I know when talking about abs, we are only talking about it’s affects on braking (hence the B in abs) but it also has a significant control on your other systems. I have 4 wd truck with an electronic limited skip button. It’s only a glorified traction control in the rear that does not cut the throttle and is more aggressive with the brakes at low speeds when abs is not.
It is so good that I can drive in and out my road which has been snow and ice covered for 6 weeks and seldom use the 4 wd. It’s great when in town coming out of a snow covered road onto bare pavement when 4 wd should not be used…and it’s great for doing donuts. All in all, this stuff really works. The off road version switch when in 4wd called all trac, makes the truck behave like it had limited slip on all four wheels at low speeds.
The only thing better is the mechanical lock option, which is really hard on the drive train if you aren’t careful. Abs traction systems are much easier on the drive train. The brake management by a computer gives so many advantages in all cars both starting and stopping, I can’t imagine one without it. Thankfully, most all trucks and cars have this stuff now !
I am not a huge ABS fan. It can help most of the people, most of the time. My experience is based on over 3 million miles of driving mostly with a tractor trailer, sometimes twin trailers, an a few trips with triple trailers. I was based out of Buffalo NY and ran to Watertown NY, Montreal, NY city and through the mountains of PA. mostly. Some trips across Canada and Michigan.
Early GM abs was terrible, our mechanics when I drove school bus after I retired would try to demonstrate the usefulness of abs once a year. They would get one of our cars up to about 40 in our lot and slam on the brakes on a dry parking lot. The usual result was a much longer stopping distance than a non abs car. After 5 or 6 tries the would get the pads and rotors cleaned off and the abs working properly. Not too useful.
In the 1970s the federal government mandated the all new trucks be equipped with abs in conjunction with an increase of the 5 axle weight limit being raised from 72000 pounds to 80000. These abs systems failed so many times in so many ways that the requirement was quickly rescinded. I retired in the 90s and understand that they have them again now on trucks, I hope the work a lot better.
Car and driver tested abs many years ago and found that it provided control and did not lengthen stopping distances EXCEPT ON ICE OR FRESH FALLEN SNOW ! I don’t know about you but those are the only conditions that I could use any help with.
Learning to drive on vehicles with no abs i learn to break without abs. On ice I’ve found abs can have a issues where it will quick applying the breaks and you just keep rolling at low speed. I grew up where it snows and melts then freeze at night. Talk to old school mechanics when ABS came out and there is couple of flaws with the system itself. Which has resulted in crashes in races. Where it just decided not to apply breaks at times. Hence why abs has a bad repore with older people who know about these issues. Even today on lower end cars the abs still have those issues which cause the breaks not to be applied on ice or high speed hard breaking. Younger people and people that believes half the bs media puts out says ABS, TC, SC and other driving aids help driving yet you end up fighting the computer for control at times. Mechanical equipment will always superior to fly by wires. Especially on giving feedback to the driver.
You can apply brakes the old way with ABS. ABS is designed to allow you to keep you in control of a car while applying the brakes. To do that with a vehicle without ABS you have to pump the brakes.
Gee…So did I. So did a lot of people in this forum.
Who’s RACING. You want to race then go to a track. Keep if off the streets.
I’m a senior citizen. I have no problem with ABS. I had to re-learn on how to brake. No need to pump the brakes.
Total Bull. Where did you hear that crap?
Again…Total Bull. You’ve been misinformed. I suggest you do some research.
Wrong again. You can’t pump the brakes fast enough to keep in control of a vehicle while trying to brake on ice.
Purebred is obviously being sarcastic. Nogard is living in the past. A rolling wheel will help you steer, a locked up wheel will not. ABS is designed to have the driver keep control of the car, not to just stop it.
You are aware that these days not only are cars fly-by-wire, they are also brake-by wire, right?
A year or so ago, we had a string of posts from somebody who wanted to convert his Oldsmobile’s hydraulic brakes to cable-operated brakes because “cable-operated brakes are so much better”.
I was expecting someone to point out that flight control surfaces were wire (cable) operated on a Jenny.
At the risk of being non-automotive, if a Ford Trimotor comes to your area, take the 30 minute flight.
I’m not a pilot either although I did do ground school but couldn’t afford lessons. I believe though cables or at least hydraulic lines have still been used and not just fly by wire. Blow an engine, sever the lines and lose control.
But the wires and lines are much closer to the unit they’re controlling. You don’t need hydraulic lines or cables running from the cabin to the wings or tail.
