It seems companies have these fucking things installed on their trucks because it helps with insurance costs.
My two main gripes:
1. Some of these systems are wayyy over sensitive and don’t account for weather conditions. My last company had it set where if someone suddenly cut like 100ft in front of you (even if they’re going your speed or faster) the truck would slam on brakes, which could be dangerous in wet/icy conditions.
2. Another issue I have is if you’re empty/light and about to go up a hill on a highway that a fully loaded truck might only be able to climb at around 35mph, where any light/unloaded truck might still be able to go 55ish. If you get within like 150ft of the truck in front of you to hopefully allow cars to pass before you attempt to pass the slower truck, your truck will slow down and not be able to regain speed going up hill, meaning your choices are to either hold up traffic or get unnecessarily stuck behind the slower truck.
Can we please write a petition to insurance companies, the FMCSA, truck manufacturers, and whoever tf else and explain that these systems are useless, shitty, and unsafe? If they really want this shit on the trucks they should at least make it adapt to real world conditions. I swear they just tested that crap on a straight path in perfect weather conditions and called it a day. I hate driving trucks with this garbage installed. (Not driving one with the bullshit right now, but I asked my boss and he said they’ll probably get it eventually.)
