Accident-ABS failed?

parking_question_chap

John-K wrote: »

Come on now, people might believe you, and get themselves into trouble.

The only person that might have is currently off the road.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oB6bk5S2_Zc

shaun_from_Africa

parking_question_chap wrote: »

ABS means automatic braking system, which should stop you crashing into stuff.

I wonder if the OP was previously a Delta pilot.

http://abc7ny.com/news/report-delta-planes-auto-braking-system-did-not-engage-in-laguardia-skid-/550284/

supermum38

Thank you all for your input. As usual I am reminded off what happens on here...

So some answers to your comments. I have driven just as many cars with ABS as without. I am aware of the difference and prefer ABS. I have had accidents in both types and know the difference ABS makes. This is only the second time I am at fault.

My research has explained that airbags generally only deploy over 25mph. So if I was doing less than that was I driving too fast? We had both just left a traffic light and the driver in front went to pull out past parked cars then suddenly braked just behind them. I was paying attention and hit the brakes hard but could not steer the car.

I have also found numerous references to my specific vehicle where electrical problems can disable ABS. There was no warning sign just the usual flash after ignition. I took my car into the garage for a brake check because I heard grinding.

And I found numerous complaints about the auto centre and wrongly fitted brakes. After the incident of course. They are a company which offers discounts to employees of my company. I believed that to be the best recommendation and having had such bad experiences of small local garages decided to try a national one.

Sorry I even bothered

custardy

supermum38 wrote: »

Thank you all for your input. As usual I am reminded off what happens on here...

So some answers to your comments. I have driven just as many cars with ABS as without. I am aware of the difference and prefer ABS. I have had accidents in both types and know the difference ABS makes. This is only the second time I am at fault.

My research has explained that airbags generally only deploy over 25mph. So if I was doing less than that was I driving too fast? We had both just left a traffic light and the driver in front went to pull out past parked cars then suddenly braked just behind them. I was paying attention and hit the brakes hard but could not steer the car.

I have also found numerous references to my specific vehicle where electrical problems can disable ABS. There was no warning sign just the usual flash after ignition. I took my car into the garage for a brake check because I heard grinding.

And I found numerous complaints about the auto centre and wrongly fitted brakes. After the incident of course. They are a company which offers discounts to employees of my company. I believed that to be the best recommendation and having had such bad experiences of small local garages decided to try a national one.

Sorry I even bothered

Ummm if you couldnt stop before you hit something,then yes.
Are you really not seeing this?

You 'couldnt steer'? So were the wheels locked?

So you are now saying you believe the brakes were wrongly fitted. An easy thing to get checked.

marlot

supermum38 wrote: »

...So if I was doing less than that was I driving too fast?...

If you can't stop in the distance that you can see to be clear, then yes!

[Deleted User]

supermum38 wrote: »

I genuinely believe this accident shouldn't have happened.

I'll bet the driver you rear ended is thinking the same.

supermum38 wrote: »

P.S Please don't troll and say I am just a bad driver

Given the following quotes you jest surely?

supermum38 wrote: »

I never said I haven't had accidents but I can say I avoided them with ABS because my car stopped. It did not stop.

Well it stop when you hit the other car. So you have had accidents or you avoided them with ABS? Can you really not see that you seem reliant on ABS to avoid accidents? Doesn't that tell you anything whatsoever?

supermum38 wrote: »

I am not looking to place blame

You seem to be blaming the other driver for the temerity of slowing down or braking, the garage who did the brake work, the place you bought the car from, the car manufacturer and presumably God.

supermum38 wrote: »

I have driven just as many cars with ABS as without. I am aware of the difference and prefer ABS.

If you drive sensibly no one can tell whether they're driving a car with ABS or not because you'll never use it.

supermum38 wrote: »

My research has explained that airbags generally only deploy over 25mph. So if I was doing less than that was I driving too fast

Since you hit the car then yes, you were driving too fast for the conditions & circumstance. If you saw kids crossing the road in a 30mph zone and you were doing under 30 and you hit them would you use the same argument? I wasn't speeding so it's not my fault?

supermum38 wrote: »

I was paying attention and hit the brakes hard but could not steer the car.

