Finally got the Bee stuck

[So-CalVX]

^--------------^
Haha... That's great... Good thing we have people over the pond

[deermagnet]

In Europe cars come standard with an ABS kill switch for winter driving to save lives.

They do?

I didn't mean all cars. I should have wrote "In Europe there are cars that come standard....". I have no first hand knowledge of this. I read that online when searching for ABS related deaths and such. Perhaps more cars are sold with that feature in snowy regions? Maybe only certain car makers do this in Europe? Maybe none.

Mark Griffin

[alanbradley]

As far as I know, no car makes in Europe offer this any more.

What happened way back in the midsts of time, when ABS was still pretty new, was that the systems were pretty crude by today's standards and it was still, in some extreme circumstances, better to let the wheels lock slightly when stopping at low speeds as this would allow a small wedge of snow to build up in front of the tyre and act as a chock when slowing. In doing so he car would come to a halt more quickly than if the ABS didn't let this happen.

Nowadays the systems are so much more sophisticated I guess this is deemed unnecessary. Indeed, I know some 4x4s (specifically the LR3/Disco' as I've driven one with this function) disengage the ABS if stopping below a certain speed to allow exactly this to happen.

Cheers,

Alan

[tom4bren]

I had heard that the Mercedes SUV utilized the ABS to emulate a locking differential from an open. It sounded pretty trick but I never looked into it. So I guess what Alan was saying is entirely true. ABS has gotten so sophisticated that there probably isn't a need to turn it off in newer models.