<VV> seats and car safety (no Corvair)

[Bill Elliott]

On Fri, 27 Aug 2004 11:54:39 -0700, Eric S. Eberhard wrote:

>"However, it has been documented that ABS brakes increase stopping distance."

>That is VERY silly and irresponsible.  It is an urban legend based on a 
>long ago test with a professional race driver.


While I agree with most of what Eric has posted, it's worth mentioning that insurance companies, which once gave a discount for ABS, quickly 
stopped that because their data showed that ABS cars were involved in more costly accidents than non-ABS cars?

The reasoning in the studies I've seen?

1. The sense of Invulnerability. Once people realized that their ABS would let them stop quicker on wet pavement, they quit slowing down so much. 
And on dry pavement, they would drive more aggressively and brake later.

2. The ability to steer! Since this is always given as a POSITIVE aspect of ABS, how could this be a negative? Turns out that in many accident 
situations, the inability to steer kept the car on the road and hitting only other moveable objects. Once people could steer under hard braking, they ran 
off the road and into more solid objects.

I have no idea if this is true, but it's thought-provoking!

I actually like ABS, mainly for the reasons Eric listed... I can worry about other variables instead of trying to regulate brake pressure. But then again, the 
only time I've rear-ended someone was in an ABS car...

Bill Elliott
Urbana, MD