If you were paying attention you wouldn't have hit them, yet another nonsensical statement.

Hermione_Granger

supermum38 wrote: »

So if I was doing less than that was I driving too fast?

I'm amazed that someone who has passed a driving test has to even ask such a question.

supermum38 wrote: »

I was paying attention and hit the brakes hard but could not steer the car.

paying attention to what exactly?
It couldn't have been to the vehicle in front of you or the speed that you were doing as if this was what you were watching, you would have been able to stop in plenty of time without the need to steer around the stopped car.

Highway code.

Rule 126

Stopping Distances. Drive at a speed that will allow you to stop well within the distance you can see to be clear. You should
leave enough space between you and the vehicle in front so that you can pull up safely if it suddenly slows down or stops. The safe rule is never to get closer than the overall stopping distance

loskie

the company I work at also secures "discounts" with many companies. This is no recommendation whatsoever, in fact many are best avoided.

lister

supermum38 wrote: »

My research has explained that airbags generally only deploy over 25mph. So if I was doing less than that was I driving too fast? We had both just left a traffic light and the driver in front went to pull out past parked cars then suddenly braked just behind them. I was paying attention and hit the brakes hard but could not steer the car.

So for your benefit not ours (because I am a firm believer that every driver should learn from near misses or incidents how they could avoid similar in future, even when they are not at fault), answer yourself this question:

Was I too close to the car in front for the speed I was doing, or was I too fast for the gap I had? (two sides of the same coin of course).

With your new description I reckon I can fill in the details. You were moving away from lights, perhaps doing around 20mph.

You were probably doing as far too many drivers do and sticking close to the car in front (there is a natural desire to move with the car in front in order not to 'hold up' following drivers).

Although you feel you were paying attention, you weren't. You saw them moving around a parked car and assumed they would continue, where as with 20:20 hindsight you will realise that it is very common for people to change their minds in such situations (even if they had a reasonable amount of space to go to).

Because you were glued to the bumper in front and hadn't allowed for a sudden change in mind regarding the parked cars, you couldn't stop.

To put it in perspective, using the highway code stopping distances (which aren't exactly up to date), at 20mph you can stop in 12m or 3 car lengths (and 6m of that is thinking time, approx 0.66 seconds).

So forget what you said about steering, you simply didn't have time to at that speed if you braked hard. From the point of reaction we have to assume the car would have stopped in 6m or less (given modern brakes), probably taking a second from the point of reaction to stopping - even if you steered as you braked, that isn't enough time for the steering to achieve anything.

You can also forget about the ABS not kicking in. It rarely does to any degree at that speed except on very poor or greasy surfaces because the car stops too fast for it to be needed.

So what you really need to ask yourself is why you were less than 3 car lengths from a vehicle manoeuvring around an obstruction at 20mph?

Jackmydad

Part of the trouble with things like ABS, is that people think they take the need for any finesse away.
Bang on the anchors, as hard as you like and "George" will stop you skidding, and allow you to steer and stop..
I noticed that from around the time ABS became standard on cars, people were leaving their braking later when coming up to junctions etc. confident (presumably that they would stop.
Add in the fact that everybody and his uncle thinks that they are a "good driver", when we all know that being a "good driver" isn't a title which anyone can bestow upon themselves.
Avoiding hitting things for a certain amount of time doesn't mean anything.
Nor does "It wasn't my fault" for any accidents that have happened.
It never is. . .
If people actually were good drivers, paid attention, and learned to drive within their own limits rather than just thinking "I'm a good driver", and relying on ABS or "auto" anything else, then the roads might be safer.
This is not a dig at the OP incidentally. Just a general observation.
We all make mistakes.
Best thing is to try to learn from them. Always being being "right" means you don't learn.