Dangerous Unexpected Adaptive Cruise Control Behavior - Sudden Braking Following "RESUME CONTROL" Message

[ScubaSteve_TheReal]

I've been using adaptive cruise control on relatively limited access 35 to 45 mph "country" roads in San Antonio. The cruise control maintains my speed and lane, even going around gentle, even curves.

Today, I was driving a perfectly straight one-mile or so stretch of 45 mph road with no traffic around me. Out of the blue, I get a KEEP HANDS ON STEERING WHEEL message. Both hands tightly gripped the steering wheel, and I moved them and gripped the steering wheel slightly differently just to give the monitoring system new feedback. KEEP HANDS ON STEERING WHEEL persisted. Then I got RESUME CONTROL with beeping, IIRC. I thought, "Oh, well. I've been through this before. The system will cancel, and I'll just take over driving." Instead, RESUME CONTROL continued, followed by two hard, short automatic braking pulses. I thought, "That was weird," but I did nothing. Then, two more hard pulses of automatic braking. I tapped the brakes. Cruise control messaging and misbehavior disappeared, and I manually drove the rest of the way home.

Today was a great day for driving a Ford EV. Weird, unsafe, unmerited behavior from FORD cruise control and flaky charging behavior from Ford servers, courtesy of iOS FordPass, v5.9: https://www.f150lightningforum.com/...-time-doesnt-work-in-ios-fordpass-v5-9.23501/

@Ford Motor Company, I hope, as well as handing out plaudits for pretty Lightning pictures and accounts of fun road trips that you report owner problems back to Ford designers and programmers and encourage them to make their expensive stuff actually work right eventually if "to begin with" is too much to hope for.

This new crap behavior just happened to me this past Saturday 12/21/24. About jarred my wife out of her seat and dog from back seat to front seats. Some dangerous Sh*t FORD….!!
It seems the automatic lane centering turning itself on every time now I’m only guessing part of the BC 1.4 I recently received. Consequently I’m now turning lane centering off when using adaptive cruise control and when not using BC 1.4 on the interstates. Let’s just say it’s a million miles from just a nag. It’s violent. Why not just turn off out cruise control vs this Sh*t behavior FORD. I dare someone else to try this going 70+mph with cars behind you and beside you. VERY Dangerous software behavior.
…Perhaps I should use the feedback system in the truck to report it I’ve been advised.

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[ScubaSteve_TheReal]

I thought there was an update a while back that was supposed to minimize spurious messages to KEEP YOUR HANDS ON THE STEERING WHEEL. A year ago or so, that was a more problematic "ghost" problem. The problem is not that my hands aren't on the steering wheel and that my eyes aren't straight ahead down the road. It's Ford Motor Company purveying a flaky system.

And I've gotten RESUME CONTROL quite often in the past, but the vehicle just quit controlling the driving. I never had to do anything before or got brake pulses before to make me show a sign of anything. Moving my hands on the steering wheel (which perhaps let the steering wheel move a bit) has usually worked to dismiss the KEEP HANDS ON STEERING wheel message, which was said to result from poor camera monitoring. I NEVER remove either hand from the steering wheel. So, Ford camera monitoring stinks in making the KEEP HANDS ON THE STEERING wheel determination. I can understand that Ford might have decided to change the behavior of the system in doing an update. But if they did, they do a LOUSY job communicating any such changes. Goes along perfectly with their cryptic descriptions of what's in an update to begin with.

The problem may be that I have lane-keeping turned on to work in concert with the intended speed maintenance that comes from activating adaptive cruise control. The best answer for me seems to be to hit the Cancel Cruise control button at the first sign of any KEEP YOUR HANDS ON THE STEERING WHEEL message.

100% agree with this new Sh*t behavior. My hands never left the wheel either. Eyes were straight ahead. Sometime new is going on.
turning off cruise control when I get this message from now on. Then cruise back on I should not have to have a death grip on the wheel, otherwise I’m fighting the lane centering too much. Lane centering off for now for me.
…Perhaps I should use the feedback system in the truck to report it I’ve been advised.

 

[ScubaSteve_TheReal]

Gripping the wheel won't get rid of the keep hands in steering wheel message. The truck has to sense torque from turning the steering wheel.

I get that but I’m fighting the lane centering on straight and or sadly striped roads with it on. Not to mention probably wearing out my tires fighting it to keep it happy. This is new behavior. I’ve been driving a lightning since January 2023 and this is radically new behavior I’m seeing.
…Perhaps I should use the feedback system in the truck to report it I’ve been advised.

