Cruise control is real buggy

[Owim]

This started in the past week or so. I'll do my best to describe it. Sometimes the cruise control works just fine, sometimes the light won't turn off or on. The only way I have to get it to maybe work is to restart the car. Sometimes the light will turn on and the cruise will engage for but then if i come out of cruise control it may not re-engage and I can't turn the light off. So far if I can get it all running the cruise control won't stop working while it is engaged. Also I checked the brake lights while it wasnt working and they are all working. I'm taking it to the shop because I haven't the know how to fix it, but I would like to know the problem if someone knows. Thanks

[jolt]

I would guess you have a bad spiral cable or also called a clock spring cable. On my '09 Vibe, that part was replaced under a recall for the air bag. Was your Vibe part of the recall and did you get the recall done? If it is not that then it could be bad connections, wiring, or a bad ECM.

[Owim]

I bought my vibe used at 45k november '13. I've checked recall sties to see if there is anything on recall for the vibe(put in my vin #), nothing that I've found. I don't trust dealerships at all. Hopefully this can help my mechanic narrow it down, he said it sounded like an electrical gremlin and those can be expensive to find and fix.

[MacGyver]

The clockspring recall is number 14139, the part number is 19205599 for a Base 09.

The models with steering wheel controls use a different clockspring with more wires. Not sure if that one is affected by the same or a different recall.

[Owim]

it's 2009 awd 2.4 not sure if it's base(it has fog lights and monsoon audio with a sunroof). It has wheel mounted audio controls but the cruise control is a little lever right behind the steering wheel. Overall the problem has seemed to get a little better the past few days, but as I drive for a living it drives me mad when it doesn't work right. Thanks again

[Owim]

Today it didnt act up at all, that's a first since I posted my issue. My mechanic appointment is at the end of the day tomorrow I'm wondering if it magically fixed itself... I think i'll still go to have it checked out maybe it's something really simple but I don't wanna waste their time either :/

[BenWA]

I would stop using it until you get it checked. There has been causes, at least in past decades, where cruise control fails and hitting the brake doesn't stop it. A doctor my mom had in the 90s had that happen to her, and they were in a pretty serious wreck from it. Hitting the brake and turning off cruise did nothing, the car kept on going.

Yes, newer cars are probably superior in some ways, being more computerized, but if it's acting sick, I wouldn't use it at all, even on a heavily computerized car.... maybe even especially, if something electronic is failing and stops communicating with the throttle, leaving it open.

I suppose in a dire emergency, you could just shut off the ignition. I guess the doctor didn't think of that in her panic. I'm not sure if I would either, under split second pressure like that.

[Owim]

I almost never brake to cancel cruise control, I pull back on the lever to cancel it. I try to drive very efficiently, braking as little as possible(braking by definition means you've wasted gas). People hate me in traffic because I won't accelerate if I see traffic is just start and stop. But I do get your point and I have an appointment on monday afternoon to have it checked out. I think it has to just be something a little loose because it has been working like 99% of the time now before it seemed to be closer to only working 50% of the time. It drives me bonkers when it doesn't work I use cruise control on just about every road(unless the person in front of me can't decide what speed they wanna go), all day

[Owim]

Ok so my mechanic replaced the multiswitch which didnt do anything, pretty much had to guess because I was never able to get it to them when it wasnt working(or they didn't have time to check it out when I did have an opportunity) :/ Now we're gonna try the clockspring because during one of the times it was working i was fiddling around trying to figure out something that would make it stop working. horn was working, steering wheel controls were working (like volume and mode for audio) but when I turned the wheel about 90 degrees it wouldnt turn the light on(but the horn and everything else still worked). Now obviously when I'm driving and actually engaging the cruise control the wheel never turns that far. So I'm hoping this will fix it. If not I'm buying a new car because it's infuriating to not have cruise control as a courier driving 250-300 miles a day.

[Owim]

It was the clockspring