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Find me at kirstie_h@edmunds.com - or send a private message by clicking on my name.
2015 Kia Soul, 2021 Subaru Forester (kirstie_h), 2024 GMC Sierra 1500 (mr. kirstie_h)
Review your vehicle
Thanks.
Throughout edmunds, lots of info.
The dashboard switch only 'enables' the rear fan control. Dashboard OFF, no fan, Dashboard ON, fan speed is controlled by the rear switch. Temperature is not adjustable. Only fan speed
Hope this helps...........
Has anyone else experienced what I heard on Saturday?
I had a Jeep with Michelin M&S tires and found them to be very capable in all situations. I am planning on replacing the Bridgestones with Michelins this weekend.
I agree with phrosut - that noise under breaking is the anti-lock system engaging. With the Bridgestone tires, you get treated to that racket almost every time you touch the brakes when there is snow on the road.
Happy Holidays to all HL owners!
Alimin
Is there a subwoofer in the JBL system that only kicks in with the alternator running?
An open loop mosfet DC-to-DC up converter output might therefore vary between say, 110 volts, up to 160 volts. You would definitely hear that.
On slippery roadbeds the brakes will always have enough force to bring the tires' rotational rate quickly close to zero and activate the ABS regardless of tire snow and ice handling capability.
ABS ... What is it?
ABS is an abbreviation for Anti-lock Braking System. It was designed to help the driver maintain some steering ability and avoid skidding while braking.
ABS was introduced in the mid -1980s and has become "standard" equipment on the majority of vehicles sold in Canada. ABS in cars and most Multi-purpose Vehicles (MPV’s) works on all four wheels. This promotes directional stability and allows steering while maximizing braking.
The ABS in most pick-up trucks works only on the rear wheels, which promotes directional stability only. However, there are some available with ABS on all four wheels.
Anti-lock Braking systems were developed to reduce skidding and maintain steering control when brakes are used in an emergency situation.
However, cars with anti-lock brakes are up to 65% more likely to be in fatal crashes than cars without them, says a new US study. It appears that the problem isn't with the technology, it's poor driving habits and lack of driver awareness on how the brakes operate. Driver who rely on technology instead of better driving habits to improve safety are driving down a dangerous road.
Since much of the problem stems from lack of awareness of how to use the brakes, education is needed. Here are Manitoba Safety Council tips on operating ABS-equipped cars:
In an emergency situation, apply your brakes hard and stay on them. The more pedal chatter the better.
Don't pump your brakes. Pumping is for standard brakes. It completely robs ABS brakes of their effectiveness.
Remember that ABS brakes do not help you stop quicker under most conditions. They do help you maintain steering control during braking so you can veer around obstacles.
The general rule of thumb is that if you have to avoid an obstacle, veer to the right. This way, you avoid oncoming traffic.
Don't become an over-confident driver because you have ABS. Drive prudently as you always should.
Anti-lock brakes are designed to keep cars from going into a skid when the brakes are applied in an emergency. Designed to allow the driver steering control, ABS brakes work by automatically actuating the brakes on and off during emergency stops. They are effective in helping drivers avoid accidents. In certain situations, ABS brakes can help to shorten stopping distances.
Rugby65 : Thanks for an informative article. I'm sure locking the brakes not only decreases you steering ability, but also your stopping ability. So, I'm sure even an over-confident driver will still benefit from ABS i.t.o. stopping distance. Also as as ex-SAcan I have to wonder about that nickname !
This is the first vehicle that I have owned-over 30-that I have noticed this effect. Excellent factory sound system. Merry Christmas to all.
Rugby65, otoh, has hit the nail on the head. The "problem" with ABS is not the technology but driver education. The natural reaction of most people when ABS kicks in with pump noise and a buzzing pedal is to release the brakes which is absolutely the worst thing to do. Let the ABS do its thing and you will be better off.
If you want to learn more about stability control, go to this site:
http://www.esceducation.org/about_esc/index.shtml
Got that???
ABS operates to the detriment of quicker/shorter stopping!
Now, I'm not saying that ABS isn't an extremely desireable option in certain situations. But now it has become clear via testing that in many situations, hard, even surface dry roadbeds when directional control is not an issue, and certain extremely slippery surfaces, that ABS IS a detriment.
In addition, the idiot design engineers have decided that if one side of the vehicle is on a slippery surface and the other with reasonably high traction then the high traction side should NOT be allowed to use severe braking for fear that it would lead to loss of control.
So unlike the majority of us who long ago learned to instinctively handle that situation correctly by simultaneously steering (into the skid) and HARD braking, newly minted drivers never encounter the circumstance ("learning experience") and on their first hazardous encounter simply slide into the obstruction with virtually no braking HP.
