Soapbox Mode: On
Flame Mode: Off

Well... IMHO the learning curve has gotten steeper as our vehicles have
grown in complexity. The FI in our Vanagons would have seemed unapproachable
to the average beetle/bus fixer 20 years ago. We are learning, (hopefully)
to deal with these "improvements" incrementally. ABS is in my opinion a
great improvement over the standard fare. I am only basing this on having
used the system extensively in aircraft and other high end Euro cars. I
would love to have it on my Westy. I would NOT love to have power windows,
heated power seats, etc etc. The ABS system is, as far as the owner operator
is concerned pretty simple. The components internally are "PFM" (pure
friggin magic, meaning: unfixable to mortals), but are diagnostically not
too bad, with basically the brain, the metering valve, and the sensors. The
safety factor goes way up on a slick night panic-stop when you can still
steer out of the way of the proverbial immoveable object because each front
brake is pulsing away and NOT locking up.
I say free ABS for everybody!:)

Just my .02$

Duncan Cameron

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com]On Behalf
Of David Griffin
Sent: Sunday, November 19, 2000 9:07 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: ABS on a Vanagon ... wha'???

SNIP<Soapbox mode: ON

One word more, lest I be tarred for being anti-progress.

My strong visceral response to the idea of ABS on a Vanagon comes from my
feeling that, in a world of user-unfriendly, overengineered vehicles, VW's
and their popular culture represent a last bastion of owner-accessible
horseless carriages.>