Can you turn off ABS by pulling the fuse?

[j]

Oh well, it sounded good.

 

[Michael Pardee]

Not really. As it was mentioned before cars don't have to be equipped
with ABS.
In case someone would try to use ABS-out against you they would most
likely have to prove the fuse blew up before the trip an accident
happened on. If I were a lawyer I won't
try to pull a stint like that.

I try to imagine myself being questioned by a lawyer. How about, "Your car
was found to have defective brakes, is that true?"

Mike

 

[Clamstrippe Fecadunker]

I try to imagine myself being questioned by a lawyer. How about, "Your
car was found to have defective brakes, is that true?"

Mike

answer: "if the brakes will lock all four wheels at once on dry
pavement, is that defective?"

 

[Blair Baucom]

This is correct. When one wheel sensor cable came loose in a previous
vehicle (not Subaru) it set the light and stored a code. I wonder if they
get time/date stamps when a code is set?

Blair

 

[Body Roll]

Hey Sheldon,

I'm not trying to piss on your parade or anything, and I'm sure you are
an awesome driver. But, ABS has come a long ways, and is quite
advanced. I respect your opinion, and your right to modify YOUR
Outback, but why not put in a fuse to eliminate the AWD too. See what
I'm saying? If you wanted a car without modern safety devices, why not
just buy an older car?

Older cars have the same problems older people have. Not all the
features work as well as they did when they were new.

Besides, ABS is not a safety device. ABS is a crutch to the people
learning to
drive to allow braking and steering at the same time. For people who
separate
braking and steering it's not as useful. I would even venture a guess
that
the ABS is a useful distraction by auto manufacturers to distract
people
from the fact that they have mediocre tires and puny rotors/pads.

Take a look at the STi and take another look at the regular WRX. Do you
notice any
difference in the front rotor diameters???

It's cheaper to add some piece of electronics and start people who they
care about safety then
invest extra dough into selling the car with decent tires and better
performing brakes.

Why? I would imagine this is to give the parts makers quite a bit of
business.
You'd go to tirerack.com and buy a brembo system (currently around
$2300).
A decent set of tires (over $500 for 205 55 16 and some exorbitant
amounts for 17" and 18"s)

Now all of a sudden you wonder was not that a good idea to buy an STi
or EVO instead of
"saving" a few bucks.

So I think you "buy an older car" logic is kinda flawed. Too bad that
the "modern safety devices"
are forced down everybody's throat whether they want it or not. Ever
wondered why
the EVO IX is such a portly beast? Where did extra 500 pounds of girth
came from
over 4-5 generations? I would suspect US side impact standards have
something to
do with this bastardization of a perfectly light car.

And Imprezas are not light by any measure. I hope Prodrive will find
some Korean or
Chinese factory to make P2 for the masses. They could share the same
assembly line
with the Lotus (for the masses) :-]

Sorry, just venting.

 

[Josh Assing]

Besides, ABS is not a safety device. ABS is a crutch to the people

learning to
drive to allow braking and steering at the same time. For people who
separate

I think that's a personal point of view; not fact -- airplanes have had ABS
since at least the 60's -- I bet you wouldn't find a 747 piolot that wouldn't
want abs on there no matter how seasoned they are.


--- AntiSpam/harvest ---
Remove X's to send email to me.

 

[Bugalugs]

I think that's a personal point of view; not fact -- airplanes have had ABS
since at least the 60's -- I bet you wouldn't find a 747 piolot that wouldn't
want abs on there no matter how seasoned they are.


--- AntiSpam/harvest ---
Remove X's to send email to me.

Yeah.......that may be so but the claimed advantage of ABS is that it
gives you control over steering under heavy braking.

Now I would hope that when that 747 is thundering down the runway, and
the pilot is yelling out C'MON; STOP YOU BASTARD that he in not
trying to steer too.

 

[Tony Burns (permanent dismisser of Andy, AJS and ]]

You're an idiot!

HTH

Hey Sheldon,

I'm not trying to piss on your parade or anything, and I'm sure you are
an awesome driver. But, ABS has come a long ways, and is quite
advanced. I respect your opinion, and your right to modify YOUR
Outback, but why not put in a fuse to eliminate the AWD too. See what
I'm saying? If you wanted a car without modern safety devices, why not
just buy an older car?

Older cars have the same problems older people have. Not all the
features work as well as they did when they were new.

Besides, ABS is not a safety device. ABS is a crutch to the people
learning to
drive to allow braking and steering at the same time. For people who
separate
braking and steering it's not as useful. I would even venture a guess
that
the ABS is a useful distraction by auto manufacturers to distract
people
from the fact that they have mediocre tires and puny rotors/pads.

Take a look at the STi and take another look at the regular WRX. Do you
notice any
difference in the front rotor diameters???

It's cheaper to add some piece of electronics and start people who they
care about safety then
invest extra dough into selling the car with decent tires and better
performing brakes.

Why? I would imagine this is to give the parts makers quite a bit of
business.
You'd go to tirerack.com and buy a brembo system (currently around
$2300).
A decent set of tires (over $500 for 205 55 16 and some exorbitant
amounts for 17" and 18"s)

Now all of a sudden you wonder was not that a good idea to buy an STi
or EVO instead of
"saving" a few bucks.

So I think you "buy an older car" logic is kinda flawed. Too bad that
the "modern safety devices"
are forced down everybody's throat whether they want it or not. Ever
wondered why
the EVO IX is such a portly beast? Where did extra 500 pounds of girth
came from
over 4-5 generations? I would suspect US side impact standards have
something to
do with this bastardization of a perfectly light car.

