Have you ever passed a shiny tanker semi truck and paused for a second to see your distorted reflection? Well, the Adaptive Cruise control system in some (actually 36,857 units) of the the 2015 F-150 pickup trucks does something similar. No, it does not want to see its own reflection, but it thinks that the shiny truck may be wider than it actually is. It may determine that the truck is in your lane in front of you, when in fact it’s in the lane next to you. Thus, the system applies the brakes and prevents the F-150 from passing.
At a first glance, this is the safe thing to do. When you are not sure about something, the cautious thing to do is to slow down. However, Ford says this may increase a chance of a crash involving another vehicle that is following the F-150.
Ford has found a correction to this problem and recalling the truck for a quick software update at no cost to the owner.
Below are statement excerpts from Ford on this matter.
When passing a large, highly reflective truck, the adaptive cruise control radar in some of these vehicles could incorrectly identify the truck as being in the F-150 lane of travel when it is not. As a result, the vehicle might apply the brakes until the truck is no longer perceived to be in the lane of travel. The collision warning system red warning light might also flash and a tone might be heard at the same time. When this happens, the brake lights will illuminate. The potential duration of this unexpected adaptive cruise control braking could increase the risk of a crash involving a vehicle behind the F-150.
Affected vehicles include certain 2015 Ford F-150 vehicles built at Dearborn Truck Plant, March 18, 2014 through Aug. 5, 2015, and at Kansas City Assembly Plant, Aug. 11, 2014 through Aug. 6, 2015.
Watch the 2015 Ford F-150 2.7L EcoBoost V6 extreme towing test up the Ike Gauntlet. Although, we did not use the Adaptive Cruise control during this test.
