Stability control now mandatory

[crazyal]

So I knew traction control was going to be mandatory in 2012 but it looks like stability control is also going to be included on every vehicle. My Subaru has traction control (maybe stability too) and I find when it comes on it robs too much power in most conditions. Usually though it happens at a time when I can easily switch it off.

But I'm not sure if I would want a system that thinks my truck is leaning too much or cornering too hard and takes control of the brake and throttle from me. What will happen if you're towing a trailer? I've had trailers start to fish tail and have used the throttle and trailer brakes to get control over it, will a computer trying to do what it wants to do (and possibly fighting the driver) help or make it worse?

This is a little old but kind of gives an idea as to what stability control is. Of course they are more interested in being able to lift a truck and how the system will make it harder.

Will Mandatory Stability Control Roll Over the Pickup Truck Aftermarket? - PickupTrucks.com News

So what do others think?

 

[Diamondpilot]

I have had the opportunity to tow with a new Ford with it. I love it. Just like anti lock brakes its a step in the right direction.

If you hate power brakes, window, locks, steering, heated seats, cruise control, anti lock brakes, or any other feature that makes new cars and trucks better you will probably not like it. I for one love it.

Chris

 

[The Haymaker]

Yeah, heaven forbid if we actually teach people how to drive. No thank you, I'd rather be in control of my vehicle.

 

[JDgreen227]

Mandatory stability control sounds like a great idea....for the incompetent, reckless morons who think just because their truck has AWD or 4WD they are magically immune to the laws of friction, gravity, and inertia.

I have driven since 1968, inclusive of 31 years of professional driving with commercial straight trucks weighing up to 25 tons gross weight, and I have never been stuck, gone off road, nor been cited for an at-fault accident during all that time.

My '04 Lesabre has a bad steering position sensor, which at times disables the stability control. Why should I, a careful, conservative driver, have to pay $400 to replace the sensor that controls stability when odds are, I will never need to use that feature?

Automakers load up their vehicles up with too much useless electronic crap that does little for most drivers except raise the cost of cars and trucks and make them more repair prone.

 

[BobRip]

I wonder if people complained when they started putting brakes on the front wheels instead of just the rear or when they went to hydraulic brakes. Did a lot of people say I don't need front brakes I am a careful driver.

 

[The Haymaker]

I wonder if people complained when they started putting brakes on the front wheels instead of just the rear or when they went to hydraulic brakes. Did a lot of people say I don't need front brakes I am a careful driver.

Can't see the relation here, explain what it has to do with the dumbing down of the American driver?

 

[Grateful11]

We're protecting ourselves to death. We never put locks on cabinet doors with our boys, we didn't put everything out of reach. They knew what no meant. We did put the little plugs in the empty outlet holes.

When our oldest started driving my wife took him to seldom used paved road and showed him what do to if dropped off the edge of pavement and then made him do it, over correction seems to get more kids into headon accidents than about anything around here. Now that we've lost one son, to sudden cardiac arrest at 21 we find ourselves trying to over protect our son that's still with us and we know that wrong but losing one is nearly unbearable, losing the other, well I'm not sure what I would do.

I learned to drive with 3 speed on the column, I wonder how many kids could handle that today?

 

[Grateful11]

Can't see the relation here, explain what it has to do with the dumbing down of the American driver?

You don't have to dumb them down, most are dumb enough already ;-)

 

[crazyal]

Before anti-lock brakes came out I remember watching a show showcasing new tech for cars. They drove around a track showing just how much better they are. From that point on I was sold, I wanted them. When I got my first car that had them, a 90 Toyota Celica All-trac Turbo I was grinning from ear to ear.

One day I was going down a dirt road that had just been graded with the Celica. Not wanting to have stones flying up from the tires I wasn't going all that fast. The road ended at a Tee with another road with a little bit of a dip just before it. Because the last few hundred yards were up hill you really didn't need to push hard on the brakes. As I came up to the intersection at about 20mph the anti-locks kicked on and did nothing. If I hadn't been going as slow as I was I would have been in the ditch on the far side of the intersection. After that I found that anti-lock brakes are equally as bad in snow (where you need to skid the tire to make a pile of snow in front of the wheel).

My point is I found out that most advances also come with drawbacks. I'm not sure if I want to find out the hard way that stability control works just fine for the little lady who drove a little too fast into a corner with her SUV but are deadly when you're pulling a load and a gust of wind gives your trailer enough of a sideways push that it sets off the computer.

While you can turn off the traction control in my Subaru when you do a bright yellow light comes on in the middle of the dash. You can't turn off anti-lock brakes (you use to be able to pull the fuse) since it's computer is tied into the main computer. Who knows if in the future you'll be able to turn off any of this mandated stuff.

I wonder how those Toyota owners felt about no longer having a throttle cable connecting the gas pedal to the throttle body?

 

[BobRip]

Can't see the relation here, explain what it has to do with the dumbing down of the American driver?

Every safety improvement removes skill requirements. Many of them happened so long ago that you accept them as the norm and don't realize that they are government mandated. Front brakes, side view mirrors, seat belts, double hood latches and many others.