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
On at 70mph I try and stay 6 seconds behind whatever is in front while someone is 5 feet off off my rear bumper with their brights on....I never have to do a thing to my brakes except change the fluid for well over 100,000 miles.... People that are always replacing pads and shoes are tail gaters that don't watch far enough of themselves to avoid having to brake hard instead of slowing by lifting their foot from the gas pedal.... I drive like I have Bad brakes to avoid having bad brakes.
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On at 70mph I try and stay 6 seconds behind whatever is in front while someone is 5 feet off off my rear bumper with their brights on....I never have to do a thing to my brakes except change the fluid for well over 100,000 miles.... People that are always replacing pads and shoes are tail gaters that don't watch far enough of themselves to avoid having to brake hard instead of slowing by lifting their foot from the gas pedal.... I drive like I have Bad brakes to avoid having bad brakes.
I can't believe I forgot about this but ABS brakes are so unsafe that we give a 10% discount off our customer's bodily injury and property damage premium for having them. I mean, after all, insurance companies have absoultely no idea about risk and statistics.
Tailgating has always been something that pisses me off and has drastically increased since NASCAR has been popularized..... I'll bet people in the brake replacement business are making a killing.
Member
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 431
From: Westsylvania
Moon
To the OP: ABS doesn't "unlock" anything. You said in one of your posts that your wheels locked and when they unlocked you were thrown sideways. A car with ABS and OE tires and wheels is incapable of locking the wheels unless a system malfunction occured. And in that case you should have seen an ABS indicator staring out at you from your dashboard. One thing I have learned in my time with the Fit is that the sound of its ABS in action is impossible to mistake for any other sound. Your wheels either A)didn't lock at all and you mistook terminal understeer for front wheel lock or B)You activated your ABS and jumped off the pedal at an inopportune moment. In either case go to a track and take a performance driving class before you monkey with the ABS in your car.
To the OP: ABS doesn't "unlock" anything. You said in one of your posts that your wheels locked and when they unlocked you were thrown sideways. A car with ABS and OE tires and wheels is incapable of locking the wheels unless a system malfunction occured. And in that case you should have seen an ABS indicator staring out at you from your dashboard. One thing I have learned in my time with the Fit is that the sound of its ABS in action is impossible to mistake for any other sound. Your wheels either A)didn't lock at all and you mistook terminal understeer for front wheel lock or B)You activated your ABS and jumped off the pedal at an inopportune moment. In either case go to a track and take a performance driving class before you monkey with the ABS in your car.
Thread Starter
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Member
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 110
From: BC
Hey everyone, thank you again for the potes. I humbly accept the fact that ABS CAN save you in most situations.
Now for those who said ABS helped, may I ask how does it help? Were you able to stop faster or simply able to steer away from obstruction?
And how can I make ABS more efficient during an emergecy? Should I really brake hard, or press lightly on the brakes?
Now for those who said ABS helped, may I ask how does it help? Were you able to stop faster or simply able to steer away from obstruction?
And how can I make ABS more efficient during an emergecy? Should I really brake hard, or press lightly on the brakes?
Member
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 104
From: bangkok
I just got a question. What is the safest thing to do if you suddenly have to break because someone is crossing the street. Is it better to just slam the breaks and hope that you will stop before you hit them? Or break and try to move out of the way by changing lanes and risk hitting another car?
If you Know you can brake normally in time to avoid hitting the pedestrian, just go ahead and do that but if it is a panic situation the ABS will allow you to steer without locking up the brakes and causing a slide..... The system on the Fit works flawlessly.
Member
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 72
From: somewhere
Some of you need to take a race driving course. You can stop better than ABS in certain conditions. The method is to hit the breaks really hard (not to the point of lock up) then let off a slight bit while keeping pressure.
Granted the average person has limited driving skills and it takes practice to get it right.
Now for snow and ice, ABS is indeed better in most cases.
That says nothing about ABS itself. What is does say is that people can't drive and statistically it helps. In a panic situation ABS will help the common idiot that only knows to lock up the breaks in a panic.
Granted the average person has limited driving skills and it takes practice to get it right.
Now for snow and ice, ABS is indeed better in most cases.
I can't believe I forgot about this but ABS brakes are so unsafe that we give a 10% discount off our customer's bodily injury and property damage premium for having them. I mean, after all, insurance companies have absoultely no idea about risk and statistics.
Member
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 3,661
From: Georgia
I just got a question. What is the safest thing to do if you suddenly have to break because someone is crossing the street. Is it better to just slam the breaks and hope that you will stop before you hit them? Or break and try to move out of the way by changing lanes and risk hitting another car?
If you can safely steer away from the pedestrian without endangering yourself or others, then "stomp and steer" (if you have ABS). If you can't because adjacent lanes are occupied, then stomp (if you have ABS) and utter a small prayer or curse, as is your wont. If you don't have ABS then the above applies, but without the stomping; you should carefully modulate your foot pressure on the brake avoiding locking the brakes and give the pedestrian your finger as he glides past your windshield.
