Do modern cars learn driving habits?

[Chapap]

I think I've heard of some luxury car brands learning the owner's driving habits. The main thing I can think of where this would be useful is transmission behavior... adjusting for granny or lead footed driving. It doesn't seem like it'd be all that difficult for basically every modern car to have this capability. But do they? I could see that being a common thing.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I think I've heard of some luxury car brands learning the owner's driving habits. The main thing I can think of where this would be useful is transmission behavior... adjusting for granny or lead footed driving. It doesn't seem like it'd be all that difficult for basically every modern car to have this capability. But do they? I could see that being a common thing.

Modern as in like most vehicles in the last the last 25+/- years have an autolearn shift strategy.

 

[dvdswan]

I've been hearing that for many years. At least around 2010 model years. I wouldn't be surprised if they did. With that said, what would be the benefit of the vehicle to learn driver habits?

 

[Chapap]

I've been hearing that for many years. At least around 2010 model years. I wouldn't be surprised if they did. With that said, what would be the benefit of the vehicle to learn driver habits?

I've driven some cars in the past that, when I'd gun it, it would downshift, think about it, downshift, think, etc until it was happy with a gear. Granted that was probably a very dumb/simple algorithm. A learning trans might be quicker to downshift for a sporty driver and happy to keep a higher gear for a granny driver. There's probably some emissions and efficiency stuff that can be tailored to the driver too.

I know my wife's Mazda takes quite a bit of throttle before it downshifts and accelerates. It's like it jumps straight from 15% to 40% power. Wonder if she taught the car to drive like that.

I also saw a video where a fella got a Range Rover stuck in 3rd in limp mode. He fixed the trans and it still drove poorly. He unlearned it and it drove fine. Wonder if that was a bug or if the learning part just learned how to drive in limp mode.

 

[RonD]

Yes, any Ranger 1995 and up with full automatic transmission control could Learn when to shift gears over time with same driver
Its for MPG
With the 5R models if the driver "floors it" from a stop computer might skip 2nd gear shift and let RPMs get higher in 1st and then shift to 3rd, which is what the 4R did normally since it didn't have the faux "2nd gear"
If this action was repeated enough with the 5R software then computer may do this more often

 

[Ranger850]

HYUNDAI has a feature called "smart mode". Used correctly, It locks the cars into " normal " for about 1500 miles while learning driver habits. Sport and comfort modes remain the same, but normal would be tuned to the primary driver

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I've been hearing that for many years. At least around 2010 model years. I wouldn't be surprised if they did. With that said, what would be the benefit of the vehicle to learn driver habits?

Mileage supposedly

All I really notice is it gets used to granny shifting for my normal daily driving and when I really need it to get with the program it just gets flustered and start pulling shift strategy out of a dark and smelly place where the sun rarely shines.

As vehicles got newer they have gotten better. I had to have a tuner on my '02 F-150 but eventually it would still dumb itself down. I much preferred the vacuum shift C5, it was at least consistent. It just seemed to shift when it needed to and like it meant to.

 

[bobbywalter]

and they rat you out

 

[rusty ol ranger]

Mileage supposedly

All I really notice is it gets used to granny shifting for my normal daily driving and when I really need it to get with the program it just gets flustered and start pulling shift strategy out of a dark and smelly place where the sun rarely shines.

As vehicles got newer they have gotten better. I had to have a tuner on my '02 F-150 but eventually it would still dumb itself down. I much preferred the vacuum shift C5, it was at least consistent. It just seemed to shift when it needed to and like it meant to.

Ive noticed vacuum shifted trannys shift smoother too. Every C6 ive owned shifted alot better then the E4ODs...and caused less headache

 

[Chapap]

Ive noticed vacuum shifted trannys shift smoother too. Every C6 ive owned shifted alot better then the E4ODs...and caused less headache

I used to have an 80 something LeSabre. When driven like a Buick, it was beautiful. It seemed like it ran very low RPM and was very reluctant to downshift.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

I used to have an 80 something LeSabre. When driven like a Buick, it was beautiful. It seemed like it ran very low RPM and was very reluctant to downshift.

The old 3speeds ive had were too. My F250 would run down to like 15 in 3rd unless you got into it. They were just very smooth and worked well.

Puttin around it would shift low and smooth...if you were WOT it would really string out and give a good firm shift.

Atleast the C6s and FMX's.

 

[sgtsandman]

The newer the vehicle, the more things it logs about you and your driving habits. I can't speak specifically for Ford since up until the 2019, everything I had was Rangers with manual transmissions, and the Ranger lagged behind the times on what other things were being done to vehicles. I do know my 1999 and 2001 Honda CR-Vs adjusted fuel trims according to one's driving habits and the automatic models would adjust shift points during the initial relearn period after the battery had been disconnected for an extended period of time.