Ikenna351: Sometime this year (not quite long), I bought a tokunbo vehicle for someone in Abuja and drove it down to Anambra state to deliver the car to the owner. While into the journey, between Lokoja and Enugu, I took a bypass, that cut some kilometres off the journey. The road have some bumps, before you get to Otupka, Benue state. I got to a bump, slowed down and was about climbing it, I viewed my reaview mirror, as I always do. I saw a Toyota Sequoia V8 4WD 1st Generation, heading towards my tail on top speed. Before I could say jack, the SUV smashed my vehicle and pushed it off the road.

The impact was so terrible that it threw out the radio set out. I came down and checked. The rear of the car I was in was in terrible bad shape while the Sequoia's Bumper and bumper guard was in bad shape too, but the bumper guard was a written enough. I met 2 occupants in the Sequoia, a driver and the car owner, a madam. The driver was begging, claiming he thought the brake could catch as he was getting too close to me but the brake disappointed him as he applied the brake. This was a tokunbo car I bought for someone and he hasn't seen the vehicle for the first time and someone, out of carelessness created this terrible mess for me. What a situation!

We were in the middle of no-where, so there was nothing both of us could do there arguing or playing stubborn. We still had about 4 hours drive to get to Enugu from that spot. Luckily, we were both going to Anambra state and the woman final destination was Awka. But I would have to take the car to Coal Camp Enugu to fix the car, since I couldn't just take the car in that shape to the owner. She begged me heaven and Earth to take what she have on her to take to Enugu and fix the vehicle. I had no option than to take whatever she gave me and continued the journey with the car in a very terrible shape. I had to sleep in Enugu a night to replace, panel beat and re-sprayed the car rear. Luckily, the owner of the understood, but a terrible experience am not sure I will forget. I suffered neck pain for close to a month because of that incident.

My point in the above story is about how Nigerians define ABS and misuse it as such. The driver believed that ABS of the car would reduce the braking distance. For that he continued on the high speed till he got too close, only to realise how wrong he was. Most times, you hear Nigerians telling you his/her car's braking distance is so good because it has ABS. But to the best of my knowledge, if you understand how ABS works, you will believe with me that ABS doesn't necessarily reduce the braking distance, rather it will likely increase the distance to help the driver steer away from hitting an object, since it prevents any wheel from locking when brake pedal is fully depressed. The driver's thinking distance was poor because he didn't understand that vehicle's braking distance.

ABS wheel sensor senses a wheel about to lock, signals to ABS ECU and the ABS ECU via the ABS controller/pump reduces the pressure of fluid going to that wheel to release and prevent it from locking, so that the front wheels can still steer, while the brake system still try to get the car to a halt. I do not see reduction in braking distance here.

Because of this wrong ABS definition by Nigerians, you see a lot of Nigerians driving recklessly in the city, telling you "My Car has ABS. No shaking!" Yet you see scratches and batches on the car here and there. Some taken so much body filler that you can't tell the model of the car of the car anymore since it has gone out of shape.

In the city, I craw when am behind the wheel. Some forum members who have been in my car will explain better. They will overtake and curse me for crawling and slowing them down. But who cares? When I don't even hear the rubbish coming out of their mouth, since my windows are always up with my music entertaining me. But whenever I steer into expressway, catch me if you can, unless am not in the mood.

Yes, I craw in the town because I do not want to give you the room to come and bash me. Because when fly off in the city, they would fly behind you. But their brake system may not be as good as yours or they may not understand their cars braking distance and when you suddenly apply your brake and stop, they will hit you from behind. We see that happen everyday. So, I don't need to talk more on that. But mostly happen because "My car get ABS" which will affect their thinking distance and make poor judgement about their cars breaking distance.

If you have a driver driving you, be very firm on how they drive you or your car, even when you are not around. Because whatever trouble they cause with that car, it's on your head. I knew how much the woman cuffed out that day for me to use in fixing the vehicle, which at the end of the day, was not even close to the amount I spent in fixing the car. Sometimes, you see some mad people driving recklessly in town. When you peeped in, they would drivers, alone without their Ogas. But when they hit other people's vehicles, the Ogas will have to come and bail out his vehicle and settle the victims of the incidents. Am not even talking about when they send Pedestrians to mortuary. My point is, try and educate them about car brake system, especially the wrong ABS interpretation and misuse.

Yes, their may be other brake systems installed in the recent cars to improve the over all braking distance. But understanding your car's brake system will help your thinking distance and finally, the over all stopping distance of the vehicle.

Ikenna.

ZIM DRILL:


Automatic Braking System killed me

why is that most nigerians here mention where they bought the car as part of the description eg "tokunbo vehicle"

Ikenna351:

Tokunbo is an aka for 2nd hand, but foreign used. After reading the abuse we dish out on cars in Nigeria, will you still think that a 2nd hand Nigerian used and a 2nd, 3rd or 4th foreign used car will be the same?

Even if a car is bought brand new in Nigeria and later put for sale as 2nd hand car, a lot of Nigerians would still prefer 4th hand used foreign one to it.

