cheff

ABS was designed for the novice, Sunday driver, Soccer mom (no offence) crowd. It is meant for the folks that see someone slowing rapidly in front of them and will JAM the break pedal to the floor while trying to steer out of the way. And for the ice, were it performs great.

Don’t get me wrong, it is a great invention and it has its place. I have no problem driving with ABS in the southern Cali roads/freeways, though some time I wish I did not have it enabled. I tend to drive hard, and have never had the ABS THUD, THUD... on the road. (Cross fingers) But as soon as I get to the dirt my fuse comes out, they just plain suck in the dirt and sand.

cheff

Excellent article Rammtuff, it supports my belief that ABS was invented for the untrained driver.

hognutz

I love how people think abs actually improves braking. ha ha

If you know how to drive your vehicle abs is always going to cost you stopping distance. It does help you out if you are prone to freezing or panic in accident situations. Never seen abs on a race car yet.

Abs might have some advantage in slick road condions but I am not sure there either. Knowing you vehicle is alwasy better than engineering to idiot proof a vehicle.

jthorpe

There have been many times where I'm coming up to a light, or coming up to an intersection and after I've hit the brakes, run over a small bump, have the ABS kick in and actually increase my stopping distance by doing so. I hate ABS, and I also hate air bags, but I guess it is what it is.

RVT223

Here is an easy way to see which is best inspite of improved "feel". Find a place and see what the total stopping distance (distance measured from the time pressure is applied to the brake until achieving a complete stop) on varying surfaces is with and without the ABS activated. My bet is that ABS will stop a vehicle in a far shorter distance than anyone of us is capable of doing so "manually". The computer monitors impending skid at all four wheels and is able to control braking force to all four brakes independently of one another, something no human can do. There are a few situations where ABS will allow a wheel(s) to lock, but those are limited to very slow speed conditions, usually at or below 3mph. Granted some people don't like the feel of ABS or other dynamic control systems. But machines are far more capable of better handling vehicles than humans are. There are scenarios where a machine programmed more towards safety may not allow certain things such as wheel spin or wheel lock, we've all been there where steering with your foot is better than not being able to. But on the whole ABS does improve vehicle control...one can mash the brake as hard as they want and still make large control inputs without fear of upsetting vehicle control or stability. And that is a safety and control improvement no matter which way you look at it.
Regards

John Rodriguez

I'm afraid I disagree. I'm 100% positive it stops faster and harder than with ABS. I measured the distance. Then again, I am on 12.5" wide tires, so eh. yu

hognutz

then you would be wrong. just cause you can mash the people dose not mean the abs in interpreting the input as well as you can.

maybe on a higher end vehicle they could design something with a higher sample rate and better modulation but on any production oreinted automobile you will stop faster knowing you vehicle.

If you don't belive me you can search the internet. on bone dry pavement you don't stop much faster but I have read of a wrx on a washboarded gravel road cutting 60ft off it 60-0 by dissabling it abs.

Scotty

Come to think of it...when I was in an accident [not at fault] I was doing 40KMH and when I hit the brake, I initially slowed and then the buzz of the pedal and I actually accelerated and hit the van and totaled it.
Even the head adjuster at the insurance company said its not as good as it should be.
I hate that feeling of no control and no braking like with the abs.

Scotty

John Rodriguez

I cannot seem to grasp that. Does it mean you don't like ABS or you do?

Scotty

I have know idea what you are talking about.

RVT223

Hognutz,
Cite the article and post the link, because I am interested to read that. I will cede that on dry pavement ABS provides scant improvement in overall stopping distance. However on other than dry pavement I still stand by the argument that ABS is far superior to any human in terms of total braking distance. If you can you show that braking distance is improved without ABS in greater than 50% of real world braking situations I will buy something nice. By the way do you mash people when you brake?? Maybe your braking distance would improve if you removed them from under the brake pedal?? Just a thought. And yes most modern vehicles have far better diagnostics than we humans have. I defy you to show me otherwise. By the way we are discussing total distance to stop not time to stop.
Regards

rammtuff

See the above article. Abs increases stopping distances.

1sttruck

ABS will tend to increase stopping distances but it will also produce better controlled stops. Don't judge ABS until you've tried stopping at different speeds in the rain, on frost, etc., especially in a pickup which tends to lock up the rear anyway. You could sideswipe someone or worse, like climb a curb and hit some people because the rear end broke loose.

Uncle Red

I posted this same question on TDR. I didn't know if it was O.K. to just pull the ABS pump fuse but was told it was O.K. to do so. My biggest gripe was off-road ABS activation and also on snow covered pavement and hiting little braking bumps at down hill intersection, ect... So, I pulled the fuse and went and tested it out. All tests(not scientific, just a guy with a day off!) were on a graded dirt county road. On the hard packed 3" snow covered road it stopped several truck lengths shorter with the ABS off. On the bare/no snow test it stopped shorter with no ABS and also by locking up the brakes and controling my own skid. All tests at 20 mph. Like I said not scientific but just the results I got. An increase in stopping distance is bad

John Rodriguez

Or t-boned a mom in a minivan with her 7 children with your 8000lb truck....