Member
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 3,661
From: Georgia
Hey everyone, thank you again for the potes. I humbly accept the fact that ABS CAN save you in most situations.
Now for those who said ABS helped, may I ask how does it help? Were you able to stop faster or simply able to steer away from obstruction?
And how can I make ABS more efficient during an emergecy? Should I really brake hard, or press lightly on the brakes?
Now for those who said ABS helped, may I ask how does it help? Were you able to stop faster or simply able to steer away from obstruction?
And how can I make ABS more efficient during an emergecy? Should I really brake hard, or press lightly on the brakes?
Found this article, it offers some statistics and conditions where ABS helps and where it hurts.:
Originally Posted by Liberty Mutual
ABS significantly reduced the involvements of passenger cars in multi-vehicle crashes on wet roads. ABS reduced police-reported crash involvements by an estimated 14 percent, and fatal involvements by 24 percent. The finding is consistent with the outstanding performance of ABS in stopping tests on wet roads.
Certain types of collisions on wet roads, such as striking another vehicle in the rear, or striking a stopped vehicle, were reduced by 40
percent or more. This benefit, however, was partially offset by an increased likelihood of being struck in the rear by another vehicle. The
better a lead vehicle’s braking capabilities, the more likely that a following vehicle with average braking capabilities will hit it.
The risk of fatal collisions with pedestrians and bicyclists was reduced by a statistically significant 27 percent in passenger cars with ABS.
All types of run-off-road crashes - rollovers,side impacts with fixed objects and frontal impacts with fixed objects - increased significantly with ABS. Nonfatal run-off-road crashes increased by an estimated 19 percent, and fatal crashes by 28 percent.
Rollovers and side impacts with fixed objects - crashes that typically follow a complete loss of directional control - had the highest increases with ABS. Nonfatal crashes increased by 28 percent, and fatal crashes by 40 percent.
Frontal impacts with fixed objects, where the driver is more likely to have retained at least some directional control prior to impact, increased by about 15-20 percent, both nonfatal and fatal.
The overall, net effect of ABS on police reported crashes (including multivehicle, pedestrian and run-off-road crashes) was
close to zero.
The overall, net effect of ABS on fatal crashes
was close to zero.
There are several reasons to view this data with caution. First, by measuring only the frequency of crash occurrence, the data does not consider how many crashes are prevented by proper use of ABS.
Certain types of collisions on wet roads, such as striking another vehicle in the rear, or striking a stopped vehicle, were reduced by 40
percent or more. This benefit, however, was partially offset by an increased likelihood of being struck in the rear by another vehicle. The
better a lead vehicle’s braking capabilities, the more likely that a following vehicle with average braking capabilities will hit it.
The risk of fatal collisions with pedestrians and bicyclists was reduced by a statistically significant 27 percent in passenger cars with ABS.
All types of run-off-road crashes - rollovers,side impacts with fixed objects and frontal impacts with fixed objects - increased significantly with ABS. Nonfatal run-off-road crashes increased by an estimated 19 percent, and fatal crashes by 28 percent.
Rollovers and side impacts with fixed objects - crashes that typically follow a complete loss of directional control - had the highest increases with ABS. Nonfatal crashes increased by 28 percent, and fatal crashes by 40 percent.
Frontal impacts with fixed objects, where the driver is more likely to have retained at least some directional control prior to impact, increased by about 15-20 percent, both nonfatal and fatal.
The overall, net effect of ABS on police reported crashes (including multivehicle, pedestrian and run-off-road crashes) was
close to zero.
The overall, net effect of ABS on fatal crashes
was close to zero.
There are several reasons to view this data with caution. First, by measuring only the frequency of crash occurrence, the data does not consider how many crashes are prevented by proper use of ABS.
Statistics are a funny thing. I'm not sure how they can measure fatalities attributed to ABS as the relationship isn't clear. There is enough controversy to question the need for ABS. What's clear is with or without ABS the driver needs to know how to operate the car in a panic stop.
Some of you need to take a race driving course. You can stop better than ABS in certain conditions. The method is to hit the breaks really hard (not to the point of lock up) then let off a slight bit while keeping pressure.
Granted the average person has limited driving skills and it takes practice to get it right.
Now for snow and ice, ABS is indeed better in most cases.
That says nothing about ABS itself. What is does say is that people can't drive and statistically it helps. In a panic situation ABS will help the common idiot that only knows to lock up the breaks in a panic.
Granted the average person has limited driving skills and it takes practice to get it right.
Now for snow and ice, ABS is indeed better in most cases.
That says nothing about ABS itself. What is does say is that people can't drive and statistically it helps. In a panic situation ABS will help the common idiot that only knows to lock up the breaks in a panic.