traffik

My protege is my first car equipped with ABS.
I think,personnaly, that ABS is pure crap.Is there a way to 'deactivate'it?Cause I wanna be able to lock my damn wheels when I need to!!That system almost made me hit a car at a stoplight,there was a little layer of snow on the street,about half an inch.My tires are very good,and would make the car come to a complete stop easily,even with the wheels locked.The ABS kicked in,and the car wouldnt stop!!I had to dodge the car by turning left.At 2 mph,its very stupid.Normal brakes are the best.If you know any way to annihilate that crap,please tell me.

KrisA

Pull the fuse.

ABS works better than non ABS brakes on all but the most slippery conditions. When the coefficient of friction between your tires and the surface is so low that the ABS is cycling very rapidly you actually stop faster by locking your wheels. Of course then you can't turn but if it is that slippery you likely won't be able to turn anyways.

lost_concept

LOL ABS does suck at times but it does have its good sides. ABS sucks most in the snow !

obender66

Learn to brake in such manner that ABS doesn't kick in. It sucks in snow and gravel, but with some practice it is POSSIBLE to brake without triggering ABS.
Alex

Makaveli

I'm not a big fan of the crappy ABS, and the only cars that I've driven with ABS were a '98 Cavalier and a Jetta, and both felt really bad when it came to braking. ABS are good though for emergency braking (no, not talking about the e-brake), because even if you think that you're cool and composed, you still might panic and squeeze the brake too heard and lock up your wheels. I did it once, trust me on that one...
I wouldn't turn off the abs if I was you, but if I was getting a car, I wouldn't put it on as an option......

traffik

Hey moderator,check the way you talk to me please.Firts,ABS is crap,second,I never had any accident,even when I drove fast in the past years.Winter driving is not the time to drive fast 'or brake at the last second'.I was in downtown montreal at trafic hours with my baby in the back.You jumping to conclusions pretty fast I think.I am used to drive without ABS since I had my first car.I am able to control the pressure I apply on the brake pedal,and if it is slippy enuff for the wheels to lock ,the car will turn when I'll release the brakes.And by the way,whats the differnece between hitting a car whether you have abs or not?Why would I be sued?Because I pulled the fuse on the abs system?If I hit a car,it means I was going too fast or tailgating.Don't tell me how to drive,allright???

browntrout

In the majority of situations, ABS will save your ***. I drive in Montreal as well and I find the ABS equiped protege way better than without. Have you ever hit a patch of ice/snow/deep water while in the middle of braking on the highway? I've hit with both ABS and without. Without ABS, the whole car starts to slide sideways into another lane...it was cool, I knew what to do but it was a close call. With ABS, no problem. The brakes get pumped for a split second so you don't slide and then you are merrily on your way. It's quite possible that in some low speed cases that ABS might not be as good on very icy/snowy conditions but not much damage is going to be done at 5 kph. When you are doing 100KPH, it's a defferent story. ABS prevents alot more accidents at higher speeds where slides caused by wheel lock up are harder to recover from.

lost_concept

WTF HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA ! LOL !
That was evil LOL !
This is why i like these forums people make my laugh a lot here

Eric F

Traffik, Richard may have made some assumptions about your driving, and may have been harsh by wishing you ill, I agree. I think it was a just a temporary overreaction to what you were saying about ABS brakes.
Most people that first experience ABS brake operation don't like it. I should know, I was one of them. I also think the feeling is worse for people that were good drivers to begin with, and not prone to panicking like most people do. It has something to do with taking some of the control away from the driver I think, kind of like an automatic transmission. Once I got used to ABS and understood that it's function isn't really to make the car stop faster, I understood their usefulness. ABS brakes are there to assist the driver in keeping the car under control in any conditions. It sounds like it did this in your case. The feel of ABS operating is strange and distracting to someone not used to it. My guess is that's what you are reacting to. A side benefit of ABS is the car stops faster than the driver could stop the car on their own on certain surfaces, or under certain conditions. In your situation, it sounds as though there was ice under the light layer of snow. ABS may not make the car stop faster under all conditions, but it will almost never make the car stop slower under any conditions. The reason for you not being able to stop wasn't ABS, it was the lack of traction in the conditions you were in. With out ABS, you may have locked the brakes not realizing there was ice under the thin layer of snow. This would have wasted some time, and prevented you from being able to steer the car until you released the brakes. You may or may not have had enough time at that point to still steer around the car in front of you. That's what ABS gives you, the ability to control the car regardless of what the surface allows the brakes to do, thus saving you some reaction time.
As far as pulling the ABS fuse, this would put you at an extreme disadvantage if you were being sued as a result of an accident. ABS is considered a safety device, by intentionally disabling it before an accident, negligence on your part could and would be argued by the plaintiff. Whether it contributed to the accident or not would be difficult to prove, and wouldn't matter in court.

