![]() The study, comparing identical models with and without ABS, showed that accident claims were essentially the same. ![]() ![]() And, for most drivers, skidding out of control is a very rare event." The reality is that most situations involving emergency braking don't result in crashes - with or without antilock brakes. "Otherwise," he said, "their crash experience before they started driving a car with antilocks must have been horrible. ![]() But his organization's study does cast doubt on the value of ABS, at least regarding accidents and insurance company's payoffs.Īnd from the study, he said, it is obvious that many drivers were guessing unrealistically about crashes that had been prevented by antilock brakes. I would not buy a car without antilock brakes.īrian O'Neill, president of the institute that did the new study and that represents the major insurance companies of America, agrees, and he said that antilock brakes are worthwhile simply because they represent a better technology. When I thought about a kid darting between parked cars and into my path, that truly sold me. But not one of us could pump the brakes - or stop within 10 feet of the same distance - without ABS as with it. Like you, we all fancied ourselves to be great drivers. We made five runs without ABS and five runs with it. The cars, BMW's with antilock brakes, were rigged so that the ABS could be turned off with a switch in the glove compartment. And then we were told to drive at 50 miles an hour into a calibrated area and to stop as quickly as we could. We were put through our paces on the skid pad, practicing what to do with our twitchy rear ends. My own best experience with ABS occurred in 1985 when I took the BMW advanced driving course, run by the Skip Barber Racing School at the Lime Rock racetrack in Connecticut. In fact, some insurance companies offer a reduction in premium for cars with antilock brakes. And they prevent you from running into the immovable object that you might otherwise have tried to move. They do allow control in an emergency stop. That is boggling, at least to those of us who value ABS as the third most important safety factor in a car after seatbelts and air bags. And another part has to do with a new study by the Highway Institute for Traffic Safety, which shows that ABS has saved almost nothing in terms of insurance claims. Part of it has to do with drivers not knowing how to use ABS. With a firm stomp on the pedal, the vehicle will stop in a straight line and in a much shorter distance.Īll the same, there is controversy over antilock brakes. That allows the driver to steer, at the same time keeping the tires from sliding and preventing the car from lurching to one side or the other, depending on the road surface. ![]() When that happens, the sensors send a signal through a central computer to the brakes, pumping them many times a second and slowing the wheels while keeping them rolling. ABS does that by using sensors that recognize the imminent lockup of the wheels. The main purpose of antilock brakes is to keep the wheels from locking up and to prevent an uncontrollable skid. But the questions indicate that a great many people seem not to know what it is or how to use it. ABS (which originally meant Anti-Blocking System and now has come to stand for Antilock Braking System) has been around for decades, first on airliners and later on trucks and cars. And a spate of questions for me, most of them about antilock brakes.Īnd, I must say, the queries have surprised me. A spate of misery for much of the eastern part of the country. ![]()
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