Quote:
Originally Posted by cgrey
Unrelated to the present discussion.
No one is saying VSC prevents all accidents. Is it your position that since it is possible to crash with system switched on, VSC is incapable of preventing or assisting in the prevention of accidents?
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Thats actually not at all what I said, thank you for attempting to take my comment to the extreme opposite of the original argument.
My position is that VSC and traction control are not magical anti-crash devices, and having them is no replacement for proper car control. In many cases, the TC and VSC can cause a dangerous loss of power in an emergency situation (yes, there are times when using the throttle instead of the brakes can prevent an accident). The modern driver has become too dependent on driver control aids at the expense of actually learning car control, situational awareness, crash avoidance techniques, and simple common sense. The whole attitude of "VSC and TS should never be turned off on city streets" is a product of most drivers being incapable of controlling a car in anything but straight line travel.
And no, I don't believe the IIHS and NHTSA are "safety experts." The IIHS is operated by insurance companies (its in the title people) which are made up primarily of lawyers. The NHTSA is a government agency tasked with making sure American drivers are safer; because that's what the government is for right? Making sure we're all safe from ourselves.
These two institutions are run by lawyers, and lawyers are no safety experts, they are there to keep the people they represent from being sued. That may sound cynical, but take a look at the majority of US traffic "safety features" and how their use has been 'mandated.' A few people have even said it here "the black box crash data would show that you had TC/VSC off when you spun out into another driver, so you'd be at fault in an accident" and "I would have to think that even a pre-law student could just utterly slam you if you got into an accident and were found to have disabled driver aids, particularly in a sportscar."
There, THAT is my position, now please don't try to put words in my mouth, yours taste like asshole, I can put shitty words there myself.