View Poll Results: Have you been in an emergency situation where ABS saved you from having a collison?
Yes it helped
40
70.18%
No it made it worse
3
5.26%
Never been in one but I think ABS will save me
11
19.30%
Never been in one but I think ABS will not save me
3
5.26%
Voters: 57. You may not vote on this poll
Disable ABS
#41
12-18-2009, 04:49 AM
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I'm not going to lie, it just sounds like you've never experienced understeer before. Abs isn't designed to correct understeer. If you take a turn too fast in a FIT it will plow, ABS or not.
#42
12-18-2009, 12:36 PM
Once you've started to spin, you are already beyond the reach of any ABS system. Disabling ABS will not solve the problem.
#43
12-18-2009, 01:36 PM
I really appreciate everyone's feedback on my original question "Can I disable ABS?" 
It's a question that comes about after practiced stopping on snow/ice in my fit and in my other Civic (without ABS), and I actually prefer to do without.
With all these arguments for pros and cons, I am not sure people have actually have experience where ABS did save their life in an emergency. May be i should start a poll on this.
It's a question that comes about after practiced stopping on snow/ice in my fit and in my other Civic (without ABS), and I actually prefer to do without.
With all these arguments for pros and cons, I am not sure people have actually have experience where ABS did save their life in an emergency. May be i should start a poll on this.
#44
12-18-2009, 01:57 PM
no i drove 2 240sx those are known for understeer i am just saying i pressed the brakes and they locked up. when they unlocked it made conditions even worse.
#45
12-18-2009, 01:59 PM
I really appreciate everyone's feedback on my original question "Can I disable ABS?"
It's a question that comes about after practiced stopping on snow/ice in my fit and in my other Civic (without ABS), and I actually prefer to do without.
With all these arguments for pros and cons, I am not sure people have actually have experience where ABS did save their life in an emergency. May be i should start a poll on this.
It's a question that comes about after practiced stopping on snow/ice in my fit and in my other Civic (without ABS), and I actually prefer to do without.
With all these arguments for pros and cons, I am not sure people have actually have experience where ABS did save their life in an emergency. May be i should start a poll on this.
#46
12-18-2009, 02:28 PM
Disable ABS
I'm not 100% sure this will work but you might be able to disable it by disconnecting one (or more?) of the ABS sensors -- if it can't tell the wheel speed, it can't do anything. On my last Honda, one of the ABS sensors went bad, which disabled the system.
The sensors have 2 wires with an orange plug. I think the connectors for the rear sensors are inside the car, so those would probably the ones I'd disconnect. Somebody with a service manual could probably give you the locations...
You need to avoid anything with a yellow connector; that's used for the SRS systems...
The sensors have 2 wires with an orange plug. I think the connectors for the rear sensors are inside the car, so those would probably the ones I'd disconnect. Somebody with a service manual could probably give you the locations...
You need to avoid anything with a yellow connector; that's used for the SRS systems...
Last edited by clicq; 12-18-2009 at 02:33 PM.
#47
12-18-2009, 02:30 PM
I really didn't realize how well ABS worked until I found myself headed for a curb when I had gotten into a left turn lane short of the one I wanted to enter on dark rainy night... It was a situation where I panicked steering to the left, slamming on the brakes having already resigned myself that I was going to be needing a wrecker after I ripped the whole front end out from under my GMC Safari.... I felt the pedal shudder and the van did not slide at all and rounded the turn safely.... That is when I became a believer.... I have only activated the ABS on my Fit once unexpectedly to avoid a collision and did and on two other times on purpose while pulling onto a gravel shoulder to see what would happen... It went where I pointed it without sliding and stopped far shorter than I could imagine..... I have much lighter than stock wheels and tires now and stopping requires very little pressure on the pedal to stop quickly.... I haven't been in a panic situation that has activated the ABS since making the change.
