Do I have any rights on this?

wgl2014

Did your cruise control fail to disengage of did your brakes fail to work?

If it's the cruise control then wouldn't it have been possible to dip the clutch and come to a (noisy) stop?

Begsey

Why pump the brake pedal? Did the brakes fail as well?
Surely pressing and holding the brake would slow the car down, regardless of what the cruise control is trying to do.

motorguy

Paulo_Gianinni wrote: »

Yeah the clutch also disengages the brake. At the time didn't think of this at the time though. Was just pumping the brake pedal.

So your brakes failed as well then - as presumably thats the only scenario that you'd need to pump the brakes.

I cant see how the car didnt alert you via a warning light being on and the cruise control being deactivated. Its linked to the ABS of the car so a failure of one will affect the other.

I'd a Merc a number of years ago that had a sensor failure on the ABS and the dash lit up like a christmas tree - ABS warning, cruise control warning, speed limiter warning - all those systems were deactivated and couldnt be used. Turned out to be a faulty solenoid ahead of the sensor and was a simple fix.

Its all a fairly moot point now TBH - you cant return a wrecked car and the insurance company are going to write it off.

motorguy

Paulo_Gianinni wrote: »

To bobbymotors.....

You haven't no. But I have and other people have. Use Google, it's your friend. It's free too.

If i google "mercedes cruise control brake failure" there are remarkably few instances of it sticking ON, moreso than it failing to work.

Aylesbury_Duck

OP I think you are mistaken and in the immediate aftermath of what was probably a pretty scary situation, have confused what you were doing and how the car behaved. The likelihood of the cruise control jamming on is slim, the chances of it not disengaging when you braked is even more slim and this "pumping the brakes" is a strange thing to be doing, faulty CC or not. I doubt you're going to be able to prove an inherent fault with the car and the accident is going to go down as your fault anyway, so let the insurance do its job and be glad that you weren't injured and managed to avoid damaging other cars or injuring other road users.

motorguy

Aylesbury_Duck wrote: »

The likelihood of the cruise control jamming on is slim...

To the point of being practically NIL.

Cornucopia

It is not mechanically possible for power (from CC or otherwise) to remain applied to the wheels with the Clutch depressed. I think that everyone (Police (if involved), Mercedes/Dealer, Insurance Company) would expect that a reasonably competent/diligent driver would apply the clutch in the event that the CC somehow failed to cancel electronically.

Therefore, I don't see any angle on this that would result in a claim against the Dealer or avoiding a hit on insurance. Or at least, I think to even begin on that route, it would require somehow retaking possession of the car, and then employing a specialist engineer to prove that (somehow) the clutch would not have resolved any problem with the CC, if it were even technically possible to prove such a thing (which it may not be).

AndyMc.....

Cornucopia wrote: »

It is not mechanically possible for power (from CC or otherwise) to remain applied to the wheels with the Clutch depressed. I think that everyone (Police (if involved), Mercedes/Dealer, Insurance Company) would expect that a reasonably competent/diligent driver would apply the clutch in the event that the CC somehow failed to cancel electronically.

Therefore, I don't see any angle on this that would result in a claim against the Dealer or somehow avoiding a hit on insurance. Or at least, I think to even begin on that route, it would require somehow retaking possession of the car, and then employing a specialist engineer to prove that (somehow) the clutch would not have resolved any problem with the CC, if it were even technically possible to prove such a think (which it may not be).

Maybe it was an automatic.

Cornucopia

AndyMc..... wrote: »

Maybe it was an automatic.

I wondered about that. What would be the rule, then? Is it that you can place the 'Box into Neutral whilst the car is moving, if there is an emergency?

"Be Nice to Newbies" notwithstanding, I'm sceptical about this. CC is now relatively common, but you simply don't see cars careering around, under power but impossible to stop.

debtdebt

Shell out circa £500 plus for an expert automotive engineer's report if you really do think your CC failed. Even then, they may not find anything. I doubt it did fail.