I’ll confess that I probably could have used ABS to avoid an accident at least once in my life. Back when I was younger, less skilled, and at times reckless, I was unable to stop in time to avoid a collision on a rain-slick LA freeway. (For the record I wasn’t speeding, and the car had stopped unexpectedly in my lane with no lights on!) I jammed on the brakes and skidded into the car, mangling the front end of my Honda and causing thousands of dollars in damages. I’ve asked myself many times in the years since what would have happened had I pumped the brakes. And I also had some near missed when I was younger. I suppose better tires might have helped, but there was nothing below par about my tires. So while experience and good tires may help avoid accidents, I’m sure that there are millions of drivers today avoiding accidents because of ABS and they don’t even know about it. As for air-bags – the car I was driving that night didn’t have air bags, and had it the repair expense would have been that much more. I was glad not to have them that night and in other instances. When the car got older the cost of replacing the air bags could have made the difference between the car being repaired or totaled.