Please give your opinion on the following automotive safety features, using a scale of 0-10 where 10 represents a "must have" feature and 0 means "not only is it useless, but it actually makes the car LESS safe": - ABS (Anti-lock Braking System) - Side curtain airbags - Daytime running lights - Traction control - Anything I forgot because it's past my bedtime
What kind of car? ABS is essential (10) on a bimbo box but next to useless (4 or so) on a track weapon and downright dangerous (-1) on a rally machine or rock crawler.
"Bimbo box"? Is that slang for a minivan? I was thinking about ordinary, compact and mid-sized passenger cars - sedans, hatchbacks, et cetera. I've read that ABS is most useful on heavier vehicles and less useful on lightweights. My own experience has been that it's useful for maintaining control during hard stops in a Taurus and a Camry but I don't think I've ever used it to avoid a collision.
Yes, that's a good point. There are two aspects of safety: avoiding accidents and surviving accidents. It's best to avoid getting into an accident in the first place, but sometimes someone else's mistake puts you into a situation where your driving ability can't save you. For instance, I was once rear-ended when I pulled over for an ambulance. A woman driving behind me sped through an intersection to beat the ambulance and ran into my truck. There was no way I could have escaped.
