[jokinawa]

Originally Posted by MarkH62

I don't understand how it got to be considered a "safety feature" (in my profession, software engineering, "feature" is often substituted as a noun where "bug" is more appropriate). When I set my X7 cruise control for the speed limit, all of the other drivers on the road will be passing me and often attempt to communicate using sign language. I will have to calculate an appropriate speed to either set the cruise control, or manually follow. I do enough math at work; I don't want to have to perform mental convolutions just to enjoy a road trip, coexist happily with my fellow travelers, and avoid speeding violations.

Sorry for the wall of text and I am not trying to be combative.


If you set it to 65 and you are going a few under that due to the intentional speed correction you are technically being safer.

Since the actual speed is lower than the displayed speed then if you get a speeding ticket, you thought you were going much faster and this feature may have just saved you some cash. E.G. Ticket for 78 vs 75 in a 65.

Normally, at least in the US you should be driving in one of the right hand lanes unless you are passing. Many states even have laws requiring it. If people are passing you doing the corrected speed limit and giving you sign language, you are probably in the wrong lane. If you set it to over the speed limit (5, 10, etc) and you are being passed with sign language, you are still probably in the wrong lane. Co-existing with your fellow drivers is less about your speed being a few MPH/KPH lower than it is to being attentive and moving to the correct lane when necessary.

Now, although it is a safety feature, it is also most likely a legal and public relations feature. For instance, if you set your cruise control to higher than the speed limit and you get in an accident, at least you were not going as fast as you thought which is safer, allows BMW to argue that you set it significantly higher than the speed limit or modded your car if you try to claim something was wrong with the speedometer, and saves some reputation since you were not going as fast as you thought.

With all that being said. You know that the feature exists and you know it can be turned off at your own risk. I don't see the problem since you can set cruise control to whatever desired speed you want to drive at and typically that's faster than the speed limit for most people.