[BillB]

The cure for the cruise control button being in a weird location (only someone with orangutan arms would be able to reach it comfortably) has been to leave it turned on. I'm sure many of us were doing just that all this time. Well, after about 4 months of not worrying about the cruise being left on, this morning I turned that cure off as I somehow found a way to set the speed control by accident and almost caused myself to have an accident. I was making a turn up a side road at about 30 miles an hour and following a string of traffic when the road turned uphill. Rather than brake to slow the truck down as traffic slowed in front of me, I let the hill slow me down. Much to my surprise, the truck kept right on going at 30 mph and almost right into the back of the car in front of me. Hope this serves as a cautionary tale for others employing the "cure".

 

[swampler]

Sounds like user error to me. Most likely you would have had the button on anyway...I know on my old truck I would turn on the cruise first thing after starting the truck so I'd be ready to set it.

 

[ridged]

I'm glad that you were able to report "almost right into the back of the car in front of me".

While Honda states that it's acceptable to leave cruise control enabled, I'm sure that they are speaking to the mechanical aspect of doing so. Thanks for offering a practical point of view.

 

[DoctorJ]

I use cruise on the freeway unless there is heavy traffic. The switch is low but its not difficult to reach for me.

 

[lowrider90]

The cure for the cruise control button being in a weird location (only someone with orangutan arms would be able to reach it comfortably) has been to leave it turned on. I'm sure many of us were doing just that all this time. Well, after about 4 months of not worrying about the cruise being left on, this morning I turned that cure off as I somehow found a way to set the speed control by accident and almost caused myself to have an accident. I was making a turn up a side road at about 30 miles an hour and following a string of traffic when the road turned uphill. Rather than brake to slow the truck down as traffic slowed in front of me, I let the hill slow me down. Much to my surprise, the truck kept right on going at 30 mph and almost right into the back of the car in front of me. Hope this serves as a cautionary tale for others employing the "cure".

I'm one who leaves it on all the time, eventhough I reach the button just fine. I'm 5'10.5" with normal length arms. So i'm no ape, but have been called a neanderthal before.

Thanks for the heads up, I didn't think of that happening, I'll be aware now!

 

[flymuck]

This would be one very good reason not to leave the cruise button on, yes, I agree. I'm glad it wasn't an accident! Thanks for posting...

 

[BillB]

Of course it was user error. It was user laziness. It was also designer laziness on the part of Honda placing the cruise control on switch in a rediculous place. This is my first Honda. It may or may not be my last, time will tell. I am not judging the company solely on the placement of a cruise control switch, but there is a fair list of design flaws/inefficiencies in this first year vehicle that will come to mind when I do make my next vehicle decision. Most definitely I will not be buying a first year vehicle again, I don't care what company offers the next best thing to come out. I participate in this forum, sometimes to vent frustration, sometimes to offer advice, sometimes to ask questions, whatever. However, there is a definite feeling I get from some of the participants that Honda is the greatest thing since sliced bread and opinions seem to be jaded sometimes.

 

[swampler]

Of course it was user error. It was user laziness. It was also designer laziness on the part of Honda placing the cruise control on switch in a rediculous place. This is my first Honda. It may or may not be my last, time will tell. I am not judging the company solely on the placement of a cruise control switch, but there is a fair list of design flaws/inefficiencies in this first year vehicle that will come to mind when I do make my next vehicle decision. Most definitely I will not be buying a first year vehicle again, I don't care what company offers the next best thing to come out. I participate in this forum, sometimes to vent frustration, sometimes to offer advice, sometimes to ask questions, whatever. However, there is a definite feeling I get from some of the participants that Honda is the greatest thing since sliced bread and opinions seem to be jaded sometimes.

I hope you didn't take offense to my post, it wasn't meant that way. My point was that under normal conditions, for me at least, the cruise switch would have been turned on anyway whether it is on all the time, or if I had to manually turn it on every time. I don't recall ever turning off cruise control on any vehicle I've owned.

 

[arteegee]

Service guy left mine off yesterday for the first time in months. My custom won't change because you make a bonehead move. Been driving Hondas for 20 years. Step on the brake.

 

[swampler]

Service guy left mine off yesterday for the first time in months. My custom won't change because you make a bonehead move. Been driving Hondas for 20 years. Step on the brake.

Or hit the cancel button.

 

[BillB]

Trust me, I hit the brake. I have been driving for 35 years. I don't know if you have ever had a car lurch forward on you for no instantly apparent reason but it will usually result in the brake being used as a corrective action. Try using cruise control on this or any other vehicle and go from a flat road at 30 mph and then just turn onto a hilly road. The vehicle will slow down because of gravity and then, not smoothly, jump up in acceleration to catch up to the set cruise speed. Worst case scenario was what I found myself in with traffic bunching and stopping right in front of me when the truck decided to do this little catch up. My post was meant to keep those junior drivers aware of the other side of the coin on this method of keeping the cruise on as a convenience. I did not expect any veteran drivers to change how they handle their vehicles. And of course I took it personally when you said it was user error, who wouldn't. This is the Internet and anyone can call anyone whatever they want, but I will admit to my laziness, just didn't want anyone following this method blindly.

 

[jeffiam]

Trust me, I hit the brake. I have been driving for 35 years. I don't know if you have ever had a car lurch forward on you for no instantly apparent reason but it will usually result in the brake being used as a corrective action. Try using cruise control on this or any other vehicle and go from a flat road at 30 mph and then just turn onto a hilly road. The vehicle will slow down because of gravity and then, not smoothly, jump up in acceleration to catch up to the set cruise speed. Worst case scenario was what I found myself in with traffic bunching and stopping right in front of me when the truck decided to do this little catch up. My post was meant to keep those junior drivers aware of the other side of the coin on this method of keeping the cruise on as a convenience. I did not expect any veteran drivers to change how they handle their vehicles. And of course I took it personally when you said it was user error, who wouldn't. This is the Internet and anyone can call anyone whatever they want, but I will admit to my laziness, just didn't want anyone following this method blindly.

and we appreciate it bill. can never have enough info.