#48
12-18-2009, 04:23 PM
Dude, you are still missing the point. If ABS had kicked on, you're driving incorrectly. If you've caused ABS to activate, your stopping distance is greater than if you had applied brakes exactly right. ABS basically flutters hydraulic fluid to the brakes, in a sense quickly applying and releasing them, as you said at a high rate. Note, the brakes are turning on and OFF. If you apply brakes correctly at their very limit, they are always ON and you will stop faster. There should be zero cases when you are flying around the track activating ABS on every corner. If you are doing that, you will be beaten around the course by a driver who is able to properly modulate his brakes. The reason is you are entering the turn to fast, braking too late, slowing down over a greater distance, missing your apexes, losing too much speed, and exiting the corner slower.
If you are activating ABS on the street or the Track, you are doing it wrong. You can argue that no one is a good enough driver to brake at the correct threshold required to beat ABS to a complete stop. You can not argue that the activation of ABS is due to poor driving technique or will decrease your braking distance.
The only time it 'decreases' your braking distance is if you've already lost control. The point is, you shouldn't be losing control. You should always be in control.
If you are activating ABS on the street or the Track, you are doing it wrong. You can argue that no one is a good enough driver to brake at the correct threshold required to beat ABS to a complete stop. You can not argue that the activation of ABS is due to poor driving technique or will decrease your braking distance.
The only time it 'decreases' your braking distance is if you've already lost control. The point is, you shouldn't be losing control. You should always be in control.
1) You car is corner balanced
2) the pavement is perfectly planar
3) there are no pavement irregularities of any kind
4) The default brake force distribution (F/R) is perfectly matched to your tires and traction condition.
Basically... what you are saying is never true, not even on a track (yes, I go to the track, but not with the Fit... that would be silly.)
You can easily have variations of 10-20% in the amount of traction available based on dynamic loading changes. ABS can get all of that traction because it is able to modulate each brake individually. Without ABS, brake force distribution is DUMB.
The fastest stop is when you push the pedal hard enough that exactly one wheel is at impending lockup and the other three are being modulated by the ABS/EBD. In practice, that never happens, since traction changes many times a second requiring constant adjustment. ABS/EBD gives you this.
Q.E.D.
P.S. I'm not saying you want to drive to activate the ABS on the track: You always want to leave something on the table... unless you like going off the track a lot. However, if you want to produce the shortest stopping distance, then you want to stomp the ABS. Just ask magazine testers, who know this very well.
Last edited by DrPhyzx; 12-19-2009 at 02:52 AM. Reason: clarification
#49
12-18-2009, 07:36 PM
but when it comes to snow or ice, that's another story....
#50
12-18-2009, 08:00 PM
ABS has helped keep control of my car(s) many, many, many times. I learned how to drive on a couple different cars without it, and my road/driveway growing up was a downhill dirt road, with my driveway a turn halfway down. And unless we got more than 5 or 6 inches of snow, it didn't get plowed. Anyway, without ABS you quickly learned to threshold brake . . . locking the wheels was fine for stopping (building up a nice pile of snow in front of the tires), but 2 out of 3 times you ended up in the ditch since with the wheels locked you've got no steering control.
ABS might not "feel" like it's helping, but trust me (and every other review in the world) - it keeps you in control of what direction you're going, and 9 times out of 10, stops you faster in inclement weather. Like others have mentioned in this thread, the ability to threshold brake different wheels with different levels of traction is something that no driver can do on their own.
ABS might not "feel" like it's helping, but trust me (and every other review in the world) - it keeps you in control of what direction you're going, and 9 times out of 10, stops you faster in inclement weather. Like others have mentioned in this thread, the ability to threshold brake different wheels with different levels of traction is something that no driver can do on their own.
#51
12-19-2009, 01:41 AM
The race isn't always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but that is how the smart money bets.
