Just had a conversation with a friend who tells me that he'd read somewhere that all new cars must come fitted with ABS from next year.
I'd not heard anything about this, does anyone know if it's true?
Lee.
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Lee,
A triumph of hope over adversity, methinks ...
Read Growler's thread about the avergae bozo not having a clue about what ABS actually is ...
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I believe this to be true.
Check out www.howstuffworks.com/anti-lock-brake.htm for loads of good info and links. One link goes to NHTSAs site and gives good advice about how to use ABS and the need to practice using it safely before you ever need it in an emergency. It also links to a study which shows ABS has not reduced overall fatalities, though it has changed the nature of the crashes involving a fatality.
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I think part of the reason ABS has not reduced accidents (fatal or otherwise) is that many people do not know how to brake in a car with ABS.
Basically, you press the brake pedal as hard as you can and let the abs power the brakes on and off while steering around \ away from any potential trouble zone.
Many people either don't brake hard enough in a car equipped with abs or ease the pressure on the pedal when they get the feedback from the brakes going on and off thinking there is something wrong with them.
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Understand from chap in Italy, that from either this or next year the EU will insist on any new car on sale in the EU having ABS brakes and front airbags as standard. If this will apply to sales inside UK was not made clear.
Rgds.
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Well the last couple days I've been following all this ABS stuff seing as it hasn't really impinged upon my consciousness till now and, as I often do, I sought wiser counsel to guide me through it, viz. Ms Philippines aka Growlette. Her Chinese ancestry endowed not merely good looks but also that ruthless cut-to-the-bone common sense that makes the breed so successful in business.
* everybody knows what brakes are for
* you press them and they stop the vee-hi-cul
* why fit some gadget everybody has to learn how to press some
way they never heard of before to make it work? Watcha gonna
do in an emergency? Try and remember what the manual said?
Meanwhile you or somebody else is dead.
* If the brakes don't work right they should design better
brakes, not fit some dumb*** big money gadget
* read that bit about extra cost of servicing and fixing. One
more thing they tell you needs fixing so they can stick it on
your garage bill.
* That's the bottom line, how come you don't see that?
Ouch. Thank you ma'am, I sure feel much clearer about that now.
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Really wanting to learn more about this and having followed the thread, yesterday we took both Fords out to a clear stretch of road. Braked as hard as I could on mine from a variety of speeds 100 kph, 80 kph, 50 kph.
Result with mine: no juddering, screech of locked rubber, black marks in straight line on road, no apparent ability to steer while brakes locked, no sense of anything going on and off.
Result with hers: same.
...time to move on before more of life passes me by :-)
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