But there is hope.
The Trac control on my 92 LS would virtually instantly apply the rear brakes and begin dethrottling the engine upon detecting rear wheel slippage. Oftentimes leaving me "dead in the water" in a line of on-coming traffic until the throttle would be again released to my control.
One of the first things I noticed upon purchasing a 00 GS300 was that the Trac system had been modified. It would still apply the brakes virtually instantly, but delayed dethrottling for a few hundred milli-seconds to give me time to react and get off the gas long enough to recover traction.
So, what's the answer??
1. Driver training simulators, with much the same capability as flight training simulators. Newby drivers can then learn more than just how to drive a vehicle, they can learn how to properly react to those maybe once in a lifetime circumstances where knowing the proper thing to do virtually instantly can be life-saving.
2. Link the VSC system to the ABS such that ABS DOES NOT activate unless loss of control is "threatened", the vehicle is not following the desired direction of travel.
3. Modify the VSC system such that it provides vibratory steering wheel feedback to the driver in much the same manner as a "stick shaker" in a commercial aircraft.
Now back to the right tires with no traction and the left with.
Our driver has ecountered this situation during the simulator training. Upon encountering the disparate traction situation the VSC/ABS still initially prevents hard braking on the high traction side, and simultaneously provides a "cue" to the driver via vibratory torquing of the steering wheel toward the low traction side. Should the driver never react properly the system simply operates just as it would today, elongating the stopping distance in favor of maintaining directional control.
So what happened??
If the system had followed the pilot's "pull up" commands fully all those folks would still be alive today and the airframe would either be a in museum somewhere or scrapped for parts.
Whether we like it or not we're the FINAL "flight test engineers" for many of these new systems.
ABS has now become the perfect example of that.
Anti-Lock Braking System - For A Safer Stop
Steve, Host
The article linked to above is totally misleading. ABS is not provided by the automotive industry for quicker and/or shorter distance stopping. It is provided to facilitate severe braking while simultaneously allowing you to maintain directional control of the vehicle.
If you have an emergency stop situation wherein no directional change is needed and the vehicle itself remains directionally stable then ABS will in most cases be detrimental to quicker or shorter distance stops.
That's what's wrong with ABS in a nutshell, too much miss-information of this type, leading many folks to have too much confidence that ABS will help them stop quicker.
Admittedly, sometimes it will allow you to stop quicker, but only under conditions of which you generally will have no foresight.
Having said all that, I would submit that, in general, a 95% of the driving public, if properly informed how ABS operates, will be better off with ABS than without it.
Can we get back to discussing Highlanders now?
http://www.thestar.ca/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/La- yout/Article_Type1&call_pageid=971358637177&c=Article&- ;cid=1071184207559
The article will not be avaliable 2 weeks after original posting date, so here are some quotes:
Contrary to what you may believe, you can stop your car or truck consistently shorter with ABS than you can without it. Sufficiently shorter, perhaps, to save your life. ...
But the technology, as a whole, has progressed exponentially since (when ABS first appears). ...
As a result, today's anti-lock brake systems can generally outbrake the best of drivers — even in a straight-line stop.
That point is not immediately apparent, even when you drive hundreds of cars and trucks a year, as we do. ...
Conducting the braking and acceleration tests at AJAC's annual Canadian Car of the Year TestFest as I did for several years, however, made me aware of the dramatic differences that have developed between vehicles with and without ABS. ...
Over the past three years, for example, the average stopping distance from 100 km/h, for Economy and Family class cars with ABS, was 42.3 metres. For those without ABS, it was 46.9 metres. ...
For compact SUVs, the results were similar: 43.0 metres with ABS, 47.2 metres without.
Just as impressive, the best stopping distance in a vehicle without ABS was longer than the worst with ABS out of 44 vehicles, with just a single exception.
Compelling as those numbers are, they do not conclusively make the case, ...
What I needed, to be very sure of my conclusion, was some back-to-back test data from the same vehicles, with and without ABS in operation.
Thanks to Walter Koller and David White at The Advanced Driving Consultants (ADC) and to Chrysler, General Motors and Toyota, I was able to generate precisely that data.
The folks at ADC, an advanced driver training school specializing in training for company personnel, kindly permitted me to use the acceleration track and skidpad at Mosport Park during one of their scheduled training days. They also loaned me one of their instructors, Matt White, to do the driving.
The three automakers each provided a vehicle for the purpose: a Chrysler Town & Country minivan, a Buick Rainier SUV and a Toyota Camry sedan, respectively.
Those vehicles were not randomly chosen. Each is based on one of the best-selling platforms in its class, so they represent the ABS technology that people are buying in today's mass market — not some super-sophisticated systems that only a few can afford.