While there may be individual circumstances that work to the advantage of non-ABS (stopping my Jeep on a gravel road; there's been talk about selectable ABS for offroad vehicles, unhappily in conjunction with low range), as a usual thing you're better served with it. Personal experience on snow/ice and rain has further convinced me of this.
I'll take my chances with ABS and seat belts.
BTW, better get used to safety equipment, dictated either by Gummint fiat or litigation; it's here to stay. You'll note that a lot of stability control programs can't be completely turned off.
Moon
ETA- Some road testers at C/D wrecked an ABS Audi years ago, assuming that antilock would somehow negate the laws of physics. Neither ABS nor 'skillful' driving can achieve this...
Also, a stab at the brakes on an icy road is a way to check available traction without totally upsetting vehicle balance. My grandfather groundlooped a Model A on Whitehorse Mountain with a similar brake stab ('It's not slippery, Myrtle...watch this.')...the A-bone, of course, didn't have ABS.
M
Last edited by halfmoonclip; 12-19-2009 at 01:52 AM.
#52
12-19-2009, 02:20 AM
The old pre power brake sports cars like Healeys Triumph MG and such could be modulated much more accurately than later model cars with power brakes....Heel toe driving was also easy.... The long travel and stiffness of the pedals was the reason..... The crap pedals with no feeling of resistance but an immediate response from very little pressure and movement is just silly.... Reducing vacuum to the brake booster would allow more accurate modulation and the ABS would work the same way which is when you have applied enough pressure to lock a wheel and create a slide.
#53
12-19-2009, 02:56 PM
The best thing about ABS is that you can steer. That's what saved me topping a snowy hill to see a stalled car ahead of me. That was in my '03 TL. My Fit with VSA just pretty much goes where you point it.
Cheers.
Cheers.
#54
12-19-2009, 05:16 PM
I'm new to the forum
Hey everyone, what's up? My name is Matt and I'm new to the forum. I just wanted to say hey.. I hope I posted this in the right section.. if not, mods please feel free to move it.
#55
12-19-2009, 05:38 PM
What kind of noise is ABS suppose to make when it activates?
I heard some kind of noise as if a spring was being pulled apart two times when I hit the brakes very hard. Can't really describe the sound but the spring is the best way I could describe it. Is it suppose to sound like this?
I heard some kind of noise as if a spring was being pulled apart two times when I hit the brakes very hard. Can't really describe the sound but the spring is the best way I could describe it. Is it suppose to sound like this?
#56
12-19-2009, 07:04 PM
What kind of noise is ABS suppose to make when it activates?
I heard some kind of noise as if a spring was being pulled apart two times when I hit the brakes very hard. Can't really describe the sound but the spring is the best way I could describe it. Is it suppose to sound like this?
I heard some kind of noise as if a spring was being pulled apart two times when I hit the brakes very hard. Can't really describe the sound but the spring is the best way I could describe it. Is it suppose to sound like this?
mine kinda sounds like a grinding but with a low tone
#58
12-20-2009, 02:21 AM
Huh? Thats exactly what I was saying!?
Rear wheel drive vehicles usually fishtail instead of plow. (Although my tBird has both understeered (plowed) and oversteered (fishtailed) depending on conditions.)
#59
12-20-2009, 02:27 AM
Describe over-react.... Mine have activated once to avoid an accident and two other occasions when I activated them on purpose to check the function....That is the only times since July 2006.... I have over 100,000 miles on my van and have activated the ABS twice since 1997... I wasn't hot on ABS either until I avoided two accidents that one would have fatal and one that would have been costly on the van, and wouldn't have if not for the ABS.... I generally do not get into situations that I can't get out of with out activating the ABS but the times that they were activated and needed I was amazed and very pleased that they worked like they are supposed to.
#60
12-20-2009, 02:43 AM
This reminds me of an old quote I heard once: "better brakes alone would not reduce accidents" It had something to do with human nature and how if people knew they had better brakes they would just drive more unsafely and closer to the person in front of them: negating the vast majority of the benefit the brakes provided.