ABS saves the day

[nitrous]

One important aspect of ABS is to allow you to steer while braking hard.
With a good tyre, panic braking from medium speeds of around 60 would not make a palpable difference between ABS and non-ABS.
At high speeds, ABS not only helps tyre locking ,but also steering away from the obstacle.
Im all for ABS.
@vikram_d: You and Tadu should drive a non-ABS car and get your braking skills up.

[prashanthyr]

All,
Thanks for the compliments on my choice of ABS.
Some more details:
What I was doing when the accident happened:
a. I was actually about to pop a cookie (effectively driving with one hand), when this happened.
b. Was thinking that the chaps in front would pull to the side of the road and stop because the rain was getting heavier

Road surface: As it had just started raining, the road surface was slick - according to me the most dangerous from a traction view point.

How did I notice the ABS warning light? In the dark of the car, the ABS light comes in an eerie yellow color and there's soem sound (normal according to the manual)

[gauravchawla]

Originally Posted by diabloo

Is it just me or anybody else who thinks without ABS the car would have stopped 15 ft from the target?

dont know if this has been discussed over here or not!

[brraj]

Originally Posted by vikram_d

Most of the people think that ABS is of no use in cities like Mumbai, Bangalore etc as our average speeds are relatively low. But they dont realise that ABS is not for the low speeds but it is for panic braking irrespective of speed which can happen anytime and anywhere.

. ABS is a must for all the vehicles, with EBD is still more safer as the stopping distance is reduced. I have experienced lot of times in my elantra.

[gopinathann]

If you consider in a straight line, car stops quickly without ABS, the reason being the skid causes more resistance to the car and stops quickly. If you turn the steering then the skid leaves you in dangerous situation.

One night I was returning from office, a cycle guy immediately came in front of me from the right side. I had little time and I slammed the brakes (speed 20-25 km), the car stopped just in front of him. When I slammed the brakes I could realize as if the brakes are not working because there were no jerks of the sudden brake, reason being the ABS was at work. But these kind of situation happened to me when I drove my Santro WITHOUT ABS, that time it would immediatley stop with the skid. So my perception is that ABS is going to help you very much when you brake at 120 kmph speed, because at this speed, the skid will not definetely be in a straight line and at slow speeds the skids will not leave you in disastrous situation.

[razor4077]

Originally Posted by nitrous

One important aspect of ABS is to allow you to steer while braking hard.
With a good tyre, panic braking from medium speeds of around 60 would not make a palpable difference between ABS and non-ABS.
At high speeds, ABS not only helps tyre locking ,but also steering away from the obstacle.
Im all for ABS.

While I completely agree about ABS being a very essential safety feature on cars, I'll agree with nitrous that at this speed, on a straight line, I don't know how much ABS played a role in halting your car. If you had been steering to avoid the scooterists, then ABS would have proved its worth.

But yes, I am definitely all for ABS too.

[androdev]

glad your day was saved.

but i don't think ABS has much to do with it (at 40KMPH, straight line). the car got decent "power" brakes and your reflexes were good.

the credit goes to you, not the ABS :-)

I am not a big fan of ABS because it gives a false sense of security to an avg Indian driver. they tend to drive ABS cars very aggressively, compensating for any safety provided by the ABS. Seatbelts, airbags, ABS (that is my order of preferred equipment). Most people want it in this order: ABS, seatbetls, airbags. Why? They want to fly low.

I am not advocating against ABS - but if you are using ABS for driving fast and not for safety then it adds no safety.

[kkr2k2]

Originally Posted by diabloo

Is it just me or anybody else who thinks without ABS the car would have stopped 15 ft from the target?

Did you by any chance meant 15 ft from the target after crossing it? May be yes but depends on the speed.

[Bigzero]

A small query here:

How important is that one gets mentally tuned to driving an ABS car to really leverage its functionality in panic situations? I for one am using a car for 5 odd years now without ABS and my braking instincts are tuned accordingly - in Panic situations ( I havent had many ) I slam the brake hard and Keep the vehicle on a straight line. I dont even think of the option of swerving around the obstacle in front as it can be quite dangerous in a non-ABS car.

Does it take some practice and awareness to utilize ABS well? or does one get used to the difference in approach to braking automatically?

There were at least two occasions where my car felt close to losing traction around a corner that had a sort of sandy surface. I guess ABS could have given me some confidence here.

ABS is going to be a priority item for my next car, but unfortunately, the carmakers see it as a luxury add-on for the top end versions only!

