Disabling ABS on my Van

Electronic Stability Control. GM calls it Stabilitrack, but I'd have to spend $10,000 more to get in on a Buick Lucerne as it in only available on the CXS. GM should be embarrassed about that.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski
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My '96 Bonnie has regular Traction Control, which turns the RPM's down and applies the ABS when the wheels sense they loose traction. It is a 'neat' feature, but if you take your time, you shouldn't spin the tires anyhow.

I doubt they are.

Reply to
80 Knight

Funny - I was just thinking about this thread too. I'm on record as not being infatuated with ABS, though I really have nothing against the system. I drive both ABS and non-ABS vehicles and find no real difference between the two - except that one tickles my foot when it's in use. I wonder how much people begin to swear by something such as ABS simply because they can tell it's activating - they feel the pulsing. Suddenly, "ABS certainly worked - it made me stop in time", when non-ABS probably would have just as well. The skid tests I've seen comparing the two really don't show a lot of difference between ABS and normal use non-ABS systems, so I often think that more of the "value" of ABS is a perceived value in the owner's mind.

Reply to
Mike Marlow

Its funny the factory usually tests ABS on DRY pavement.

Reply to
abomb69

I hate traction control too, when you do get stuck if you cant turn it off may as well start walking and call a wrecker.

Reply to
abomb69

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Reply to
jcr

35+ years behind the wheel and I don't have a problem doing both with standard brakes either.
Reply to
jcr

I don't understand this problem with steering.

Reply to
jcr

If you don't know how to brake properly in a non-ABS car, smashing the brake peddle down and locking the tires up will make the car go in whatever direction it wants, no matter which way you turn the wheel. However, with ABS, you can smash the brake peddle down, and the ABS still allows you to steer. I'm not really pro or con ABS, as I have had cars with both, but I think it is a helpful feature, but it definitely can't make up for a bad driver.

Reply to
80 Knight

Can"t? My three cars with it had a switch to turn it off. Buick is a button on the sift lever.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

If you lock up the front wheels, they become sliders like skis and tend to just go straight. Yes, you can let off the brake, pulse the brake, but not as fast as the ABS system can do it. ABS does not prevent stupidity, it is not a cure for every problem, it is another tool that can make driving safer.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

Interesting, but the newest of these studies is 1994. I'd like to see something updated.

I like the statement in the first link that it does not reduce fatalities and no one knows why. Seems to me, most fatalities are at higher speeds, head on collisions, cars going into a tree because the drunk passed out at

80 mph. No safety braking device will help in a situation like that.

As you can see from the second study, a big reduction in wet road crashes. That is where ABS works best.

NHTSA reported that compared with non-antilock-equipped cars, cars with antilocks

had about a 20 to 30 percent higher crash involvement rate in single-vehicle,

run-off-road crashes, but about a 15 to 25 percent reduced risk of multiple-vehicle

collisions on wet roads. For both wet and dry road conditions, the risk of fatal collisions

with pedestrians and bicyclists was reduced by 27 percent in cars with antilock

brakes. The net effects were nonsignificant reductions in fatal crashes (2 percent)

and nonfatal crashes (3 percent).

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

My Bonnie has a button to turn the T/C off as well, but I have been in cars that don't.

Reply to
80 Knight

It is odd that the Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI) doesn't have anything posted that is more recent...unless there isn't much change over the years.

My guess is (and it's only a guess), if one tends to be a "brake masher" in panic situations, the ABS would probably be a better choice for them. If one has learned and has driven knowing how to manually control skids, standard brakes would probably be best for those people (the ABS just "gets in the way" of what comes naturally to those people).

I have both types of vehicles and have been driving for 35 years. I've never experienced prolonged wheel lock or a steering or control problem in wet or snow conditions. But then I don't mash the brakes either.

Heck, one time back in the 1970's, there were a dozen cars in front of me sliding and spinning around back and forth across three lanes and into each other on a snow-covered New Hampshire Avenue (in Maryland)...I never even touched the brakes (I knew that wouldn't do any good)...I just steered around the mayhem. I was one of only a few that made it out the other side unscathed (I still don't know how).

Reply to
jcr

Why would someone purposefully "smash" the brakes? That tactic is suicide. I dunno. It would seem to me that it would be preferable to have the proper driver vehicle control training. But, what ever works best for each individual, I suppose.

Reply to
jcr

Hmmmm. I've not yet figured out how to "pulse" one wheel independently of the others. Or even worse, how to pulse all 4 at differing levels.

Take care.

Ken

Reply to
Ken Weitzel

Pressing the brake as hard as they can is some people's reaction to almost hitting something.

Reply to
80 Knight

We should increase the eligibility for a license by a few years, have better training, and have a much more difficult test too. But all of that is not going to happen in my lifetime.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

No offence, but I don't think that would work. Here in Ontario, we have a "graduated licensing" system. You can get a G1 at age 16, which allows you only to drive between the hours of 5am - 12am, and only with a fully licensed driver who has at least 4 (if memory serves) years driving experience. You also can't have more then 2 friends with you. After one year (or 9 months, with driver's training) you can get a G2, which means you can drive anytime, and alone. After that, you get your full G. That was all from memory, and it's been a while, so I'm sure someone else will chip in and fix my details. Anyhow, my point was it still doesn't work. We still have drunks driving, and punks driving. None of which should be behind the wheel. And, there isn't an age either. I know 16 year-old's who drive better and safer then some 40 year old's, and of course, vise versa. It all depends on the people.

Reply to
80 Knight

Some of our states have a similar graduated system. Right, it does not work. Just this week, I know one girl in the hospital with a broken leg, and on the news a 17 year old was charged with vehicular homicide for killing a

15 year old on school grounds.

I have a 19 year old grandson that is an excellent and capable driver. I won't let him use either of our cars unless one of us is with him. I also know what he is capable of if he is on his own.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

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