 

[scottIN]

On my last car, there was no 'enable' button. Just a stalk (like a small turn signal stalk) that you pulled toward you to set, pushed forward to cancel. Easy system. Had a few people that were driving my car enable it accidentally but I never did personally.

 

[RidgeOwner3]

This is a legitimate problem with cruise controls. Even if you are knowingly using it and aren't thinking about it when starting up a hill, you can still be surprised by the downshift and acceleration. We've talked about that here before. Cruise control is great for long level drives without traffic, but be careful on the hills.

Glad you didn't hit anyone! That really would've sucked.

I can't say I feel your pain with a first year vehicle, though, because although mine was one of the first 2000 made, I've had absolutely no problems with it. I believe it's because it's SILVER and the color blind windshield robot didn't have a problem with it. But LadyRidge did with hers, so I guess it was just a good day on the line for mine. I also didn't have anything extra done to it, besides the tow hitch.

 

[lowrider90]

Of course it was user error. It was user laziness. It was also designer laziness on the part of Honda placing the cruise control on switch in a rediculous place. This is my first Honda. It may or may not be my last, time will tell. I am not judging the company solely on the placement of a cruise control switch, but there is a fair list of design flaws/inefficiencies in this first year vehicle that will come to mind when I do make my next vehicle decision. Most definitely I will not be buying a first year vehicle again, I don't care what company offers the next best thing to come out. I participate in this forum, sometimes to vent frustration, sometimes to offer advice, sometimes to ask questions, whatever. However, there is a definite feeling I get from some of the participants that Honda is the greatest thing since sliced bread and opinions seem to be jaded sometimes.

Someone is having an angry day, sorry for that. But did you really mean to say jaded? doesn't seem to fit here!

I appreciate your opinon, I guess most of us are happy with the ridgeline and our opinions will be more positive than negative. But if you look around the forum, many of the ROC members have said negative things about the ridgeline one way or another. they are not perfect but what car/truck is!

I would be interested in seeing your long list of design flaws/inefficiencies.

The ridgeline is better than sliced bread, you can't drive sliced bread on a beach and see perfect sunsets, After all it is just a truck.

 

[swampler]

And of course I took it personally when you said it was user error, who wouldn't.

Obviously a bad choice of words on my part. I was just trying to make the point that this incident actually had nothing to do with the location of the cruise control switch, just that it was turned on. I was also pointing out that even if it didn't automatically stay on all the time, most people (or at least I) would have already turned it on prior to this incident, so you would have had the same problem regardless.

Again, I wasn't trying to be insulting. It sounded better in my head.

 

[iROC]

In my last two vehicles the cruise activation was somewhere on the steering column, so it has taken me a little time to adjust to the non-ergonomic placement where it now resides. But, I turn it on and off as needed.

 

[BillB]

Enough said in my "venting" mode. Sorry to bum anyone out. I overall like the truck and made a conscious decision to buy based upon safety features for my family. I guess I got greedy when other non-safety features started to interest me as I enjoyed them. On the whole, an average to above average experience so far and I am very glad not to have the major problems of TSB level. My list of first year bobbles (because someone asked) and (ones I have on my truck and other members have concurred) would include: Fit and finish issues - steering wheel rough and sharp edges, light lenses not fitting, window and door rubber trim falling off, paint imperfections, seat covers stretching, rusting hardware in bed; and mechanical/performance issues - the dreaded cruise control mishap, heater musty smell, intermittant windshield wiper speeds not appropriate and controls flimsy, transmission shifting points ill-mannered when passing on hill, and an extremely sensitive brake pedal.

 

[HEY RIDGELINE!]

The cure for the cruise control button being in a weird location (only someone with orangutan arms would be able to reach it comfortably) has been to leave it turned on. I'm sure many of us were doing just that all this time. Well, after about 4 months of not worrying about the cruise being left on, this morning I turned that cure off as I somehow found a way to set the speed control by accident and almost caused myself to have an accident. I was making a turn up a side road at about 30 miles an hour and following a string of traffic when the road turned uphill. Rather than brake to slow the truck down as traffic slowed in front of me, I let the hill slow me down. Much to my surprise, the truck kept right on going at 30 mph and almost right into the back of the car in front of me. Hope this serves as a cautionary tale for others employing the "cure".

Hey, I resemble that remark. I come from generations of monkeys! I am short and stubby, I have never had a problem as you described.

 

[arteegee]

Enough said in my "venting" mode. Sorry to bum anyone out. I overall like the truck and made a conscious decision to buy based upon safety features for my family. I guess I got greedy when other non-safety features started to interest me as I enjoyed them. On the whole, an average to above average experience so far and I am very glad not to have the major problems of TSB level. My list of first year bobbles (because someone asked) and (ones I have on my truck and other members have concurred) would include: Fit and finish issues - steering wheel rough and sharp edges, light lenses not fitting, window and door rubber trim falling off, paint imperfections, seat covers stretching, rusting hardware in bed; and mechanical/performance issues - the dreaded cruise control mishap, heater musty smell, intermittant windshield wiper speeds not appropriate and controls flimsy, transmission shifting points ill-mannered when passing on hill, and an extremely sensitive brake pedal.

Proud to say I don't have any of that.