How to Use Distronic Cruise Control

How-To Video: DISTRONIC Plus Cruise Control

Cruise control has been with us a long time and has been a standard feature on most makes and models for the last couple of generations. But leave it to Mercedes-Benz to take a feature we’ve become accustomed to and make it better, easier to use and more instinctive, all while improving safety. We’re talking, of course, about the Mercedes-Benz innovation DISTRONIC Plus Cruise Control, adaptive cruise control that automatically adjusts to the flow of traffic. It makes the cruise control better at what cruise control has always been designed to do — reduce driver fatigue.

While the controls are very user friendly and fairly easy to figure out, Mercedes-Benz has put together an instructional video to make sure that all Mercedes-Benz buyers can quickly and easily familiarize themselves with the new features DISTRONIC Plus adds to their cruise control. The video also walks through how to use the cruise control. Additionally, the video provides some basic tips for driving with adaptive cruise control and goes over some of the limitations inherent to any cruise control – after all, while DISTRONIC Plus will take a lot of the fatigue and stress out of driving, it IS still important for drivers to maintain control of their vehicles.

Adaptive Cruise Control – What It Is and What It Does

In case you’re not familiar with the concept, adaptive cruise control, as the name suggests, adapts to the flow of traffic. Picture this: you’re driving on the highway with the cruise control on. For whatever reason, traffic ahead of you (or, at least, the car immediately in front of you) begins to slow down. With traditional cruise control, you need to hit ‘coast,’ tap the brake or otherwise disengage the cruise control so you can slow down to avoid hitting the car in front of you.

With adaptive cruise control like DISTRONIC Plus, however, your car will automatically slow down when the traffic in front of you slows down. DISTRONIC Plus uses a radar system to determine how far it is from the car in front of yours. The system will slow your car down and speed it up to maintain the appropriate distance – which you can adjust. The DISTRONIC Plus will even stop your car if the car ahead of you comes to a gentle stop (if the car in front of you comes to a fast stop, the system gives you an alert, letting you know that you need to get on the brake).

Easy and Instinctive – the Video Takes about 3 Minutes to Watch

For the most part, using the DISTRONIC Plus adaptive cruise control is like using any other cruise control. The instructional video, available on YouTube, goes over the basics of increasing or decreasing acceleration by 1 mph or 5 mph increments. It also goes over the features unique to the DISTRONIC system, like how to set the following distance between your car and the traffic in front of you.

Of course, cruise control can’t drive the car for you. Like any cruise control system, the DISTRONIC Plus system has its limits, and the video goes over them. The bottom line to most of them is that it’s still important for the driver to keep his or her eyes on the road and hands on the wheel. DISTRONIC doesn’t always detect narrow vehicles like motorcycles and it won’t detect stationary objects or pedestrians. It also can’t recognize turns and curves in the road or predict what other drivers are going to do. Your Mercedes-Benz has other safety features that help reduce those kinds of dangers, too, but ultimately, it’s important that you continue to pay attention to your driving.

You can find the DISTRONIC instructional video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ds9yP3_bgsk

Should you have any questions, of course, you can always come see us at Mercedes-Benz of Bonita Springs, where our friendly sales and service personnel are always happy to help.