traffik

I understand, but i feel that when I press the pedal smoothly, the car slows down the way i want but the harder i brake,the less the car slows down.I know its a security device,but when you FEEL the road conditions are not that bad and you wanna stop the car fast,and it DOESNT!!this is frustrating.Even if abs allows me to turn when braking,sometimes there is no place to go left or right.Anyway,you can close this thread if you want to.Thanx.

douggie

Traffik, yeah, i know your feeling (frustration) because you paid a few hundred dollars to get that safety option and it should make the car perform better, but it didn't for your case. However, that's only one scenario that you've encountered. I'm sure if you (knock on wood) came across a more life-threatening situation and ABS gave you that slight advantage to steer clear of the hazard, you'll swear by it the next time you get another car.

I'm sure in general, any car with ABS is considered safer (and that's why insurance companies give discount to cars that are equipped with ABS). But as I said, there are always exceptions.

One thing to keep in mind is that with more advanced ABS, the amount of braking applied to each wheel can be totally independent (which may help in certain situations). Without ABS, no one can duplicate that kind of braking, no matter how skilled that driver is (well, unless there's like 4 brake pedals and that person has more than 2 feet )

It's just like the air-bag. Some say it kills, but some says it saves lives, depending on the situation. But in general, it's considered as a safety device.

So I would suggest you to give the ABS another chance to redeem itself (but hopefully you won't really need it). But if you really want to disable the ABS by tampering with the fuse, I would replace the fuse with a blown-out one, so they will never know that the ABS was "intentionally" disabled. You could then argue that maybe the fuse blew out when I jammed on the brakes

JJB

One of the first things that people whom have not had ABS equiped cars should do is find a nice empty space to play in and then put the brake pedal to the floor (literally) so that they get to learn what the ABS system in the car feels like... it varies from manufacturer to manufacturer with some pulsing more violently the others... once they know what is going on they would be less likely to flip out when the pedal starts to dance in a situation where the ABS might be saving their tails...

gujustud

I agree. When I first drove my dad's '98 4x4 MPV Sport in the snow/ice and the ABS kicked in, it FREAKED me right now. I took the MPV to a parking lot, and practice in the snow.

I personally think that your tires matter, when it comes to ABS. Why? When I took my brother's '01 Pathfinder out in the snow, I was freaked right now. While testing the ABS out, I would kick the brakes, and the backend would slide out, and I'd be fish tailing all around. Talk about freaky! The tires on the Pathfinder are, by far, crap. My brother bought his Pathfinder with 2 other guys (all bought at the same time for a super deal). THEY all say the tires suck, and I'd have to say thats why the Pathfinder was all over the road in the snow.

My dad's MPV however rocks. When you slam on the brakes, the van doesn't slid around. It maintains its direction, and came to a complete stop. Also the stock tires on the Sport edition of the '98 MPV, are Michellen M/S tires (Mud/Snow). I think that makes a HUGE difference in the snow. BIG tread.

About 2 weeks ago, I had the first REAL test of the ABS in the MPV in the rain. I was driving down a road in the far right lane, doing about 75km/h. There was a car far up ahead parked in the lane, and another one right infront of me (I could see over the one infront of me). The car infront of me was breaking slowly (no signal) and I figured so he could merge into the left lane. But all of a sudden he turns right, NO SIGNAL. I SLAMMED on my brakes, and knew for the life of me, that I would slam into him. The roads were wet, and the ABS kicked in. The van maintained control, and the brake pedal started to kick back and forth and there was NO sliding at all. My heart was in my throat, but I knew then what ABS was made for. I'd have to say, if I was in my Protege (no ABS) I would of for sure slid right into the guy infront of me.

Keep your ABS, it'll come in handy when you least expect it.

gujustud

I agree. The older MPV were but ugly. But the '98 (which is 2nd Gen, before the VAN's, blah!) is probably the best looking...

ry_clark

I have never had a vehicle with ABS except for my 2000 Mazda B4000. I don't prefer them , I guess have never had them before and could drive around just fine with out them so why pay extra for something your not to sure about.