More ABS/TCS

[Dave Zug]

I agree about the naieve operator thing, there have been studies 
(okay, TV thingys) that show people who stomp on the brakes with ABS 
tend to get scared at the pedal jerking and take their foot off. 
"OOH!" - - SMASH!.

I always tell people to go to a empty parking lot and stomp on 
the brakes at 40 mph a few times so they know what to expect. When I 
had an ABS car it was way too fun in the snow to test it out at every 
stop ;-)

ABS's that allow locking below 10mph help in the snowy intersection 
situation. I've been in a work van down a snow covered slope and its 
the most helpless feeling ever.. you press harder and harder and 
harder yelling "get outta the waaaay" while doing a steady 5 mph down 
the hill. the alternative without ABS is skidding at 5, then 10 then 
15 then 20 mph all the way down with no control. Someone else was 
driving not me, its even scarier as a passenger.

retaining steering control at the expense of longer stopping 
distances?  should have put more time into that traction control 
thingy insted  ;-))

Remember the 4 wheel steering (4WS)  car with the anti-spin feature 
that when coming out of a corner (powered) the thing put you 2 full 
lanes over because it actually had control over the STEERING and 
straightened the car out to gain accelleration rate!?  ask an old 
pilot about fly by wire.

> Bruce Plecan Wrote
> <snip>
> > Besides most people freeze, and son't even turn the steering wheel when the
> > ABS kicks, so ABS is usuallly useless to the average jerk driver.
> > Doc
> > >
> Main purpose of ABS is to retain steering control, not reduced
> stopping distances.  This is relayed from a training video. 
> Personally, I've rolled through bunches of intersections in the winter
> in ABS cars that I would be able to stop for in non-ABS.
> Shannen
 
~~~
Dave Z. www.delanet.com/~tgp