BMW SERIE 7 2005 Owner's Manual page 82

In approaching a curve, it is possible that
active cruise control would react briefly to
a vehicle in the adjacent lane. In addition,
the system can sense if your vehicle is in
a curve and may not accelerate. If your
vehicle decelerates in either case, you can
choose to overcome the deceleration by
briefly pressing the accelerator pedal.
Driver interventions
Remember actions by the driver
always supersede and take priority
over the system's automatic actions. Any-
time the driver presses down on the accel-
erator pedal, any automatic braking action
by the system is interrupted until the pedal
is fully released. After doing this, release
the accelerator and the system again con-
trols your cruising speed and distance set-
ting. While driving with activated system,
resting your foot on the accelerator pedal
will cause the system not to brake even if
necessary. Be certain that floormats or
other objects on the vehicle floor do not
interfere with movement of the accelerator
pedal.<
While active cruise control is capable
of braking your vehicle automatically
when you approach a slower vehicle
ahead, it is important to be aware that the
ability of the system to apply the brakes is
also limited, if you are driving down a steep
grade or when you reduce your desired
speed sharply. The system cannot stop
your vehicle. It uses only a portion of brak-
ing system capacity and does not utilize the
full capacity of the vehicle braking system.
Therefore, the system cannot decrease
your speed for large differences in speed
between your vehicle and the vehicle
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ahead. Examples: during emergency brak-
ing, when you approach a vehicle traveling
at a much lower speed than your own
speed such as approaching a toll booth or
when a much slower vehicle cuts in front of
you at close range.<
Whenever active cruise control
recognizes a situation that
requires driver braking because
the system capacity has been
reached or has been exceeded,
the system alerts the driver by flashing this
symbol in the instrument cluster and
sounding a chime.
Swerving vehicles
When a vehicle moves from an adjacent
lane into your lane, active cruise control will
not recognize this vehicle until it is fully in
your lane ahead of your vehicle.
Malfunctions
The build-up of foreign material, e.g.,
snow, ice, dirt, road debris, etc., can lead
to reduced detection performance of active
cruise control. You should check the sen-
sor under the front bumper and clean it as
necessary prior to driving your vehicle.
If the sensor becomes covered by foreign
material or has a malfunction, it is possible
that the sensor will no longer be able to
detect vehicles in front of you. After the
system recognizes that the sensor is no
longer functional, a message is displayed in
the Check Control and an acoustic signal is
emitted, refer to page 83. Also observe the
additional information provided in the Con-
trol Center.