I drove an old skool Saturn SL1. That thing was long as hell compared to my Fit. I loved that car to death but it just got too expensive to keep repairing it. Sold it to a buddy of mine for a whopping 400$.

 

oh man that's the one with the futuristic "plastic" fenders isn't it

 

Correct! It ended up being a great winter car because plastic doesn't rust so after years of ownership, the Saturns still looked great! It had a huge trunk and back seats that folded flat so to me, it was like a precursor to the Fit

Had a badass tape deck too. Auto reverse! Man those bucket seats were so low to the ground, it felt like you were getting out of a bed when you got out of that car seating position took some getting used to in the Fit. I miss her but the undercarriage looked like the surface of Mars so she had to go!

 

i dont think abs became standard in 1991. maybe common. my last car was a 2001 civic dx. and it didnt have anti lock. lx did, but not mine.
i'm in toronto and we've had plenty of snow and ice the last week or so. i cant say i find the fit has bad brakes. if anythink, ive been enjoying driving it. this is my first car with traction control, and i like it. doesnt beat safe driving, but helpfull.

 

Not standard or government mandated that ABS is required on any light vehicles.

Light Vehicle Brake Systems | National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)

However, it is required that stability control be available in all light vehicles in the US in 2012, thus its addition to the GE Fit base model, which previously did not have ESC. Because ESC does not work without ABS, it is therefore now required as of 2012.



Even as late as 2010 some entry level cars did not have ABS.

 

One of you is wrong, and I'm thinking it's not wiki.

 

Those two quotes are not in conflict with each other. Read them again.

 

Lol yes, suggest reading again.

 

The way you phrase it, you seem to imply that ABS isn't there to stop your car but to let you steer it, hence you'd be better off without it.

ABS's job is broader. Part of getting traction is to steer it, sure. The other part is to prevent wheel lockup, which robs you of stopping ability.

In my experience, phrasing like this usually leads to people then recommending that everyone pump their brakes in ice and snow, which is why I replied. For those equipped with fully functional ABS, pumping your brakes is unnecessary: ABS does it for the driver, and better.

 

Perhaps I should have thrown a "primary function of ABS" in there instead. I say this because the car will stop just fine without ABS, but it WON'T steer on lockup AT ALL without it. Reduced stopping distance on pavement for people who put the brake pedal to the floor and hope for the best is a nice byproduct. Semantics mainly. Maybe i'm too rational.

 

No, that's fine, I just wanted to ask. That being said, ABS is better because it can pump the brakes not only faster than you but it can tell if you actually need to pump them or not. I still meet people who complain about stopping distance and have ABS and still are pumping their brakes. When I finally convince them to just put the pedal to the floor and let ABS pump for them, they notice a huge improvement.

 

I have a 2009 fit sport (bought used, my second winter with it) Stock tires. My last car was a corolla and before that a tercel and before that a cressida.
I live in NY - some winters are worse that others. I have found that fit handles ok in the snow - better than I thought it would but it is no 4 wheel drive for sure. I don't have any problem with the ABS. When I am in conditions like that I do like my daddy taught me and plan ahead - I slow down way ahead of time. the stopping distance in rain and snow is a LOT more than most people realize even at 20 mph. so It isn't really about goign slower to begin with but to stop sooner.

I do miss the manual transmission though sometimes in the snow

 

I am going to be looking into this. The ABS has caught me off guard several times the last few winters I have had my Fit. Rolled an intersection just last week because the ABS was going off. It was downhill in a few inches of fresh snow. As soon as I hit the 5mph shut off (finally) the car came to a stop very quickly while modulating the brakes. I totally forgot to use the hand brake though. I am out of practice (going to need to find an empty snowy parkinglot!).

My 1999 Outback had a similar issue with the ABS being sensitive to bumpy roads, but it was otherwise fine in the snow. Even with all seasons on that car. My 97 Civic did not have ABS and I much prefer that, since I am decent at thresh hold braking.

I will report back if I figure out a good way to do it. But, something to note is that, on the GE's at least, the ABS takes care of the rears since there is not a mechanical proportioning valve in these cars for heavy braking. So driving in the dry and hitting the breaks hard with no ABS will likely cause the rears to lock up first.

And yes, I am well aware of what ABS does. I do not need a lecture on it. My track and autocross car does not have it. On wet and dry hard surfaces it can be fantastic. On loose surfaces, the ABS in the Fit is far to sensitive and does not allow enough slip to fully utilize the stopping force available. If I could dial it back a bit, I would be fine with it. But rolling downhill stop signs at 10mph in snow (not ice!) is getting old fast.

So far, I know pulling the connector on the pump will disable the system, but it also takes the VSA and TC out with it. Pulling the connector on the back of the VSA and TC switch will disable the VSA and TC a short bit after starting the car (no matter what! No need to have tire pressure sensors! I use this for my summer tires if I need it off for some reason). Pulling the ABS fuse also kills the VSA and TC and the power steering, because they are all on the same fuse for some reason. I will be trying to find a good wire to splice a switch into that will error out the ABS system.

 

Thanks to X_25 for reviving this old thread that should have died a painful death last year. Since he did, though, I'm going to reply with what I should have replied with last year.

ABS must be used correctly in order to be effective. The correct way to use it is to, as my wife and I call it, mash and hold. That means MASH the brake pedal, and hold it. I get pretty good stopping distance with that technique, probably every bit as good as I would get on dry pavement, with the ABS not locking up. Part of that is the other step to the technique. If you aren't getting enough stopping power, PUSH HARDER. That's right, you heard it here first. The harder you press your brake pedal, the faster you'll stop, (and the harder you'll feel the ABS bite in).

Try that, and then tell me that you can't stop as fast with ABS.

 

LOL. Keep recommending things that don't work please. I'd love to see more misinformation in this thread.

 

@2010FitinSK: i'm No mechanical engineer, but I'm pretty sure that how hard you press the pedal will not help ABS work better or "bite". Bite seems to refer to traction, and abs allows you to retain traction by quickly pumping the brakes, not by making the tyres adhere better. Someone can correct me but I dont how hard you press will change the mathematical rate at which abs pumps.

Since last winter, I've tightenend the rear drums and I believe that the braking is slightly improved. My way of avoiding problems is to use threshold braking and to really ride the brakes as I come to a stop. This allows me to just stay under the limit of when abs engages. If I feel abs kick and want to fight it, I just release the brake completely and reengage with less pressure. This greatly reduces my stopping distances. I recommend you check your rear drum brakes. Apparently they are set loose from the factory and some people report having 95% shoe life after 100k + miles of driving. Yea yea, self adjusting... I don't think the self adjusting mechanism really does its job.

Still, the handbrake is a sure way to get the fit to stop instantly, so I'll use that instead of the fuse method since I wouldn't want insurance trouble in the case of an accident.

 

Instantly???? On icy roads. You have to be kidding.

Hmm I wonder what happens if ABS is trying to work as you pull on handbrake?

 

Obviously, if you are on a patch of ice, even with ABS it will be very hard to stop. All the hand brake does is engage the rear brakes so if you were on ice and pulled the HB the car would probably start turning sideways.

What I mean by instantly is that the handbrake will counteract the ABSs inability to stop on snow. On snow, once the brake pedal starts pulsating which will force my car to keep rolling forward, if I pull the HB the car will stop dead on its tracks, to the point where my upper body keeps moving towards the steering wheel as if I slammed on the brakes on dry pavement.

I'm not saying everybody's car is like this, but that's how mine works.

 

ABS is so wierd