@tsmtb: Everyone has their own experience. I would have preferred a slightly longer stopping distance in a straight line than a shorter distance that sent us into a skid directly into the lane of oncoming traffic.
@bing: The stop we performed when the ABS was not working was harrowing and we are thankful no one was put in danger. like the devastating things you mentioned, car accidents rank right up there. Sure, there’s a small risk of something like this happening, but the consequences can be deadly (in this case risking the life of my very favorite person on the planet. Risk assessment requires both factors - how likely it is to happen & what is the severity of the consequences when it does. I just don’t want a VW dealer making that risk assessment and that decision for me.
@ccatx Not to belabor the issue, but what exactly were the circumstances of the emergency braking and how did it put you into a skid? I understand if brakes were locked and car was sliding out of control but thats when you let up to regain control and steer in the other direction. This all happens in a few seconds so it has to be instinct and experience. Often you have to choose where you are going to hit such as choosing a rear end collision or ditch in order to avoid a head on at all costs.
We’ve had this debate before, and I stand by my statements. ABS is controversial, perhaps because driving environments vary so much, and I fall on the side of it being a highly overrated system. I should add that in all my 45+ years of driving I’ve never braked a car, or even a pickup (pickups are notoriously light in the rear) into a skid.
@bing: 3 times - the first time was when my husband, was driving home alone late one evening on flat, clean, dry roads; he decided to stop at an intersection when he came upon a stale yellow light & braked hard and the ABS did not engage; thinking he had ABS, he applied the brakes firmly without pumping, the ABS never engaged & the car swerved and spun before he let up & steered into it & brought the car to a stop. it was late so the roads were pretty deserted, though someone could have been there.
second - we did this one together on purpose as an ABS check, video camera rolling, after the dealer refused to fix the ABS - we drove the car to an empty, flat, clean, dry road and applied the brakes the same way and again, no ABS; the car made swerved skid marks and we ended up on the opposite side of the road with my passenger door directly in the path of oncoming traffic (had there been any); this successfully generated the code the dealer needed to get them to repair the car & to get the extended warranty company to cover the cost of the repair.
third - after the repair, my husband alone test drove the car performing the same stop, and the ABS engaged and stopped the car in a straight line without leaving any skid marks. we didn’t measure the stopping distance
Between #1 & #2 we researched these failures in the O9 GTI and found that others had had this identical problem, including the failure of the system to throw a code, further fueling our disappointment & anger with the dealer & VW for refusing to repair it and sending us back out on the road without even attempting a fix. (FWIW, that same week’s CarTalk Episode (#1429) had a discussion about how unconscionable it is for a shop to put someone back on the road without even trying to repair a braking problem. I almost emailed the podcast link to the VW service rep to say, “SEE!?! You don’t send customers away when they come in presenting brake problems!!!”)
'You're supposed to employ "threshold" braking, then gently increase pressure to lock, then release just enough to get wheels turning'
Very true but how many people driving these days even know how, when, why, or can think it through quick enough to use it. Or that the technique even exists? Probably only us old farts and I’d probably still screw it up!.
