Why don't all cars have mudguards?

"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds."

And this would be an example. There's an enormous difference between seatbelts and mudflaps.

As to ABS vs. mudflaps, I don't have direct experience with ABS doing anything, afaict**, but I remember when they legislated*** separate front and rear brakes. Would you get rid of that regulation too. As one whose brakes failed 7 times I wouldn't.

(I think only two times would separate front and rear have saved me (once becaue the flexible brake line to a front wheel broke, and once because rear brake line broke. The shop told my mother the second one was because she needed a brake job. I don't believe that, do any of you? . Two times were the one-way vacuum valve to the brake booster. Another time I backed into a rickety plant covered fence, that stopped me with no damage, but I don't remember what part had failed And I think there were 2 other times, but the last was 20 or 30 years ago.

To me, ABS is in the same category as practicing skid control. I don't wait until I need it. Instead, as a teenager I took a car onto the local lake and practiced controlling a skid from various speeds, up to about 60MH. When ABS came along, I made it a priority to find a safe place to do some 'panic braking' to see how that feels. Now, if I need to do either of those things, I know what to expect.

Yes.

As for ABS actually cutting in, I have only ever had it happen when braking in a muddy parking area and as it was in a straight line at fairly low speed, it made no difference.

Are you sure? If it did not cut in the line may have been longer and not necessarily straight. I've had it cut in on snow and ice and it is a very nice feature.

I've had it kick in on icy pavement. Same deal, straight line at low speed with no real difference.

I've had traction control kick in. Sometimes that's useful sometimes not. With the previous car you could not disable it. Toyota realized the problem and you can override it on this car. The owners manual even mentions that trying to rock a car with traction control doesn't work.

I've had stability control kick in too when I was playing. That can also be disabled now with a note that it doesn't work well on dirt roads. This county has more miles of unpaved roads than paved. Getting a little sideways is part of it.

I've never had access to a lake I could count on to be frozen.

I did practice skidding on ice, but only because I found myself in an enormous icy intersection with no t raffic around on a zero degree day in Chicago.

I've told others to practice skidding on ice, but I haven't done anything to train myself for ABS. Good suggestion. Probably I should.

ABS actually increases the stopping distance slightly if it cuts in, but allows you to retain steering control, so you can try and avoid an impact or avoid sliding off the road, so can actually be a hindrance in a straight line.

ABS can have a much greater effect on stopping distance in snow, sand or on gravel. When wheels lock, they push snow in front, create a wedge of it and stop the vehicle quicker. With ABS, as wheels lock, the brakes are released and the wheels roll over the wedges, before they can form enough to help stop the vehicle, so the stopping distance is significantly increased.

On partially icy roads, ABS is great for retaining control while stopping, but on a fully icy road, braking is up to the driver - braking hard will lock all four wheels and as there is no difference in speed between the wheels, the ABS will think that the vehicle has come to a stop and will not operate the ABS. The driver must brake more softly and, if the wheels do lock, momentarily release the brakes to get the wheels turning and regain (some) steering control.

Overall ABS does much more good than harm, but it is not the wonderful panacea that many think it is and too many drivers have no idea how little it may help them (or even hinder them) under the wrong circumstances and so drive too fast for the conditions or fail to take the correct actions.

I've never driven a car with ABS, but, without knowing what it was called, I practised "threshold braking", where you briefly apply the brakes, then release them so the car straightens out, then apply them again.

I knew it as "Cadence braking".

That's when you repeatedly stamp on the brake pedal (which may be how ABS works).

it is

Before ABS, I learned the practice called "pumping the brakes" when skidding or sliding on ice, etc.

Which you should not do if car has ABS. It does the pumping for you.

Everyone should get a feel for ABS by driving on a loose gravel road, and apply brakes like a panic stop, to get the feel of what ABS does.

In my lexicon 'pumping the brakes' was what you did when the seals in the hydraulics were shot and it took a few cycles to build pressure.

My last few cars have had ABS brakes (I had the impression that they're more or less standard equipment nowadays).

I have only ever experienced the effect of their operation on one occasion, when, with my foot hard down on the pedal, the brakes were automatically applied in an on/off fashion (faster than I could have pumped the pedal).

Yes, I managed to avoid the idiot who'd pulled out of the side turning.

Hands up who pronounced that "yo zee might" as a kid. And what about "chick a go"?

You don't need studies for the obvious. Drive behind a car without mudguards on a very wet day and they're throwing water everywhere, a fine mist that floats about for a long time.

Didn't help me when a rock fell off the back of one :-( I should have chased him and smashed his windscreen with it.

The steel one will take 50 times more force than hollow plastic.