Activate cruise in neutral (manual CL9)

**jjman** · 08-09-2016 12:32 AM

Just an interesting thing that I wondered if it had been discovered before...

Driving last night I put the car in neutral to coast a low gentle hill, but had been in cruise control before that (clutching in to neutral had deactivated the cruise). Anyway, at the end of the hill I had forgotten that I was in neutral and so pushed cruise resume button. This starts revving up like a mad box (motor throttling harder to try to lift speed, but to no avail as I was in neutral). I managed to push deactivate as it swept past 6000rpm. Not sure if it would have kept going and limiter bashing or what.

anybody else ever encountered this? or perhaps my car has a faulty sensor that enabled it to do this?
If its standard its an interesting little glitch im surprised Honda never eliminated...

**AndrewRox22** · 08-09-2016 04:03 PM

Originally Posted by jjman

Just an interesting thing that I wondered if it had been discovered before...

Driving last night I put the car in neutral to coast a low gentle hill, but had been in cruise control before that (clutching in to neutral had deactivated the cruise). Anyway, at the end of the hill I had forgotten that I was in neutral and so pushed cruise resume button. This starts revving up like a mad box (motor throttling harder to try to lift speed, but to no avail as I was in neutral). I managed to push deactivate as it swept past 6000rpm. Not sure if it would have kept going and limiter bashing or what.

anybody else ever encountered this? or perhaps my car has a faulty sensor that enabled it to do this?
If its standard its an interesting little glitch im surprised Honda never eliminated...

you shouldn't be going to neutral doing down hill.... just downshift or use your brakes

**bennjamin** · 08-09-2016 04:43 PM

Originally Posted by jjman

Just an interesting thing that I wondered if it had been discovered before...

Driving last night I put the car in neutral to coast a low gentle hill, but had been in cruise control before that (clutching in to neutral had deactivated the cruise). Anyway, at the end of the hill I had forgotten that I was in neutral and so pushed cruise resume button. This starts revving up like a mad box (motor throttling harder to try to lift speed, but to no avail as I was in neutral). I managed to push deactivate as it swept past 6000rpm. Not sure if it would have kept going and limiter bashing or what.

anybody else ever encountered this? or perhaps my car has a faulty sensor that enabled it to do this?
If its standard its an interesting little glitch im surprised Honda never eliminated...

It it may be because you drove the car incorrectly , not as designed or intended.

You should never select neutral while driving. Never.

**jjman** · 08-09-2016 05:53 PM

i know i know... its just a long slow gentle hill (50-60kmh) that doesnt require either brakes nor accelerator for ages and the cruise control isnt smooth in that on/off throttle position that it seems to only be able to use to cruise on it. often you just come to an easy stop at the end anyway.
otherwise its autos that are actually properly bothered and potentially damaged by coasting in neutral. not manuals (hence noting it).

so back to the original topic. has anyone else experienced this or do i perhaps have a faulty sensor.

**AndrewRox22** · 08-09-2016 06:29 PM

Originally Posted by jjman

not manuals
so back to the original topic. has anyone else experienced this or do i perhaps have a faulty sensor.

it doesn't matter if it causes damage or not, the cruise only controls throttle to keep speed so it doesn't know you are in neutral hence why it revs up trying to get you back to the set speed.... nothing is broken, you just aren't driving to the manufacturer's design

down shift to second or third and you won't have this problem and achieve the same thing

**bennjamin** · 08-09-2016 06:54 PM

I feel that the cruise control doesnt recognize the change to neutral and tries to rev to maintain speed.

A few things to think about

brakes are cheaper than your transmission.

Coasting in neutral uses more fuel than coasting in gear / drive

Keep your car in gear or drive always.

**aaronng** · 13-09-2016 08:17 AM

Interesting, never tried hitting cruise control in neutral. Now we know.

Was it in gear, but clutched in?
Or was the gear stick really in neutral position, and clutch pedal released?

**jjman** · 13-09-2016 12:00 PM

Originally Posted by aaronng

Interesting, never tried hitting cruise control in neutral. Now we know.

Was it in gear, but clutched in?
Or was the gear stick really in neutral position, and clutch pedal released?

yeah me neither. as another poster noted, the same situation (over revving) could be induced by doing say 80kmh using cruise in 5th, and then slowing down and being in 2nd and pressing cruise resume.

In my instance is was fully in neutral. I had been cruising in 4th gear at 60kmh and clutched in and put it in neutral and released the clutch.

I just would have figured the Honda programmers and engineers would have put in some sort of system and/or programming that avoided situations such as this that could easily come up.
Im not sure if the cruise control trying to rev the motor will cut out at the redline or not. Not willing to try

**aaronng** · 16-09-2016 08:03 AM

It should still cut off at redline. Having a manual gear box from the 2000's means that it does not have a sensor to tell which gear you are in, unlike the newer 86/BRZ.