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In Praise of the Adaptive Cruise Control

4K views 15 replies 14 participants last post by  Jim_in_PA 
#1 ·
Quick backstory: I fell in love with the 2011 JGC last summer and wanted to purchase an Overland off the dealer's lot in July. My wife and I were preparing to do this when she was flipping through the glossy book they give you and she noticed the Technology Group option (ACC, BSM, RCPD, FCW) and said she wanted that. The dealer said it wasn't available yet and he didn't know when it would be. I pressed to buy now - she held her ground thinking those features would be really nice to have. We went home and waited until Sep to order an Overland with the Tech package and waited until Nov 30 for it to be built and delivered.

Forward to present day. We just went on our first long trip, 2500 miles +. I found that I absolutely loved the ACC and I discovered that I am much less fatigued after a 12 hour day on the road when using it. The BSM is wonderful as well, and while I will always still look over my shoulder before making lane changes, the illumimated triangles tell me when I don't even need to bother trying to change lanes and the chimes remind me if I miss something. Of course I never let on to my wife how glad I was that she made me wait for this.

So we were traveling south on I-85, speed limit 65, when we entered a huge rainstorm. I am talking about sheets of rain with greatly reduced visibility. I pulled into the right lane behind a truck pulling a horse trailor. Traffic had slowed down to about 55 mph. I left my ACC set to 70 but set the interval to 3 since I wasn't comfortable driving at 2 which is where it had been set. We went several miles, the rain never letting up.

Suddenly I felt the ACC use its full allocation of braking authority followed an instant later by the collision alarm. At the same time I noticed the trailor in front of me getting closer way too quickly. I applied plenty of extra brake on my own, though not quit enough to trigger the anti-locks. In the end, it wasn't close; I stopped about 15-20 feet behind the trailor. The trailor that DIDN'T HAVE THE BRAKE LIGHTS CONNECTED, I might add, which accounted for why I didn't see his lights when he slammed his brakes on! Turns out there was an accident about a quarter of a mile ahead and a couple of secondaries as cars following too closely in the low visibility rear ended those stopping to avoid the accident. But the ACC doesn't need brake lights or good visibility and it saw the need to apply brakes before I did. I would like to think I would have been alert enough to avoid an accident even without the ACC but I can definitively say the ACC gave me earlier warning and allowed me to take defensive action sooner than I would have otherwise.

My wife, who had been napping, jolted awake during this episode. I explained what happened, specifically pointing out the idiot in front of me without the brake lights. After the obligatory "drive slower and not so close" she proceeded to lean back to resume her nap. I was thinking - and I swear I did not say this out load - "Man, I sure am glad to have the ACC." And as she closed her eyes I heard her say "Told you."
 
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#2 ·
Nice wroteup and I must say VERY smart decision to wait for the ACC package. Thank your wife for that one :) I agree with everything you said I would not even consider the new Jeep without those options. Plus its only a 1200 dollar option its a no brainer!

James
 
#9 ·
Great write up!!

I was also on the fence about it......get a 2011 without the ACC package or wait and order a 2012 with it

In the end I ordered my Limited with the ACC package and will hopefull be picking it up in the next couple of days! :D
 
#10 ·
Good story RedBolt,

I just got my 2013 overland and the ACC is really really nice. I am a cruise control guy anyway, now with it keeping spacing for me I'm in heaven. A side note, I don't knw if its the ACC doing it, but it brakes you down hills to keep the speed setting as well, also a nice feature to not get inadvertent speeding ticket (not that they like to radar at the bottom of those hills ...)
 
#14 ·
I had a close mishap when taking my '14 on a test drive. I was merging left onto the highway from an on-ramp and was taking a little too long to look over my shoulder because of the huge window sticker in the rear window and heard the "Hey, idiot! BRAKE!" alarm and looked up to see a wall of brake lights in front of me. In addition to giving me a much-needed heads up, it also charged the brake system, so the brake pedal only had to move about as half as far as it usually does. I was able to brake and steer at the same time with ease, as well as any sedan I've ever owned.

Needless to say, I bought the Jeep.

Tony
 
#16 ·
I also like the ACC. Occasionally I "forget" that it's functioning and find myself going a little slower (if I'm thinking about some deep subject or something, LOL) but otherwise, I'm totally pleased. I really missed it last weekend when we took my wife's Outback Limited to a Wedding up-state!
 
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