The following is an email article circulating around the internet, read this and then read the comment I make at the end, thanks.
Driving in the rain
> >>
> >> I wonder how many people know about this ~
> >> A 36 year old female had an accident several weeks ago and totaled her
> >> car.
> >> A resident of Kilgore , Texas she was traveling between Gladewater &
> >> Kilgore. It was raining, though not excessively, when her car suddenly
> >> began to hydro-plane and literally flew through the air. She was not
> >> seriously injured but very stunned at the sudden occurrence!
> >>
> >> When she explained to the highway patrolman what had happened he told
> >> her
> >> something that every driver should know – NEVER DRIVE IN THE RAIN WITH
> >> YOUR
> >> CRUISE CONTROL ON . She thought she was being cautious by setting the
> >> cruise control and maintaining a safe consistent speed in the rain.
> >>
> >> But the highway patrolman told her that if the cruise control is on
> >> when
> >> your car begins to hydro-plane and your tires lose contact with the
> >> pavement, your car will accelerate to a higher rate of speed making you
> >> take off like an airplane. She told the patrolman that was exactly what
> >> had occurred.
> >>
> >> The patrolman said this warning should be listed, on the driver’s seat
> >> sun-visor – NEVER USE THE CRUISE CONTROL WHEN THE PAVEMENT IS WET OR
> >> ICY,
> >> along with the airbag warning. We tell our teenagers to set the cruise
> >> control and drive a safe speed – but we don’t tell them to use the
> >> cruise
> >> control only when the pavement is dry.
> >>
> >> The only person the accident victim found, who knew this (besides the
> >> patrolman), was a man who had had a similar accident, totaled his car
> >> and
> >> sustained severe injuries.
> >>
> >> NOTE: Some vehicles (like the Toyota Sienna Limited XLE) will not allow
> >> you
> >> to set the cruise control when the windshield wipers are on.
> >>
> >>
> >> If you send this to 15 people and only one of them doesn’t know about
> >> this, then it was all worth it. You might have saved a life.
This vehicle probably did not have a vehicle stability control system as most cars manufacture after 2007 are equipped with. Virtually all vehicles priced above $18,000 built after 2006 have some form of stability control and all detect wheel spin and turn off the cruise control. Now, that being said, the idea of allowing the vehicle to control the speed based on just the vehicles current speed and not road conditions is where the real issue comes into play. Common sense should have stepped up and prevented this accident and unfortunately you can’t manufacture that into an automobile.