Notice a difference without the ABS?

[jacobzcool1]

just wondering?

[Dougg]

Well, not on the smart, but the first car I had with ABS, it saved my bacon a couple times I got into corners too hot, once in a zigzag over RR tracks and the next time a blind left with decreasing radius and then sand on the surface plus a sudden stop sign. Whew!

I thought I was pretty good at modulating the brakes manually, but at a Skip Barber Advanced Driving course one of the things the trainers did was pull an electrical cable to disable the ABS. We did emergency stops, and also heavy braking while doing an obstacle avoidance maneuver. I did ok, but with ABS back on for the same moves it was far better! Quite a lesson...

I'll guess that the ABS in the smart makes for much better emergency stops than without it. When it's doing its thing, you should feel a pulsing in the brake pedal.

[johnssc]

I'll second that Dougg. I have raced myself and between doing some skippy school things on my own and having sent my son to a few things, I was really impressed with what ABS does for you. The control factor while under braking rises exponentially.

When I read about folks here trying to disconnect it I just shake my head. I think that would be a very, very poor decision. I consider myself to be a very competent threshold braker. It has taken me years of practice to get to that point and to be honest, it is a skill that 99% of folks just do not have. ABS takes all the guesswork out of that in an emergency situation and I would rather have it than not have it. I would never consider pulling that particular fuse, believe me.

[jammel1k]

ABS are very very effective if ya drive into corners fast.... make a lot of difference in rains....

[johnssc]

Rain, snow, chain-reaction stops on highways, when an animal/small child/old person steps out in front of you, when someone pulls out in front of you...the list goes on.

ABS has really very little to do with high speeds. It is extremely effective at real-time, real-world speeds. Stomp on the binders hard enough (and stay on them) and you can engage the ABS at 35 mph no problem and still be able to steer around something rather than drive (or slide) right into it.

Of course, you can disconnect all that stuff because you "don't need it" and then explain why you ran right over some little kid when you locked-up the brakes. Just tell the parents: "I don't need ABS." I am sure they will understand.

PS: This is not directed at you Jacob - there have been folks here posting about disconnecting this stuff!

[Karl Roth]

Lets look at what it does, anti blocking system is primarily there to prevent you from locking a wheel or wheels to allow you to be able to brake and steer at the same time. An other benefit would be when you have a wheel or two on a loose shoulder of the road and you need to slow or stop, it will help you do that without spinning to the center of the road and oncoming traffic. No human can relese and apply the brake on a single wheel 3 times in a second.
Having said all that a skilled driver can brake as well or at times faster: see F1, even those guys can be helped by the system.
For 99.9 % of your driving on the street you should never notice it.
If only once in the life of the car it lets you drive away from an emergency situation that sort of pays for itself I think.
karl

[SuperGeek]

Originally Posted by Karl Roth

For 99.9 % of your driving on the street you should never notice it.
If only once in the life of the car it lets you drive away from an emergency situation that sort of pays for itself I think.
karl

Absolutely. The first day I got my Grand Am, first car with ABS, it saved me from a head-on collision. An old lady turned in front of me, forcing me to brake full-on AND swerve, and we missed by about a foot. Oh, it was November in Utah so there was a little snow and ice on the road. I was sold on it instantly.

I've never had ABS kick in while not braking hard... there is no detriment to using it. If it does kick in with normal braking, someone needs to get their brakes and tires checked.