ABS

[paulbx]

My old BX TD did not have ABS but always pullled up straight. Best to buy a bood BX without ABS than a bad BX with working ABS.

[Peter.N.]

ABS does add some safety, but I have driven for 50 years, most of them without it and personally think its more trouble than its worth. Having said that, it could, under the right circumstances, prevent an accident, you have to weigh this up against the likely cost of it going wrong.

[JohnT]

ABS is a superb aid to better and safer driving. Its function is not to save you from reckless driving habits. It has a simple use, which is to allow you to steer more safely when your wheels lose traction. The system does no more than allow the brakes to applied and re applied several times a second during a loss of adhesion to the road surface.
Hopefully the result is that you will be able to steer and avoid excessive skidding.
Peter, I have driven cars with cable brakes! so ABS is an essential piece of kit in emergencies and is now a standard fitting on new cars?

[Peter.N.]

John

I to have experienced cable brakes and never new quite what direction you would head in when applying them! Hydraulic were a great improvement. I agree that ABS does give a measure of safty, but if you are motoring on a tight budget, you are constantly worrying about it going wrong, especially at MOT time!

Peter.

[Kowalski]

I've had a Xantia with ABS and a Xantia without and the one with ABS inspires much more confidence at times. Without ABS I press the brake pedal until the wheels lock and know thats how much braking I've got. With ABS I press the pedal and because it doesn't lock the wheels I find myself pressing the pedal harder to get more brakes because you sort of feel that the ABS is working against you and because the wheels haven't locked there is more braking to be had! I think that comes from learning without ABS