[suman]

Prashanth, the ABS did its work, thank God! This could have been nasty if you hadn't stopped on time.

Originally Posted by androdev

I am not a big fan of ABS because it gives a false sense of security to an avg Indian driver..

Oh God, not again

Originally Posted by androdev

I am not advocating against ABS - but if you are using ABS for driving fast and not for safety then it adds no safety.

No offense meant but your post suggests exactly that. I wonder when we will ever see (on this forum), people praise the virtues of ABS - and leave it at that. Without getting into the fine print of stopping distances, driver reflexes and all the rest.

Pardon me for saying this but this is why we will probably never see ABS (and Airbags) as standard fodder in our cars - because the vast majority feel the way you do

Originally Posted by kkr2k2

Did you by any chance meant 15 ft from the target after crossing it? May be yes but depends on the speed.

Lol, that was hilarious!

For those of you who say that ABS had no role to play, please read his post carefully - its very clear that it did come into play. And remember, it was raining, even at 40 kmph, on hard braking, the wheels could have locked up, car could have skidded or even slid forward with the wheels locked. please do not underplay the importance of ABS.

EDIT: I'm outta this thread before another one of those discussions start

[dadu]

A lot has been discussed on ABS, read this thread (The ABS discussion thread!!)on where it will help and where not.

If you want quick pointer read this (The ABS discussion thread!!)

[mezereo]

ABS does save a lot. I had an incident last month..I was on rush driving Innova at around 2AM, and it was a small road with turns. All of a sudden the most irritating thing on the roads, an AUTO rickshaw came infront of me from nowhere on the wrong side even the road had dividers. I had to hit the brakes and it went ramming into the wall side by . It was a devastating moment for me as that was my first accident to happen ever since I started driving. I loved the car so much that I started to pull my hair coz I rammed the car. The front part completely damaged, smoke was coming out of the hood.. but the interesting thing is, the car could still move with very less difficulty.

Thats the point I realized the importance of ABS. It does keep the car in your control.

Drive safe everybody.

[csentil]

Let me join the "Me too" bandwagon. I'll not get into the ABS is good/bad decision in this thread !! :-)

Speed: 140 kmph
Car: Civic
Location: GQ (just before Vellore). At this particular point its 3 lane each side. Straight road.
Time: 2 pm
Situation: Had just overtaken a Fiesta. On the centre lane.
What happens: Cyclist pops out of side median. 10-12 yr kid. Darts to the middle of the road. Looks right and sees my car. Panics. His foot slips on the pedal. He should have crossed over if he had pedalled properly. He is frantically trying to put foot to pedal. He is too short to rest his foot and balance the cycle.

What happened: I can see the nut's face in full panic mode. He's lost the pedal. I brake and as I brake I swerve left towards the outer most lane and bypass him. Split second decision on not to swerve right as he could have found his balance and continued on and there was a fiesta just behind me who wouldn't know what's happening. If it wasn't for the ABS I wouldn't have been able to pull this off.

The fiesta car being on the innermost lane just managed to dodge the cyclist !!

Lesson learnt: never overtake fiesta cars !! ;-)

[1100D]

What a coincidence, it was ABS itself that gave me an almost nasty surprise a few days back. Was driving on a gravel road leading to an intersecting tarmac. The gravel road had its own gentle curves and all. On nearing the intersecting tarmac, I needed to come to a complete halt before entering the road, but to my surprise, while braking the ABS kicked in instantaneously, the car was rolling more than it was braking. The car stopped after reaching a part of the tarmac. Thankfully there wasn't a vehicle in the vicinity, that could have hit me, or I would have hit.

Although I realised it as soon as I had encountered it, that ABS was messing it up for me. Usually on non ABS cars, on gravel, or any soft surface, the wheels dig (being locked) in while braking, giving more braking force. But in this case, the moment the brakes were applied, ABS kicked in to free the wheel, actually rolling over the small mound it would create everytime the wheel braked.

However, on Tarmac, no doubts that ABS does help in a huge way.

The whole intent was to make people aware of the behaviour ABS cars put up on gravel.

[itwasntme]

Slightly OT, after looking at 1100D's post about his experience of non-ABS braking being better on loose/gravelly surfaces etc, can anyone confirm whether ABS can be manually turned OFF on any Indian car?

Also how do SUVs like the Safari VX etc handle ABS on loose surfaces. Do they automatically get disabled when 4x4 is selected?