I engaged White's services, rather than driving myself, to ensure that the non-ABS results were as good as they could get.
Matt is a Formula 1600 racer of some repute (in addition to sitting on the pole at the Molson Indy weekend race, he has won five times at Mosport and Trois-Rivières), with a reputation for his braking expertise.
To ensure accurate and consistent data measurement I used a computer-based Vericom instrument, the same as used for Canadian Car of the Year testing. We conducted from three to five 100-to-0 km/h stops on each vehicle, both with the ABS active, and with the fuse for the system removed, in which case it reverted to normal non-ABS operation.
In compiling the data, I used only the three best results in each case. Then, because the purpose of the test was to compare results with and without ABS, not between vehicles, I averaged the results for all three.
There were few surprises in those results. In fact, the most surprising thing was how very good Matt is on the brakes — both in terms of judging the threshold of lockup and relaxing and reapplying the brakes immediately if it occurred.
But even that skill level was no match for ABS. On average, the vehicles stopped 2.9 metres shorter with ABS on than with it disconnected (44.8 m with it on, 47.7 m with it off, with two people on board).
And in no case was Matt able to stop shorter by threshold braking than by using the ABS.
He came close (within a metre) with one vehicle, in which the anti-lock system became excited on a bump that caused the wheels to get light momentarily.
But even that anomaly couldn't reverse the results.
We also tested that vehicle stopping from 80 km/h, to show the difference speed makes.
... at that lower speed, without the influence of the bump, that vehicle stopped 2.3 m shorter with ABS than without — about 8 per cent, which was consistent with the results we obtained with the other two vehicles.
There is one other point to keep in mind.
In all these tests, both for Canadian Car of the Year testing and in our program, the driver was aware of and prepared for the need to make the shortest possible stop.
There was no panic factor.
And even then, the first stop, without ABS, was almost always the longest — often the one not included in the final average.
In the real world, any time you have to stop that hard, you are in a panic situation.
And inevitably, without ABS, you will lock the brakes, thus increasing the stopping distance even further, not to mention giving up any chance of steering out of whatever problem you are in. ...
The results are conclusive. Even a skilled race driver can benefit from ABS.
Gerry Malloy, B.M.E., M.Eng., can be reached at mgmalloy@aol.com.
BTW, don't shoot the messanger! Anyways I end up buying a Honda Accord (was considering the Highlander) so I won't be reading this forum much anymore. The forum host should probably direct this and all future ABS posts to an appropriate forum.
Why would anyone ever assume that it would help you stop shorter?
Since the inception of ABS, I was of the understanding that it allowed you more control of the vehicle in a panic stop.
Since the inception of ABS, I was of the understanding that it allowed you more control of the vehicle in a panic stop."
That's the whole Idea! "to allow you more control"
If you have ever seen tests of the ABS system on Tv You will notice that the test is done on dry pavement and wet pavement. The driver is demonstrating a panic stop at high speeds and the vehicle will stop in a shorter distance With ABS, BECAUSE the wheel's don't lock up.
If you have ever seen tests of the ABS system on Tv You will notice that the test is done on dry pavement and wet pavement. The driver is demonstrating a panic stop at high speeds and the vehicle will stop in a shorter distance With ABS, BECAUSE the wheel's don't lock up.
Ummm.....I understand the control part. That was my point. Since ABS was first discussed in Popular Science back in the late 70's the benefit touted then was the control when braking. I don't remember much discussion about shorter stopping distances being the PRIMARY benefit.
The whole effort was to allow the driver to still be able to steer the vehicle whe in a panic braking situation. Shorter stopping distances may be a residual benefit, but not the primary reason for their inception.
Pre-ABS, when the wheels locked up the driver would likely skid in whatever direction the wheels would be turned. This could potentially take them out of their lane over an embankment, into oncoming traffic.....whatever.
I disagree with the notion that the primary benefit of ABS is shorter stopping distance, because that was not the focus.
The general public isn't into threshold braking nor professional driving...
The test would have been a lot more valid, and the results completely reversed, with REAL WORLD testing.
Straight line, panic, severe braking, continuous extreme brake pedal pressure but with, and without ABS.
True. But if the average driver were going to be concerned with one or the other, preference would have to be for "professional driving" concerns, i.e. control. If I apply the brakes due to an obstruction in front of me, I'm less concerned about estimating the distance to impact than I am with the potential ability to manuever away from the obstacle.
That's why I think driver simulators will solve LOTS of these type of problems.
I'm embarrassed to admit it but during flight training I "lost it" in IFR conditions over the north cascades (NOT A SIMULATION). I froze and the instructor had to take over and recover from the dive I had unconciously allowed the plane to enter. I knew exactly what to do but fear took over and I just sat there like a dummy.
