Cruise Control

[Captainfieldmouse]

Daft newbie idiot here!
Just taken delivery of my HS Trophy PHEV and in the process of introducing myself to it! One initial issue is that the user manual on the iSMART app seems to be very generic and many of the images of the button controls (particularly on the steering wheel) bear little resemblance to my car. For instance how do you set cruise control on the new 2025 model?
TIA

 

[Eponemuss]

Page 247 of this manual on the MG Website. MG HS PHEV

 

[Bradam]

Page 247 of this manual on the MG Website. MG HS PHEV

Sometimes I think that developers who tune car systems never use them. I do. That's why I wanted to share a few observations about the (intelligent) adaptive cruise control (IACC) that works with the Lane Keeping Assist (LAC). Overall, these systems in the second-generation MG HS PHEV are fine.

However, two things annoy me:

1. The IACC and LKA systems completely deactivate with even the slightest press of the brake pedal. This behavior increases the risk because a driver accustomed to automatic braking with the lane keeping assist system engaged forgets that the system deactivates if they reflexively press the brake pedal, for example, in a traffic jam, and fails to apply the brakes again after reaching it (the lane keeping assist system deactivates after the first press of the brake). The solution to this problem is simple and obvious. Pressing the brake pedal should only reset the active cruise control speed, or CC. The distance and lane keeping system should be active at all times and, in fact, should be the default setting.
2. The speed setting method in the CC system is poor. Why would anyone program a dual joystick: increase (+) and decrease (-) the speed, first in increments of +/- 1 km/h, and the second with a long press of +/- 5 km/h? The first method is, to put it mildly, quite absurd, because who, for example, wants to drive at an exact speed of, say, 81 km/h or 99 km/h on the highway? It would be much more useful to use the car's current speed or the speed limit from Google Maps as the target speed (it's worth noting that speed limit recognition in GM doesn't work properly and should be disabled). The speed setting could be achieved by pressing the joystick from above.

 

[Eponemuss]

With regard to your last sentence, that’s what mine does. Pressing the joystick in sets the current speed as the limit.

 

[Bradam]

With regard to your last sentence, that’s what mine does. Pressing the joystick in sets the current speed as the limit.

We didn't quite understand each other. It's true that pressing the joystick sets the cruise control speed to the current value. The problem is that it can't be lowered this way, because you first have to slow down using the brake pedal, which completely deactivates the system, as mentioned in point 1. It should be added that easily lowering the cruise control setting is more necessary for safety reasons than raising it. We encounter this situation every time, for example, when passing a speed limit sign on a highway or having to exit onto a lower category road.

 

[Lollipopman]

Have you tried the INTELLIGENT cc as regard ADAPTIVE CC. When on icc the speed limit is automatically set by whatever the speed limit is in the RED CIRCLE and changes automatically as the speed limit changes.

I correct myself. It's INTELLIGENT CRUISE ASSIST. And it's page 257 in the handbook.

 

[Lollipopman]

As regard ADAPTIVE cc i personaly find the distance between you and the car in front to be level 1 it's more of a smoother ride.
To adjust the level while in acc long swipe on cc joy stick left or right and it shows up on cluster, then adjust accordingly by swipe to left or right.

 

[Bradam]

What is it, as you wrote: „RED CIRCLE”? Maybe it’s icon: „steering wheel” like e.g. on page 53, where there is no red color? Or maybe an “image of a prohibition sign with a red border”, like e.g. “a speed limit sign”?

Let's go back to the manual MG HS PHEV.

On page 257 we have a description „Intelligent Cruise Assist”. There are more similar descriptions, e.g. on page 264, some unnamed one, or on 267 „Constant Speed Cruise Control”

The common denominator of these descriptions is that:

• . They use hundreds of different abbreviations and imprecise names. For example, why do we have an "adjustment knob" for ACC and an "adjustment button" for audio control on page 32? After all, we've all known since childhood that a tilting control device with at least four left-right-up-down switches is simply a joystick.
• At the beginning of every description, there's a legal warning about what could go wrong. I know the company is protecting itself from potential lawsuits. But what's the point of all this? If we can't, because we haven't learned how to operate and use some miraculous system. To paraphrase, why doesn't the beginning of the owner's manual state that to turn right, you should turn the steering wheel clockwise, etc., etc.? We don't provide this crucial information because even an unintelligent driver knows how to do it and can drive?
• It's a different story in Owner's Manual. Where everything is intelligent, but even someone with an IQ > 150, can't understand it. For example, we'll use the "Adjustment Knob" discussed above, to set the "Cruise" speed. I don't think any driver will want, setting this speed to several decimal places. It is sufficient to set with accuracy, for example, 10 km/h (5 mph). Of course, someone learned that you need to follow the exponential setting method (initially change slowly, and the higher the setting, the greater the faster the changes). And he invented a monster: a single short press sets the setting by 1, and a continuous hold with automatic timing by 5. We have something like this. If we want to increase velocity from 100 to 104, we must briefly four-time press +SET, but we want to increase from 100 to 110, we either must press it 10 times, or for some unknown longer period pressing to +SET. Learning this, without looking at the cockpit, isn’t possibility. What's the simply, optimally and Intuitive resolve this problem? We need only the brake and accelerator pedals, equipped with the car's drive, and a single SET button, which we take over actually velocity as set value to Intelligent Cruise Control (ICA).

All these aspects make paper user manuals an unnecessary burden in the car's glove compartment, which, especially in rent-a-car companies, no one knows even exists.

 

[Totti1001]

Unfortunately, you're right. I'm actually quite interested in technology, but sometimes I'm just left with question marks on my face . I sometimes wonder how older people are supposed to cope with it. I can only hope that MG will revise the software properly. Unfortunately, my experience with Chinese products in terms of software is not very good. In some other areas, I have unfortunately already seen that it is preferable to launch a new product on the market rather than fix the faults in an existing one. Software maintenance doesn't make any money, but a new product does....


Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

 

[Lollipopman]

I was referring to the speed limit as shown on the dashboard in the car that is displayed in a RED CIRCLE.