ABS is yet another of those "necessities" that the car makers have hyped as
being a "benefit."

The necessity for ABS came about with the massive changeover to FWD -
another automotive change that was hyped as a "benefit" when, in fact, it
came about to allow car makers to install transversely-mounted engines to
increase leg room in downsized cars.

The early "X" body GM cars - with little weight on the rear wheels - were
so imbalanced that they were particularly prone to rear wheel lockup, and
resulted in accidents, lawsuits, and bad publicity, so ABS was developed to
offset the inherent braking imbalance in FWD cars.

Of course, the advertising department got right on it and hyped it as a
"benefit' for the car purchaser....not the necessity that it was to
compensate for the imbalanced FWD car design.

You haven't lived until you've stepped on the brakes at 15 mph on an
ice-covered road, and had the vehicle not slow very rapidly - if at all -
due to the Four-wheel ABS not wanting to lock the wheels. You roll - not
slide - through the stop sign into oncoming traffic

You cannot gain anything by pumping the brakes, because that makes the ABS
worse.

I've reached the point where I simply unplug the ABS in my Sonoma pickup
and live with the light on the dash during that part of the year which may
bring slippery roads.

Rear-only ABS will help a car to stop straight - even with the front
wheels locked up....but, in my experience, (and I've owned two and
four-wheel ABS along with non-ABS cars) four-wheel ABS is really more of a
danger on slippery roads than a benefit.

Chrysler has seen the light, and, after leading the charge to FWD, is now
offering more and more well-balanced RWD cars such as the "300" and the
Magnum.

I believe ABS - along with some other idiotic, computerized "benefits" -
will, some day, be seen for the excessive technology that it is, and
someone will offer a good, basic automobile that can be serviced easily and
driven safely without computer input.