 

[ScubaSteve_TheReal]

The manual does say the following under Adaptive Cruise Control:

I've driven that same section of road dozens of times with my hands tightly gripping the wheel and never gotten a KEEP HANDS ON STEERING wheel message before. One would think that the resistance to the steering wheel moving in any direction would be considered torque, but I guess it's not. It's stupid when one needs to drive straight to be safe on that perfectly straight road (open gutters on one side, traffic in a neighboring same-direction lane on the other) that you need to move the steering wheel away from driving straight ahead to be safe. Ha ha.

On RESUME CONTROL, "you must immediately take full control of the vehicle" is wonderfully vague. What exactly does that mean?

As I said, the best answer to this nonsense is the CANCEL button on the steering wheel. When Ford's sensing mechanisms aren't happy with a driver tightly gripping the wheel, eyes on the road, and driving with no change in steering down a perfectly straight road, as I've done many times before in the exact location, the best thing is to stop putting up with Ford's driving assist nonsense.

I am experiencing this same new behavior on my truck. I drive this same road routinely and this crap is new. No amount of wheel torque will stop it once the warning starts. It gets violent very quickly going 70+mph. Only turning off cruise control then turning it back on with lane centering turned off is what works for me for now.
…Perhaps I should use the feedback system in the truck to report it I’ve been advised.

 

[TaxmanHog]

Suggest that everyone experiencing poor performance report your observations using the trucks feedback app.

 

[Maquis]

I get that but I’m fighting the lane centering on straight and or sadly striped roads with it on. Not to mention probably wearing out my tires fighting it to keep it happy. This is new behavior. I’ve been driving a lightning since January 2023 and this is radically new behavior I’m seeing.

You aren’t causing tire wear by fighting the steering control. The torque fight is happening in the steering system. There is only one one net input to the tire vector.

 

[XENOILPHOBE]

Just nail the accelerator and/or apply slight pressure to the wheel to the right or left and it will STFU. "holding the steering wheel" doesn't do anything.

First time it did the to me I almost returned the truck as it was freaking dangerous with a semi on my ass on Route 81 in VA doing 80MPH, brake checking a truck with a 53 foot trailer and 80,000 pounds of cargo is asking for a major jackknifing accident.

All the alerts themselves are distracting the driver from paying attention to the road, I hate them in both the Tesla and the Ford. They could at least have a hot lady come over the audio and say something, verses all the flashing, jerking, braking, shutoff crap, that makes all the cars around you think that driver is insane.

There are better ways to get people to look forward, imagine if they flashed a quick picture of a holographic girlfriend (Bladerunner 2049 style) you like on the windshield, with a HUD so that you would look forward, verses at the scenery to the right and left or your phone.

 

[potato]

I thought the new thing here was some OTA update that started turning on lane keeping as well when you meant to just use the cruise control.

I hope I never get that; I have zero interest in lane keeping (or BlueCruise for that matter). If it is forced on me I'll have to figure some way to permanently disable lane keeping with Forscan or something.

 

[Heliian]

I use the adaptive cruise control everyday, on all types of roads.

I've never had the braking come on.

The truck prompts you to keep watch or keep hands on wheel. When it prompts you should take action.

Also, if you lose road markings the truck will cancel lane centering without braking.

If you are to the point of the brakes engaging then you're not paying attention to the road and not responding to the trucks commands. THAT IS THE SAFETY SYSTEM.

 

[Nikos]

I've been using adaptive cruise control on relatively limited access 35 to 45 mph "country" roads in San Antonio. The cruise control maintains my speed and lane, even going around gentle, even curves.

Today, I was driving a perfectly straight one-mile or so stretch of 45 mph road with no traffic around me. Out of the blue, I get a KEEP HANDS ON STEERING WHEEL message. Both hands tightly gripped the steering wheel, and I moved them and gripped the steering wheel slightly differently just to give the monitoring system new feedback. KEEP HANDS ON STEERING WHEEL persisted. Then I got RESUME CONTROL with beeping, IIRC. I thought, "Oh, well. I've been through this before. The system will cancel, and I'll just take over driving." Instead, RESUME CONTROL continued, followed by two hard, short automatic braking pulses. I thought, "That was weird," but I did nothing. Then, two more hard pulses of automatic braking. I tapped the brakes. Cruise control messaging and misbehavior disappeared, and I manually drove the rest of the way home.

