Sounds to me like Simon touched one of Mike's nerves. From my experiences:
Mercedes has good ABS,
VW Passat has good ABS,
BMW Motorcycles have great ABS,
GMC Jimmy (94) has crap for brakes includes the worst ABS I have ever tried,
Ford Van has barely passable ABS.
Another fact NHTSA has no competence addressing is that a good driver can
often outperform ABS in all conditions. I have occasionally felt it working in
several cars, but in most cases, I was approaching a stop, was on ice, and
should have slowed down sooner. That's where the experienced driver shows his
mettle; he slows down before an emergency occurs.
Jim
Mike & Kerry Gigante wrote:
> I'm afraid that Simon is misrepresenting this link. I quote directly from
> the page
>
> -------
> Do cars with ABS stop more quickly than cars without?
>
> ABS is designed to help the driver maintain control of the vehicle during
> emergency braking
> situations, not make the car stop more quickly. ABS may shorten stopping
> distances on wet
> or slippery roads and many systems will shorten stopping distances on dry
> roads. On very
> soft surfaces, such as loose gravel or unpacked snow, an ABS system may
> actually lengthen
> stopping distances. In wet or slippery conditions, you should still make
> sure you drive
> carefully, always keep a safe distance behind the vehicle in front of you,
> and maintain a
> speed consistent with the road conditions.
> --------
>
> This is exactly what was discussed on the list and is consistent with
> reports from those
> well versed with ABS in practice. The cases where ABS lengthens stopping
> distances
> (loose gravel, unpacked snow) were discussed on the list.
>
> To make the blanket statement "NHTSA says ABS increases braking distance!"
> is a gross
> case of misrepresenting the NHTSA and its site
>
> Mike
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Simon Matthews" <simon_atwork@hotmail.com>
> To: <mgs@autox.team.net>
> Sent: Wednesday, January 19, 2000 4:47 PM
> Subject: NHTSA says ABS increases braking distance!
>
> > Check out this link:
> >
> > http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/problems/equipment/ABSBRAKES.html
> >
> >
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