Even after getting my license I never flew without another pilot.
Sliding (i.e., locked) wheels are travelling faster than non-sliding wheels. This is why a rear wheel lockup causes the back end to spin around. When the front wheels lock, you lack the ability to steer but at least the rear end doesn't come around.
The ABS software can be tuned to minimize stopping distance at the expense of steerability and vice versa. I don't believe any car manufacturer opts for minimum stopping distance. As someone stated, the main benefit of ABS is the ability to steer in a panic stop. Somehow, the notion that ABS reduces stopping distance (which it well may in many cases) is what people remember, not that it gives the driver the ability to steer and avoid an obstacle.
Everyone knows locked-up wheels take longer to stop, like Imacmil pointed out yet again. And most knowledgeable drivers will NOT rival a modern ABS in terms of stopping distance, even if they carefully applied/released the breaks, like the Canadian article pointed out. This is common sense, because the computer can measure and adjust much finer and quicker than any human. Maybe you can rival an early 80s system, but not a modern one.
Now combine typical panic (i.e. locking up and turning the wheel while locked up) and 100% of drivers benefit from ABS, and that's just on dry surfaces. And you get directional stability thrown in free as well ! If you do dirt road rally driving for a living you may be the only exception.
Cars are not planes, WWest. And I'd much rather have a computer land me in bad weather than an experienced pilot that can't see anything. Like with ABS, you don't have in a choice in the matter these days, so live with it, and embrace it. This does not mean driving closer to the guy in front of you, because you have ABS, but it means stop pumping the breaks, and remember to steer.
If you don't like ABS, disable it.
I have no idea what that means. Can you elaborate?
tidester, host
And I do disable my ABS during the summer months when the probabilities are less that it can be of help.
On the other hand if the tire is allowed to rotate ever so slightly in relation to the roadbed then as any portion of the tire surface is heated that portion soon rotates away and its temperature never rises to the point of vaporization.
No vaporization, no "gas bearing".
But "ever so slightly" is not nearly the same as ABS wherein the mechanical components and hydrauluc fluid "time constants" dictate an on/off cyclic bang-bang servo be used.
"Threshold braking" can not be achieved with modern day ABS. Not even close.
If you plot wheel slip on the X axis against braking force on the Y axis, you get a curve that rises rapidly (i.e., braking forces increases rapidly as wheel slip begins) and trails off slowly after peaking 10-15% wheel slip. What the curve shows is that braking force is higher for a spinning wheel than a locked wheel.
Wwest is correct in that ABS keeps the wheels turning by detecting impending slide and dropping the brake line pressure momentarily when the wheel speed sensors detect that wheel speed is approaching zero.
One could certainly argue (and the Toronto newspaper article supports with real world testing) that modern day ABS systems are as good or better than most drivers' abilities to maintain threshold braking. There are no doubt some "professional" drivers whose abilities at modulating brake pressure could rival ABS. For the vast majority of us mere mortals, a properly used ABS system is going to help us stop and/or steer our way out of trouble more often than not.
ABS cannot overcome the laws of physics and it's unfortunate that many people seem to think that ABS will help them stop on wet or snowy surfaces in the same distance they could on dry pavement. That's just not possible.
tidester, host
http://webpages.charter.net/waynekremer/IMG_1885.jpg
http://webpages.charter.net/waynekremer/IMG_1886.jpg
We noticed the inside air was smelling like dog food. I opened the engine air filter and it was nearly full of dog food...approx. 5 to 6 pounds worth. I caught the mouse and was hoping that would be the end of it...but the cabin still smelled like dog food. Got a replacement cabin air filter and behold it was filled with dog food too! I took out about 3 pounds worth.
It was tricky to get the dog food out without having it fall down into the fan. Before taking the air filter out, I put cardboard underneath to catch it all. I cut another piece of identical cardboard to act as a shovel and just continued to take the dog food little by little. Not one kibble fell down into the fan.
Moral of the story...if you notice your dogs food bowls are very clean each morning and you smell dogfood in the cabin, check your both your filters asap....and get that mouse!
Living in the country we have many mice, so getting rid of them isn't an option. And the coons eat the dog food. It's just acorns that end up in the vehicle filter housings, and you can't smell them so maybe I'll be finding 5 pounds of acorns safely stashed later today. Thanks for the tip Wayne.
thanks in advance...
However, on Limiteds (unlike non-limiteds), there is a power amp separate from the head unit driving the speakers, so you could probably add a switch and a pair of RCA jacks so you could select between the head unit and the RCA jacks going to the input of the power amp. (With this setup the head unit's volume control would of course have no effect on the iPod's sound level).