Today I had to go down some steep hills while my cruise control was on and noticed that my Q3 didn't brake to maintain the set speed of 62. I had to use the brakes to keep it from just coasting down the hill. I have never had a vehicle do this! Is this the way it is supposed to work? I just have standard cruise control.
Cruise control doesn't work on hills?
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Does "as expected" mean that braking done by cruise control is used to slow the vehicle down or that you the driver used the brakes?
more on cruise control
I can't believe that a vehicle like this is behind in the "cruise control technology"! I am not some newbie in the world of supposed luxury vehicles. I have driven BMWs and Mercedes for the last 25 yrs at least. Maybe this is just a small thing but I would have liked someone to tell me about it. Our dealer today didn't have any answers and just started talking about adaptive cruise which is an entirely different thing.
I really like this Audi and think it "fits" me perfectly. However I was not happy to discover this today!
I can't believe that a vehicle like this is behind in the "cruise control technology"! I am not some newbie in the world of supposed luxury vehicles. I have driven BMWs and Mercedes for the last 25 yrs at least. Maybe this is just a small thing but I would have liked someone to tell me about it. Our dealer today didn't have any answers and just started talking about adaptive cruise which is an entirely different thing.
I really like this Audi and think it "fits" me perfectly. However I was not happy to discover this today!
NO vehicle I have ever owned applies the brakes on an overrun. None. Maybe late year adaptive cruise does. Typical cruise control would not know of following cars, or if roads were icy or gravel so applying brakes could be dangerous.
What vehicle/year did you own which applied the brakes without adaptive cruise control?
My local Audi tech just told us that I possibly need a firmware update. I was traveling on a hilly country road, not coming down the side of a mountain, and my speed should have been maintained. My husband has traveled this stretch of road many times in his Mercedes GLK, with standard cruise, and has not had to apply the brakes. Bottom line is the vehicle should maintain a set speed within a few miles per hour when going down a hill.
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I used to drive a Jeep Cherokee company car that actually geared-down in an attempt to maintain cruise control speed. The first couple of times it happened to me on the steep and winding California Highway 60 west of Palm Springs it took me totally by surprise....and I didn't like it because it could cause all kinds of problems if conditions were such that I needed the extra speed or higher gear or the road conditions were such that gearing-down would have made it hazardous.
Like most, I was just used to free-wheeling it down the hills while using braking as required....just as I've done in all other cars, including an earlier model Jeep Cherokee.
The Q5 we recently drove through the very steep Siskiyou Mountain Range in southwestern Oregon did not/could not maintain the set speed on the downgrades.....but did great on the climbs.
As for the Q3...haven't tried it. Will attempt to pry the car away from my wife this weekend and find a steep hill....
Like most, I was just used to free-wheeling it down the hills while using braking as required....just as I've done in all other cars, including an earlier model Jeep Cherokee.
The Q5 we recently drove through the very steep Siskiyou Mountain Range in southwestern Oregon did not/could not maintain the set speed on the downgrades.....but did great on the climbs.
As for the Q3...haven't tried it. Will attempt to pry the car away from my wife this weekend and find a steep hill....
Just to experiment I put my cruise control on 40 on the way to work earlier this week. I was going on a low traffic curving city street with a 35mph speed limit that had a slight uphill section followed by downhill. No issue on the uphill but on the way downhill I was rapidly approaching 50 MPH so I went to the brake. I don't normally think of cruise as something for hilly areas where I'm going to be engaged in the driving experience Freeway driving on a relatively flat stretch of road without too much traffic is a great place for cruise control.....and I found it worked just fine in this scenario, although it did also do well going up a hill. Look forward to DD's report.
I live in a rural area where we very often use cruise control on our country roads. With little traffic I set it somewhere between 55 and 60. I would not expect to use it on city streets. My recent previous vehicles were a Mercedes E350, and 2 CLKs. Never encountered this with those cars.
here is someone talking about the same thing on Audizine: My owner's manual specifically states that the cruise control system employs Active Braking to maintain the set speed.
I am assuming this means going downhill, it will use the brakes to maintain the speed, since the transmission won't downshift to use engine braking. My cruise control does not do this.
I took the service adviser at my local Audi dealership on a ride, where we were going 65mph down a hill with the cruise control set at 50mph. She told me that wasn't how Active Braking worked, but couldn't explain how it actually worked. I told her that a cruise control system that cannot maintain a set speed is useless. She then tried to blow me off by telling me that the owner's manual is generic, and the features do not apply to all vehicles (duh). I asked her to show me where it says it's part of a package or an option, and she couldn't. She proceeded to tell me that if the brakes are overheated, the system will not use Active Braking, which is true. I find it hard to believe that the brakes would be overheated when I'm barely using them, and every time I go down this hill.
