How Using Cruise Control Could Save Gas

Several studies support cruise control's efficiency.

Jim Koscs | 

Mar 3, 2025 | 2 min read

Volvo

Cruise the internet for fuel-saving tips, and you may find claims that using your car's cruise control could save you money at the pump. Some credible evidence suggests that drivers could, indeed, save a bit of cash by using cruise control — but generally only in specific, limited situations.

How Cruise Control Works

Conventional cruise control is a convenience feature that holds a vehicle speed you set, allowing you to remove your right foot from the accelerator. The system will modulate throttle application as needed to maintain that speed. Cruise control is best used on long, open, and dry stretches of highway. In fact, your vehicle's owner's manual likely warns against cruise control usage in heavy traffic, on slippery or twisty roads, on steep hills, or when towing.

Adaptive cruise control, an advanced driver-assistance technology available on most new vehicles, works differently, maintaining a set distance from a vehicle traveling ahead. The system can preemptively engage braking if the driver fails to apply the brakes in time to help avoid a hazard, such as a vehicle ahead slowing down or another cutting in between.

Who Said Using Cruise Control Saves Gas?

The claim that using cruise control can save gas appears to have started with Chrysler's advertising for the first use of this technology on a car, its 1958 Imperial luxury model. Chrysler claimed that "an actual test run between Detroit and New York by identical production cars" showed a 15% gas savings over a car without cruise control.

Numerous media sources today cite an undated Canadian government study that claimed up to a 20% reduction in fuel consumption when driving at a steady speed versus varying your car's speed from 47 to 53 mph every 18 seconds. This study, however, appears to be simply unidentified tests referred to in a list of gas-saving tips published by Natural Resources Canada.

How Using Cruise Control Might Reduce Fuel Consumption

In 2005, a reported test by auto research site Edmunds claimed to achieve up to a 7% average reduction in fuel consumption by using cruise control. The Edmunds test used one specific situation: driving four different vehicles on the same highway route, once using cruise control set to 70 mph and again with the driver varying vehicle speed between 65 mph and 75 mph along the route.

According to a study conducted with Volvo by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy, Volvo has claimed that using adaptive cruise control could reduce fuel consumption by 5% to 7% compared with not using it.

Jim Koscs

Jim began writing about cars in the late 1980s and has covered automotive topics including business, car culture, collecting, design, history, racing, profiles, and technology. He was a managing editor for Vette, MuscleCars, High-Performance Pontiac, and High-Performance Mopar magazines. He wrote and managed business newsletters for auto retailers and car-rental companies, and made an appearance on CNN as a car-rental industry "expert." He's covered automotive public relations for an agency serving BMW North America and directly for Mercedes-Benz USA, writing press kits and speeches. His business provides expert product writing for more than a dozen automakers, and he has written features for the Greenwich, Amelia Island, and Cincinnati Concours d'Elegance official programs. His byline has appeared in The New York Times, Hagerty Media, Hemmings.com, Performance Racing Industry magazine, AIADA Auto Dealer magazine, the BBC Autos page, History.com, and Porsche Panorama magazine.