And Imprezas are not light by any measure. I hope Prodrive will find
some Korean or
Chinese factory to make P2 for the masses. They could share the same
assembly line
with the Lotus (for the masses) :-]

Sorry, just venting.

 

[Body Roll]

I think that's a personal point of view; not fact -- airplanes have had ABS
since at least the 60's -- I bet you wouldn't find a 747 piolot that wouldn't
want abs on there no matter how seasoned they are.

You forget that the 747 pilots do not regularly land on
1) Unplowed (snow covered) landing strips.
2) Sand landing strips.

And unlike the Sub I bet they can switch it off. Why would they want
to?
As people have pointed out there ARE conditions when it's advantageous
to switch off ABS on a car. On 747 it's just never the case.
Do you have a dedicated $500000 Oshkosh snow removal truck parked in
your driveway
to make sure you won't have to drive on snow???

Out cars could benefit from ABS deactivation button. I won't mind if
it's on by default
when the engine is started and if the light comes on when you switch it
off.

Well, a trip to the parts dept and a $20 wiring manual later you can
add it yourself because
I bet Subaru won't. Sigh.

 

[Michael Pardee]

answer: "if the brakes will lock all four wheels at once on dry pavement,
is that defective?"

That is considered "nonresponsive." The question will be repeated and you
will be ordered to answer: "yes" or "no." Durned lawyers.

But to answer your question, those brakes could be defective. If the linings
are soaked with brake fluid they will certainly lock up (had the experience
on one wheel) but the braking control is the pits.

Mike

 

[Michael Pardee]

This is correct. When one wheel sensor cable came loose in a previous
vehicle (not Subaru) it set the light and stored a code. I wonder if they
get time/date stamps when a code is set?

Blair

I think not - if you can't tell the ABS controller the date and time, it
doesn't know them.

Mike (who survived a Y2K audit at work)

 

[Body Roll]

You're an idiot!

That is quite possible.
However, would you be so kind to take time to explain which parts of my
post made you think so and why?

 

[j]

So I think you "buy an older car" logic is kinda flawed. Too bad that

the "modern safety devices"

That's fine, maybe you're just over analyzing it. Or maybe you just
have more time to type long winded responses. The "modern safety
devices", and "buy an older car" arguments that seem to have upset you
are purely subjective terms. Sorry for being so vague.

 

[CompUser]

Burns (permanent dismisser of Andy, AJS and ]v

You're an idiot!

HTH

Concise, accurate, to the point.
I like it.

 

[Tony Burns (permanent dismisser of Andy, AJS and ]]

And true!

Burns (permanent dismisser of Andy, AJS and ]v

You're an idiot!

HTH

Concise, accurate, to the point.
I like it.

 

[Body Roll]

And true!

I think you're right. It was foolish to think that Prodrive would
assemble a car abroad and
Subaru would build a 2000 lbs car.
I'll just buy a 4000 pound truck to haul manure to the ranch I don't
have.

Thank both of you for a useful insight into the intricacies of the
wiring of my brain.
Not that I plan to stop to use it anytime soon.

How does being smart work out for you?
Must be a heavy burden to bear.
Not that you mind I understand.

 

[Tony Burns (permanent dismisser of Andy, AJS and ]]

Whats your point?

I think you're right. It was foolish to think that Prodrive would
assemble a car abroad and
Subaru would build a 2000 lbs car.
I'll just buy a 4000 pound truck to haul manure to the ranch I don't
have.

Thank both of you for a useful insight into the intricacies of the
wiring of my brain.
Not that I plan to stop to use it anytime soon.

How does being smart work out for you?
Must be a heavy burden to bear.
Not that you mind I understand.

 

[Body Roll]

Whats your point?

Ok, in other words, again:

#1. ABS is pretty much just a tool to help new drivers not kill
themselves while they learn how
to drive. Judging by the number of people worshiping Consumer Report
and other incompetent publications
there seem to be a large segment of the population that think they
still do.

#2. On the subcompact side Honda has Fit, Nissa has Versa, Suzuki has
SX4
and Toyota has it's own crap coming. Subaru has just been sitting on
it's posterior for a long time
and has nothing lighter than Impreza.

Further
1.1 Either impreza could go on the diet
or
1.2 They could build a lighter car which would help greatly bring the
stopping distances down
even with base impreza brakes alleviating the need for ABS further.

#3. On the fun to drive side:
Prodrive and Lotus can build P2 and Elise in Korea or China for the US
market
to sell cars in higher volume at a lower price should they want to. If
they won't do it some other small specialty
automaker hopefully will (and I sure hope that car won't have ABS).

I think once Chinese make it to the US market Koreans would no longer
be able to compete on price alone
and would have to innovate quicker. Maybe it's time for someone to
provide some healthy competition for Japanese.

 

[dnoyeB]

This is correct. When one wheel sensor cable came loose in a previous
vehicle (not Subaru) it set the light and stored a code. I wonder if they
get time/date stamps when a code is set?

Blair

No but typically all OEMs store the number of ignition cycles since the
code was set up to 255. Even if the light goes off the code is stored
for generally 255 more cycles then it gets erased. or you can erase it
manually and reset the counter.


--
Thank you,



"Then said I, Wisdom [is] better than strength: nevertheless the poor
man's wisdom [is] despised, and his words are not heard." Ecclesiastes 9:16