Quote:
Originally Posted by SteamWake
They do I believe the point he was trying to get to is .. what the heck was wrong with good old 'analog' braking systems... it worked so why improve it?
By improving it and adding levels of complexity adds to the chance of something going wrong.
By the way I had a Volkswagon bug with a sticky throttle cable wayyyyy back when I was a young punk. No electronics involved there  |
There are a couple of reasons for electronic braking systems. These systems react much quicker that the human can. ie, wheels lock up the system will detect this much more quickly than the human can. Plus, most people lay into the brakes thus locking the wheels. It has been deteremined that the stopping distance is greatly reduced if the antilock brake system does the brake pumping for the driver instead of the driver pumping the brake and or not pumping at all to prevent lock up. Also, rear brakes always have a habit of locking as weight is transfered to the front under braking situations. Locked rear wheels can lead to a spin out. As a kid I used to force that spin out
but that is a different story. So, the possiblity of spin out due to locked rear wheels is reduced. To further this great idea the engineers also discovered that these systems can help prevent wheel spin! Once the sensor detects the wheel spinning like mad it sends a signal to reduce fuel flow, retarding the engine timing thus reducing power to the wheels preventing spin. Normally this gets folks out of trouble while driving. I know it helps my wife in her truck. These systems go even further in helping prevent roll over by apply the brakes when roll over/spin out situation is presenting itself. I have experienced this with the truck as well. The rear tire will spin in a hard corner, usually in rain, the systems activates slows the truck for a spit second and the tire is planeted to the ground. Overall, I'm very impressed with the performance of this technology.