Ikenna.

elektra80: Abs explained. And yes abs does reduce braking distance


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xd5KDvXbE3M

ziccoit:

That "ABS reduces braking distance" was not stated or implied in this video. I don't know where you get that.

ziccoit:

That "ABS reduces braking distance" was not stated or implied in this video. I don't know where you get that.

ikeyman00: ^^^ no its doesnt; it actually increases

still me!

Ikenna351:

Tokunbo is an aka for 2nd hand, but foreign used. After reading the abuse we dish out on cars in Nigeria, will you still think that a 2nd hand Nigerian used and a 2nd, 3rd or 4th foreign used car will be the same?

Even if a car is bought brand new in Nigeria and later put for sale as 2nd hand car, a lot of Nigerians would still prefer 4th hand used foreign one to it.

Ikenna.

ikeyman00: @@@

^^^ NO no i dnt believe u!

conventional break works like that but with the abs it moves a little bit as it approaches a stop

ZIM DRILL:

i get what you are saying but whats thats got to do with problems of a cars that infor doesnt help a mechanic at all

there is no need to mention that the car is a used one 2nd etc just get to the point eg my volvo s40 2001 2.0litre is having this problem

Ikenna351:

They are not the same. The diagnosis of Nigerian used and toknubo are not the same as well, whether the two cars are of the same model.

If someone complains that his 2001 model Nigerian used Peugeot 406 is running very thirsty, and someone else that owns a freshly tokunbo 2001 model Peugeot 406 complains of the same rich running issue, the diagnosis wont be the same. Why? For Nigerian used, you need to check if the thermostat is still in the cooling system; you need to check if the radiator electrical fan is still factory connected; you need to check if the o2 sensor has not been disconnected, since the catalytic converter must been removed; you need to check if the poor car still have factory recommended tyre size or terribly overinflated; you need to check how many injection system sensors/components are still connected, etc. All these mentioned above have to be ruled first before you even think of going into the troubleshooting proper.

But for tokunbo car, all you need to do is plug in a scanner, disconnect the wiring connector of the faulty sensors/components, replace the faulty components and reconnect the connectors. The work is finished, shikena.

Now, do you still think all 2001 model Peugeot 406 are the same when troubleshooting, whether Nigerian used or toknubo?

Last Tuesday, I went to scan a Toyota Avenza at APO that have refused to start, for only God knows how long. As soon as I opened the bonnet, I was shocked with what I saw. The complete engine wiring loom was completely butchered. I couldn't even count the number of wires I found naked. I still picked courage to go ahead with the scanning. I pepped under the steering wheel to look for the OBD II scan port and so another hell under there. Wires of different colours were cross cutting each other, butchery here and there. It was at that point that I became very scared to plug in my scanner, for fear of explosion. Even when I eventually plugged in the scanner, it failed to communicate with the ECU, which I was not surprised, anyway. I quickly unplugged it and called it a day. Two days ago, the owner of the car called and said the have eventually started after another mechanic came and opened up the timing belt chamber and found out that the previous mechanic timed the engine wrongly when replacing the timing belt. He got it corrected and the car started once. So because of wrong timing, they had to butcher the whole wire in the car looking for the culprit that made the car stop starting. That's Nigerian used car for you!

Anyway, let's not derail this thread with Nigerian used vs Tokunbo. It should be a topic on its own.


Ikenna.

ikeyman00: ^^^^ u see u are shooting urself in the foot ahah

ikennna did tell u ABS can only kick in when u hit those break pedal hard at emergency usually so u have a situation the four wheels doesnt lock which allows u to stir out of trouble.

i have come to understand that the fact u have ur ABS light on doesnt necessarily mean it isnt working

when u look under ur car those lines that goes from the bonnet all through to the end isnt just the fuel line

some are the lines that connect the ABS sensors at the real

a simple cut will set the ABS light off nevermind a faulty sensor

Mlud: A lot of explanations here on how ABS works. Some are correct but there are also some misconceptions on the effect of ABS brakes when driving.
I am with lolomike on this.
I have driven cars equipped with and without and after a scary experience 10 years ago vowed never to own another car without ABS.

Anti-lock/Anti-skid brakes (ABS) work to reduce the braking distance experienced by drivers in an emergency when immediate braking assistance is needed. It works best when you stamp on the brake pedal and keep your foot on it to bring your vehicle to a much quicker stop. The pedal pulsates and kicks back at your foot which shows that the ABS is working. This quick pulsating action fools or confuses some drivers into taking their foot off the pedal as they instinctively think something is wrong. That is the reaction that increases the braking distance as the brakes stop working when you take your foot off the brake pedal.
ABS was never designed to elongate the braking distance to allow you to steer out of trouble. This belief is wrong. ABS will only elongate the braking distance in poor or uneven road surfaces or in wet and also icy road conditions. ABS works best on dry straight roads.
ABS will still work within vehicle tolerances and road conditions but also road speed. It will never defeat nor ignore the law of physics.
That's why many badly informed drivers speed above the limits allowed by traffic conditions and certainly above their driving competence and expect ABS to save them from the cemetery like the Sequoia driver who crashed into the OP. He's lucky he got away with just begging the OP. Sadly he drove away non the wiser.