It all depends on how the cruise is set up.

I think the biggest danger with the cruise in the rain is if you have a front driver. The rear drive car mentioned above which spun out in the rain must have had some seriously wide tires to hydroplane the rear tires....as the fronts usually squish the water away for the rears.

I had a major tank slapper in my 82 suburban diesel. I was driving from Dearborn to Kalamazoo after visiting the Ford Museum about twenty years ago in a condition of blowing snow. The road remained clear of snow but it was blowing around a lot, so I felt safe driving with the cruise on. I came to a place where there was a bridge over a train track or something and we were in a curve. Unbeknownst to me the pavement over the bridge was coated with black ice. Suddenly the suburban was going sideways. I corrected and it slid back the other direction, I corrected again and it went back the other way further each time.

I had two of my kids, my dad and my brother in the car with me and it was totally silent....the only sound was my hands patting the steering wheel quickly as I spun it back and forth....finally I realized that the cruise was speeding up the rear wheels as the sensor for it was on the front wheels and it was sensing that the car was slowing and so fed the engine more throttle. As soon as I realized this I tapped the brake and the cruise shut off and the suburban immediately straightened out. (It also had positraction which will make the car go sideways in a heart beat in these conditions).

I had never been so far sideways three different directions in a car before. And the the mass of the suburban created additional terror.

We all breathed a big sigh of relief and continued on....of course I had to stop and clean out my britches.

A couple of years ago I got about the same amount sideways three different directions in my SIL's newly purchased Porsche 911, but that had nothing to do with cruise control, just an on ramp which changed from concrete to asphalt and a bit of overapplication of tire gloss by the selling dealer and an overenthusiatic attack of the entrance ramp by yours truly.

I never left the pavement but I had to stop again and clean out my britches.... I could just imagine explaining to my daughter how I had spun their new purchase into the grass and damaged something.

So now I rarely use the cruise under heavy rain conditions and or snow or ice.

And if I do I tend to keep a finger poised over the dis engage button.

Oh yes, cruise control in limited traction conditions can induce some exciting conditions!

Tom W

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.