[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: The poop on ABS



Gotta agree with you here Dan.  On most driving conditions, anti lock will
kick a good drivers ass anyday.  I just don't think your brain, spinal cord
and foot/leg muscles are a match for a good ABS system.  You can't beat the
machine.
    There are many misconceptions about ABS.  one is that you stop slower
because it doesn't allow you to lock up the brakes.  If this was true don't
you think you'd see race cars locking up the brakes going into every corner?
Sure they do it once in a while, but only if a mistake is made or during a
balls out passing manouver.  Fact is, you stop better when you still have
tire traction.... lockem up and you're gonna go sailing.
    There are a few surfaces where this is not true, and locking up the
brakes can stop you quicker, but i think these are more like gravel, snow
and ice.  I can say that having ABS on during the winter almost killed my
whole family, but thats another long story.

      well, thats all i can think of.

             owen
             87 16v (super 2L parts finally assembled...almost)

> Friends and neighbors,
>
> ABS equipped cars see, on average, a 6.5% stopping distance benefit over
similar non-ABS cars.
>
> You non-believers in ABS got me worked up.  Month after month I see
complaints that your cars are too slow, and what can I do to make it go
faster.
>
> There were a few of you who actually felt their cars stopping performance
was too good.  If that's the case, I'm sure I could find a few of you who
get laid too much, have too much cash, and too much time to wax your hoods.
>
> Seems every racing organization I can think of doesn't allow ABS.  This
gives me the impression that there may be some advantage to be had.
>
> I figured I should do some research, and decide if ABS was a hoax, or if
there was any merit to it.  It should be easy to determine.
>
> A. Do some stops with ABS turned on
> B. Do some more stops with ABS turned off
> C. Write down which one is shorter more often
>
> So, here are my findings:
>
> First, car magazines never test "stripper" cars.  They always test nearly,
or fully optioned cars.  Options that always include ABS.  This meant I
would need to find some other source for hard data.  I don't like to
speculate on things that can be easily measured.
>
> Second, the car manufactures I looked at don't publish stopping
performance.  This includes VW, Toyota, BMW, Dodge, and Mercury.  This is
based on a web site survey done by me.  Looking under both performance and
safety listings for various models.  This doesn't surprise me.  I can
imagine the suits that would emerge.  (This car is supposed to stop at this
speed in this many feet - so how come I still ran over that little kid...)
>
> The third place I looked was the NHTSA.  This is where I found the most
information.  There I found several reports regarding to the safety history
of cars with ABS vs. cars without.  Two points stood out from these:
>
> A. The overall accident rate was unaffected by the introduction of ABS.
> B. Many people use ABS incorrectly
>
> However, this was not the purpose of my research.  I am interested in
stopping distance.  However, I can see how the misconceptions of ABS can
propagate seeing this information.  I'm not sure what "many people" amounts
to, but that's another project.
>
> Further reading lead me to a report called "A TEST TRACK PERFORMANCE
EVALUATION OF CURRENT PRODUCTION LIGHT VEHICLE ANTILOCK BRAKE SYSTEMS".
There was no date on the paper, but the model year of the cars tested was
1996.  This is a report on the findings of 8 test vehicles that employed 8
different types of ABS systems.  At the time there were 8 manufactures of
ABS systems.
>
> The bottom line on this report is this:
>
> A. On 13 surfaces, 2 (grass and loose gravel) saw a increase in stopping
distance.
> B. ABS equipped cars see, on average, a 6.5% stopping distance benefit
over similar non ABS cars.
>
> If you have any other statistical data on ABS, let me know.  You can read
this report and find some links on my Scirocco web site:
http://www.hobbyetc.com/scirocco
>
>
> Dan Brideau
> http://www.hobbyetc.com/scirocco
>
>
> --
> To unsubscribe, send "unsubscribe scirocco-l" to majordomo@scirocco.org.
> If you experience other problems, email: scirocco-l-probs@scirocco.org
>


--
To unsubscribe, send "unsubscribe scirocco-l" to majordomo@scirocco.org.
If you experience other problems, email: scirocco-l-probs@scirocco.org