsoever..

.

lolingram · Post by **lolingram** » 18 May 2007, 20:34

Quite so.

As for how many feet to use in an auto, I have always driven with one foot on each pedal. If nothing else, it is faster than moving my other foot over. Maybe one day it may save someonbe from being hurt, inches can make all the differance at times.

f00lzz · Post by **f00lzz** » 20 May 2007, 07:40

Stempy wrote:I can understand the reasoning behind the left foot braking but I think in general automatic cars are designed for right foot braking, the brake pedal never seems to be in the right position for comfort and ease of use by the left foot.

Quite so!

lolingram · Post by **lolingram** » 20 May 2007, 08:25

A chacun sa merde!

I can understand the reasoning behind the left foot braking but I think in general automatic cars are designed for right foot braking, the brake pedal never seems to be in the right position for comfort and ease of use by the left foot.

lolingram · Post by **lolingram** » 20 May 2007, 09:22

Doesn't seem to happen in practise... but then I regularly drive both manual and auto boxes.

Perhaps simliar to riding older Brit motorbikes with left foot gearchange, whereas modern (since the late '60s) are universally right footchange.

Xac posted: It's even more fun when someone who's gotten used to left foot braking in an auto goes back to manual and just hits the clutch on it's own!

fastandfurryous · Post by **fastandfurryous** » 20 May 2007, 10:57

lolingram wrote:A chacun sa merde!

English please.

I'm actually quite off-put by all this mention of left-foot braking in an automatic. It is DANGEROUS and no question about it. Have you ever seen official recommendation to left-foot brake? You certainly wouldn't pass a driving test by driving like that.

The fraction of a second saved by not having to move your right foot from the accelerator to the brake is meaningless compared to the possibility of pressing the wrong pedal in a panic-emergency situation. How many times have we heard of the pensioner who stamped on the wrong pedal in an emergency and went over a cliff / through a garden / off a bridge? Plus, if it were proven to be safer to have one-foot-per-pedal, manual gearbox cars would have some other arrangement for the clutch to allow for two pedals. The dangers of not pressing the brake in an emergency are very real if you start chopping-and-changing which foot does what.

This is why Left-Hand drive and Right-Hand drive cars have the pedals laid out in the same orientation. It is fairly easy to swap co-ordination of the hands from side to side, but far more difficult with the feet (plus the feet are in control of the more important controlls)

Progress can be made perfectly smoothly (if incredibly boringly) using just the right foot for both pedals in an auto. The only time I can EVER imagine needing to use the left foot on the brake pedal is during a torque-converter stall-speed test.

Plus, using the left food on the brake pedal introduces the very real risk of resting your foot on that pedal when it's not in use, which not only burns the brake pads out due to constant slight application (IE Dangerous) but also may leave the brake lamps on all the time (also very dangerous) I've often seen cars belting down the motorway with their brake lamps permanently on. It's not an electrical fault, it's the driver resting their left foot on the brake pedal. When are they actually braking? Who knows.

Getting back somewhere near the topic.... Cruise control. One of the only electronic control systems I actually like to use in a car. Using Cruise on the motorway is fantastic, as it really does reduce the need to pay attention to the speed you are traveling at, and you can spend more time with your eyes "out of the car" monitoring the traffic. I've actually only ever used it in manual vehicles, and can't really see how having an auto would be much of a benefit. These have all been quite powerful manual cars though. I can imagine as the available power reduces, the benefit of having an auto box as well to make best use of the cruise control increases somewhat. With a powerful manual car, you can pretty much leave it in top gear, and let the cruise do the rest.

lolingram · Post by **lolingram** » 20 May 2007, 12:52

I was wondering how long it would be before we had a Politically Correct orientated personage putting me to rights... even had my knuckles rapped for using a French expression on a French car forum!

Sorry if this caused offence to anyone else - can't win 'em all I guess...

English please.

I'm actually quite off-put by all this mention of left-foot braking in an automatic. It is DANGEROUS and no question about it. Have you ever seen official recommendation to left-foot brake? You certainly wouldn't pass a driving test by driving like that.