I just want my cruise control to work. I have reached out to Audi USA to find out what their definition of Active Braking is, and what parameters are necessary for it to engage. But please tell me I'm not crazy, and it should be maintaining speed downhill - somehow...
I am assuming this means going downhill, it will use the brakes to maintain the speed, since the transmission won't downshift to use engine braking. My cruise control does not do this.
I took the service adviser at my local Audi dealership on a ride, where we were going 65mph down a hill with the cruise control set at 50mph. She told me that wasn't how Active Braking worked, but couldn't explain how it actually worked. I told her that a cruise control system that cannot maintain a set speed is useless. She then tried to blow me off by telling me that the owner's manual is generic, and the features do not apply to all vehicles (duh). I asked her to show me where it says it's part of a package or an option, and she couldn't. She proceeded to tell me that if the brakes are overheated, the system will not use Active Braking, which is true. I find it hard to believe that the brakes would be overheated when I'm barely using them, and every time I go down this hill.
I just want my cruise control to work. I have reached out to Audi USA to find out what their definition of Active Braking is, and what parameters are necessary for it to engage. But please tell me I'm not crazy, and it should be maintaining speed downhill - somehow...
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Test drive complete....results similar to cableguy's.....car is not slowed to maintain set speed while descending.
I love how the Q3 cruise control catches the set speed again after leveling off from the descent and as the car begins to slow to its set speed again....smooth and seamless, and better than my Lexus....and very similar to aircraft I've flown that have auto-throttle as part of the auto pilot.
So, bottom line, very nice cruise control that does not brake or downshift to keep my set speed while descending a hill....and I am glad for that.
After several readings and reading the inside back cover it seems obvious Audi will cop out using the reserved right to change specifications without notice or tell us they planned on active braking, printed the manual then changed their minds.
But it will be fun in the meantime.
But it will be fun in the meantime.
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This is cool - by my understanding is Active anything is up to the DRIVER. Passive anything else may be done by the car. Owner's manual notwithstanding (and the fine print excuses any/all errors) as far as I know, the Q3 for the US does NOT have a brake assist for cruise control and mine does not use the brake either. Also, I know of NO car in this price segment including both the Lexus or the Merc that does offer this as standard equipment. I believe it is available in the Merc (for about $2500) but not even in the Lexus...
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It means I set the speed and it holds that speed for me - up or down hills.
I emailed my service manager asking if my cruise control can be "repaired" to apply brakes, and he replied he would look into it Monday. This means I am the first to ask him. Hmmmmmm!?!
So, let's have a contest... Which Audi product's manual was copied to be our manual?
I don't know the line well enough but will pick A6.
BTW there are several errors in metric volume conversion in the Canadian manual which proves it was a clone of the USA manual. Canada uses Imperial measures for pints quarts and gallons. My manual is using US gallons and quarts. If I followed the manual I would underfill the oil.
So, let's have a contest... Which Audi product's manual was copied to be our manual?
I don't know the line well enough but will pick A6.
BTW there are several errors in metric volume conversion in the Canadian manual which proves it was a clone of the USA manual. Canada uses Imperial measures for pints quarts and gallons. My manual is using US gallons and quarts. If I followed the manual I would underfill the oil.
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Oh boy!
During my test drive the other day where the cruise control did NOT hold its speed....I only tested it on a very steep grade.
Yesterday my wife went of a drive on a road that had gentle climbs and descents, similar to what ShrlyG described, and she tells me the speed held steady at the preset 62mph.
Further testing is obviously warranted (I'm always trying to find some reason to borrow my wife's Q3), so I think we'll go for a long drive somewhere next week....
Mini-rant: Very disturbing that ShrlyG's dealer doesn't know shineola about the cruise control and that our owner's manuals are simply clones from other cars without much regard for the country it was sold in.
During my test drive the other day where the cruise control did NOT hold its speed....I only tested it on a very steep grade.
Yesterday my wife went of a drive on a road that had gentle climbs and descents, similar to what ShrlyG described, and she tells me the speed held steady at the preset 62mph.
Further testing is obviously warranted (I'm always trying to find some reason to borrow my wife's Q3), so I think we'll go for a long drive somewhere next week....
Mini-rant: Very disturbing that ShrlyG's dealer doesn't know shineola about the cruise control and that our owner's manuals are simply clones from other cars without much regard for the country it was sold in.
So if John's holds its speed both up and down hills, shouldn't mine as well!
DampDuffer: the long post about the dealer was a post I found on Audizine describing the same problem. I don't want to come across as being too negative about my dealer...at least not yet!
DampDuffer: the long post about the dealer was a post I found on Audizine describing the same problem. I don't want to come across as being too negative about my dealer...at least not yet!
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