Today was a great day for driving a Ford EV. Weird, unsafe, unmerited behavior from FORD cruise control and flaky charging behavior from Ford servers, courtesy of iOS FordPass, v5.9: https://www.f150lightningforum.com/...-time-doesnt-work-in-ios-fordpass-v5-9.23501/

@Ford Motor Company, I hope, as well as handing out plaudits for pretty Lightning pictures and accounts of fun road trips that you report owner problems back to Ford designers and programmers and encourage them to make their expensive stuff actually work right eventually if "to begin with" is too much to hope for.

Just like Rick said. Tell your truck that you are alive. Move your steering wheel ever so gently in either direction.
Yes…..it has happened to most of us once or twice. At first we behaved just like you. ????!!!! but in the end we tell the truck that we…….got this.
You are the ALPHA.!!!!
BC and Hands Free, that is another ball game. Enjoy the truck.
Happy Holidays.!!!!

 

[Runaway Tractor]

This new crap behavior just happened to me this past Saturday 12/21/24. About jarred my wife out of her seat and dog from back seat to front seats. Some dangerous Sh*t FORD….!!

Things that didn't happen. The brake nudge is not that hard. None of that actually happened.

 

[ScubaSteve_TheReal]

I use the adaptive cruise control everyday, on all types of roads.

I've never had the braking come on.

The truck prompts you to keep watch or keep hands on wheel. When it prompts you should take action.

Also, if you lose road markings the truck will cancel lane centering without braking.

If you are to the point of the brakes engaging then you're not paying attention to the road and not responding to the trucks commands. THAT IS THE SAFETY SYSTEM.

For me, BC 1.4 works great, Adaptive cruise control works great, lane centering works pretty good too. What has changed is the automatic lane centering behavior and its steering wheel very special hand placement contact demands outside of BC 1.4 operation. Same roads, same driver and same hands on steering wheel, something has changed in the sensitivity requirements of my hands on the steering wheel and or how it’s registering my overall hands placement I already know it doesn’t like one handed steering wheel driving……lol. Heaven forbid if it was a stick shift manual transmission vehicle.. JMHO

 

[Firn]

I use the adaptive cruise control everyday, on all types of roads.

I've never had the braking come on.

The truck prompts you to keep watch or keep hands on wheel. When it prompts you should take action.

Also, if you lose road markings the truck will cancel lane centering without braking.

If you are to the point of the brakes engaging then you're not paying attention to the road and not responding to the trucks commands. THAT IS THE SAFETY SYSTEM.

That is not what was said.

The only way the truck knows you are "paying attention" is when you turn the steering wheel (aka, give it steering input). You can be the most vigilant driver ever but if you are going straight down the road it will still yell at you.

The main problem here is that the truck tells you to pay attention and put your hands on the steering wheel, except you can do both those things and it will still keep yelling at you. You have to actually turn the wheel some, which is NOT what it tells you to do.

Is it pretty well known you have to turn the wheel? Yes. Is this blown way out of proportion? Yes. However his point is valid, what it tells you to do is not actually how you fix the issue, and having the truck suddenly start braking for you can be unnerving.

 

[ScubaSteve_TheReal]

Things that didn't happen. The brake nudge is not that hard. None of that actually happened.

According to my wife it happened, trust me as the co-driver she lets me know about these things. You are welcome to your opinions as are any of us, your thoughts have been heard…

 

[Firn]

For me, BC 1.4 works great, Adaptive cruise control works great, lane centering works pretty good too. What has changed is the automatic lane centering behavior and its steering wheel very special hand placement contact demands outside of BC 1.4 operation. Same roads, same driver and same hands on steering wheel, something has changed in the sensitivity requirements of my hands on the steering wheel and or how it’s registering my overall hands placement I already know it doesn’t like one handed steering wheel driving……lol. Heaven forbid if it was a stick shift manual transmission vehicle.. JMHO

My guess is the adaptive steering with lane centering now works the way it does on non-BC trucks. Perhaps previously it used the cameras for both lane centering and BC, now it only uses the cameras for BC and torque for lane centering.

Where and how many hands you have on the wheel won't have anything to do with it. You need to occasionally apply light pressure left or right, which can be done one handed. Or do like others and strap one pound of weight to one side of the steering wheel.

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