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Originally Posted by Santoshbhat You are dead right. Precisely for this reason, sometimes I wish car makers gave us an 'ABS off' switch. At times on roads with lot of loose gravel and sand, the ABS simply unlocks the brakes and car just does not stop. A good driver one can easily modulate the brakes based on feel of grip avaialble/ loss or trasction etc... With ABS there is nothing the driver can do. At times I have have had to jump over some pretty nasty speed breakers coz the ABS just would not allow the brakes to grab the wheels. |
Well, it is not necessary that a car without ABS will stop in time on slippery surfaces. A car without ABS locks the tyres which causes a lot of screeching which makes the driver think that the braking distance has reduces, which is not entirely true.
Atleast, with ABS, the car remains in control of the driver.
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Yes the idea of having ABS is to retain steering control which is not available when the wheels lock up. But what do you do when there is no room to steer the vehicle out of harm's way? You just want to minimise impact by reducing the speed of the vehicle. If in such a situation, the road is slippery, ABS can be counterproductive.
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I have seen a lot of drivers pumping the brakes of a car which has ABS. This is wrong and negates the efficiency of the ABS system. In cars equipped with ABS, just slam the brakes and stand on it. And if there is room, just steer away your car. I am sure, even on a narrow road, you will definitely get atleast a few inches on either side to squeeze your car and prevent a major shunt.
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I am not against ABS per se. My point is that it has its downsides too. People have many misconceptions about ABS, which can be pretty dangerous.
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Of course, every system will have it's downsides. But I feel the ABS has more pros than cons. If driven by someone who is well versed with the system, I feel it greatly reduces the chances of an accident.
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Originally Posted by vikram_d The post with regards to which I wrote mentioned fine stone particles on the road. In such a case ABS would not help in anyway at all. It would lengthen the braking distance and would not help in steering the car. |
It is not necessary that a car without ABS would have been better in that situation. Who knows, the wheels might have locked and it may have had a nastier crash...
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Originally Posted by swarnava.m So, in layman terms, in a single statement, how right or wrong is it to say that ABS actually increases our stopping distance? In other words, it reduces the braking capacity as compared to a car without ABS? |
Well, it depends.
A car with ABS may or may not increase the braking distance. There is no hard and fast rule. On slippery surfaces, if a car without ABS keeps on skidding, would we say that it is safe or the braking distance was less?
In other words, what would you want - an out of control car with lesser braking distance (if we assume that) or a car which is completely in control with marginally greater braking distance? I prefer the latter. The former would freak me out!
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Originally Posted by Off Roadie I agree to your points here but let's say if I were driving during the rains I would like the option of keeping the ABS off throughout.
There are quite a few instances where one may like to keep the ABS off so it is always better to have an option than not have one at all. |
The main objective of ABS is to use it on slippery roads. Switching it off when it rains defeats the whole purpose.
I have had an experience where I could save my car from a shunt (T bone) because a moron taxi driver cut in front of me without judging my speed. With or without ABS, my car would not have stopped in time. I simply slammed the brakes and swerved the steering to the right. There was no skidding or any drama whatsoever. The car braked hard, I could feel the pulsations of ABS on my brake pedal, it turned well and stopped in full control. Yes, there was some construction going on and the road was (is) filled with gravel and small pebbles.
In this case, I think even the EBD helped. I have personally felt the ABS + EBD work in my car when I did some hard braking on the corners of some nice ghats.
And for those who feel ABS always increases braking distance, watch this video, especially when its 2:15 minutes -
Even read the comments below, similar to what we are discussing here!