No, your assuming.

And if you read over my first post, it's in regards to the side curtain airbags...

It just might save a life or two...

 

The first paragraph of the article states

"At the beginning of 2007, only 13 cars met the tougher new standards that were laid down for being rated a Top Pick, which includes the availability of Electronic Stability Control. Twenty-one new cars meet the IIHS' criteria now, and the list has swelled to 34."


The F-150 has better crash test ratings as I have proven, side airbags or not. The article mentions ESC was needed as an option to be reccomended. My arguement is that the F-150 is a safer vehicle in the event of a crash, I really could care less about accident avoidance.

 

How can ESP or ESC avoid an accident? I've wrecklessly driven cars with ESC and found out when I turned it off, the car actually handled as expected and I could recover 20x easier and safer than that stupid a$$ ESC when turned on.

 

Not to be a d1ck .. you may "know how to drive" but it might be a really nice feature to have if your wife/kids/parents/etc ever needed to drive your truck.

 

yeah well people said the same thing about Consumer Reports.........

 

yeah but they tested an 07 model which is a new model...not trying to pick sides on your comment but just had to state that it is a new model

 

It's my truck, and I am the one who services it. If they can't handle driving a 6000 lb piece of machinery it ain't my fault. Ford has never had that ESC and no one has ever had a problem handling their truck. Even if it did have ESC, you really think that crap helps? No. It's a marketing gimmick. How do I know? I've fooled around with way too many cars to mention with that ESC. It doesn't do a jack hill of crap. It just flashes on the gauge cluster distract you when you need to be paying attention to the road.

 

x2
Electronic Stability Control?!?!?!?
Just another piece of technowizardry to appease the incompetent, unskilled masses. I buy a vehicle to drive, not to crash. I buy Fords because of reliability, not for speed. I drive as if everyone else on the road is a complete moron, not because I think they truly are, but because this makes me an extremely defensive driver so as to avoid crashes. And never forget the two greatest safety features ever put on vehicles (and you take them for granted giving no credit or thought to their existence), pneumatic tires and hydralic brakes. Beyond that, be responsible and courteous when driving and you should be safe.
If you want technology (or the government) to take care of you 24/7 so you don't have to take responsibility for yourself, join the masses (see above). I do not! The IIHS is a political organization aimed at legislative mandates for the motoring industry. You would serve yourselves well to bear this in mind when these types of "reports" come out. Fluff for the mentally lazy.

 

Exactly.

The only thing good I've seen electronic on car is ABS and Airbags. Those are the only useful things. Other than that, the rest of that crap is just something else to increase the cost of a car or truck. Not to mention, like I've been saying, the fact that I would need to bring the car/truck into a dealer to have it fixed. I fix all my trucks. I buy it, I take the responsibility. I am the service manager to my trucks. I am the service tech to my trucks. No one else looks at them unless it is serious enough in nature where it needs to be done under a warranty that Ford implies. Other than that, everything else is done by me, myself, and I. And to add something like ESC or something to the ball game is just a lot more to take into consideration when diagnosing issues. Like what am I supposed to do when my ESC Service light comes on at 75,000 miles?! Way out of warranty, and if I were to have a dealer check it, it would cost me $150 on top of whatever needs to be fixed with it. So suppose I get into an accident... they could blame me for not having my vehicle maintained. But I'm sorry... that ESC is just garbage.

 

So what do you do when your ABS light comes on? Did you ask your dealer to disconnect the ABS system in your truck also? Just assuming on how you decribe yourself you seem to be master mechanic and professsional stunt driver all rolled into one.

So you don't think that ESC isn't needed on Explorers, Escapes, and I'm not too sure but possibly Expeditions?

Oh wait, those are Fords so it's a moot issue...

 

Agreed 07 is the new model.

But quoted from the article:

"All current car and minivan models, small and midsize SUVs, and small and large pickup trucks are eligible to win Top Safety Pick. Eight vehicles from Ford and its subsidiary, Volvo, make the list of winners for 2008. Seven winners are from Honda and its subsidiary, Acura."

 

Wow, logic at work here. If you needed to take evasive ( sp? ) on the road to avoid anything at a higher rate of speed it would sure help. Please, list some of the vehicles you have "tested" with ESP?

I'm hopping you kept this "wreckless" driving of cars off of the public roads. Seeing you seem to have all the confindence in the world about your driving, others may not.

 

Yes, I've never debated that fact.

My whole point here is that it DOES have ESC and side curtain airbags in the name of SAFETY. The irony in all of this is, this like alot of the other aspects of the Tundra that are "apprently" better than the F150. It's that whole, well if we don't have it, it's not needed or important attitude.

In a control test environment, yes it is. But in the real world, who knows. Every accident is different. Could you imagine how worse the roads would be if everyone adopted your view on accident avoidance. I take it you don't have children?

 

Obviously you didn't read my posts very carefully. ABS is useful.

ESC is not needed on ANY car/truck/SUV.

You really think ESC is going to prevent a top-heavy vehicle from rolling? No, it makes no difference.

Some of the vehicles I've tested:

'06 Explorer with RSC
'07 Jeep Compass with ESC
'05 Mercedes Benz C320 with ESP
'07 Hyundai Sonata with ESC
'06 Jeep Grand Cherokee with ESC
and a few others...

I did test these in very large empty parking lots far away from people, so if I did screw up, the only thing I might have hit was a light post or rolled the vehicle.

When turned on the ESC (or variant) did not help in abrupt and emergency manuevers. In fact, I overcorrected so much that I screwed up the system a lot of times. Why? Because I basically forced the ESC to think I was doing one thing, and in fact I was trying to another.

One thing that I found about the ESC is about how DUMB it is. I've done the 5-0 u-turn manuever... hahaha.... the f'in thing took the steering wheel and almost made me go into a lightpost. That is how unsafe it is. I tried it again, no problem with the car with the ESC turned off.

Another thing too... some people go so far as to believe when their car has ESC that they are invincible. NOT. People tend to drive their cars more aggressively and haphazardly. Resulting in more accidents.

Not to mention for the people that know how to drive... it will skew your abilities to be able to react in an emergency because that ESC is not smart and it restricts your steering abilities.

There have been track tests that compared ESC and when ESC was turned off with professional drivers. The pro driver almost nearly crashed the car with ESC on because he knew how to handle the car, but the ESC limited his abilities. When he turned it off, he did some really nice controlling maneuvers with the car. Like I've tested our Jeep out a lot this summer with the ESC on and the ESC off... and that vehicle is soooo much easier to control with it off.

 

Accident avoidance comes from a well maintained car and an alert, responsible driver, not some electonic toy engineers give to those of us who really dont know how to drive. If you need a little button that lights up in the rain to make you feel your family is safer than knock yourself out.
My point was I will not operate a vehicle that offers a lower crash test rating, but is "best" because it can help certain drivers avoid accidents. I am the operator of the vehicle, so I will worry about avoiding the accidents. While some drivers (women) can benefit from options like ESC not all drivers will. I have driven a couple vehicles with ESC, I hated it. I will avoid this option as long as I possibly can.