Yeah, that's part of the safety circuitry of cruise controls. If a wheel loses traction it shuts down rather than trying to maintain speed and possibly causing the vehicle to spin out. All of them behave that way that I know of. Shutting off the car and restarting resets it. So it's normal behavior.

 

I had no idea, thanks for the info!

 

Um, doesn't the owner's manual advise against using cruise control on wet/slippery roads?

 

Thanks for the information and the reference to the manual.

When you are doing a 700 mile trip in one day, the cruise control is essential. It was raining but not slippery on my side of the highway. When I crossed over to pass, and accelerated, was when I must have hit a puddle.

I suppose it would be wise to cancel the cruise control before passing.

 

I'll answer my own question; see page 158 of the owner's manual.

 

It may not be in the manual, but as far as I know it's a part of how all cruise controls work. If it detects a sudden speed change (like from a wheel losing traction and spinning), it shuts down to be safe.

Here's a reference I found from a Subaru technical guy: