The dangers of DRLs 4639

C.H.

Depends on the car. In some vehicles, I'm CERTAIN that I could "beat" the ABS.

A good car should have a base brake system arranged so that under heavy braking on a uniform surface, the front wheels lock up slightly before the rears, and the brake pedal should offer good feedback and easy modulation. Given those, it's really not that difficult for a good driver to post decent stopping distances, without loss of control.

Indeed. The ones that benefit from ABS the most are the ones using it as an electronic band-aid.

I don't see the interesting cars.

All priced outside the reach of the average person, and the C6 is getting a lot of criticism from the 'vette fans for not being a "real 'vette" whatever that means. Personally, I think it's a step in the right direction, but the fact remains that I very rarely if ever see any of the vehicles you mention "in the wild" so GM is missing their target market, whatever that may be, badly with all four of those vehicles.

I have no data on that one.

We'll see. I don't have the faith that GM won't screw them up like they've done so many times before.

Late ones, sure.

Perhaps they shouldn't use their first-year customers as beta testers then?

Wrong, wrong, wrong again. Or are you dismissing all the other posts in this thread just because you disagree with them?

I don't feel like a moron at all. I just don't like being treated like one, which is my right.

Not easily. Not by checking a box on an order form. In fact, GM DRL's are some of the most notoriously difficult to disable. I *could* rant about the VW I bought that had DRLs but a) they were low beam, not high beam and b) they were easily defeated simply by pulling the headlight switch and putting a small piece of tape over one wiring harness connection. No MIL or other annoying negative consequences. That's the way it *should* be.

They're still to blame for a pee poor design.

Depends on the vehicle. As I stated above, some of the poorer ABS implementations that trade ultimate stopping power for stability, I'm CERTAIN I could beat.

Some of them do have an "off" position, or at least a position that kills all but the most minimal electronic intervention, and who are you to say what a setting is to be used for? Sure, it may be intended for track use, but the point is, it's there if the driver wants to use it.

Turn, quick jab of brakes to unsettle the chbuttis, then recover as appropriate. Not saying that it's a good idea, but it's still not difficult.

Well, now you have it.

I don't think anyone ever said NHTSA was *the* source for anything.

Because it is there.

found this in less than five minutes of searching, notice that the comments are almost universally anti-DRL. So where is the overwhelming public support for them that you claim? Seems like a lot of people hate them enough to write to NHTSA.

You *HAD* a source?

Enough cars on the road have them that it's a good proportion.

So if a common "safety" feature worked well enough that they could afford to give a discount, they might?

How many people do you know that can AFFORD a $40K new car? not many.

Again, priced outside the range of the vast majority of consumers, or at least those averse to overextending their credit.

I could build a car faster than any of those for half the cost.

What would you call them, then?

Already done, many times. Do your homework.

Sounds to me like you're more interested in "winning" an argument than actually educating yourself.

Already done, many times.

Ooh!

Why should I? Others have already done so, IN THIS THREAD.

You're the only one disagreeing.

There are references to serious research in the comments under those dockets. However, since they aren't easily linkable (often one .pdf will contain many different short letters, and the ones that do reference hard research may be buried in the middle - and may even reference research not available on the Web, you might have to do a little bit of legwork.)

So NHTSA is good but dockets are bad? I'll have to remember that. *snork*

That would explain why I see all kinds of new Mustangs and can't remember the last time I saw a GTO in the wild - if I ever did.

This is true, but the fact remains that when you compare the prices, someone originally tempted to buy a GTO just might decide to buy a Mustang instead and pocket the difference for, say, a down payment on a small house. Add to that that the average Joe can afford a Mustang but not a GTO... well, you do the math.

Where are these cars selling? Why don't I see any of them at all? It doesn't matter how good the thing is, if they don't sell.

And apparently effective.

nate

-- replace "fly" with "com" to reply.