I have put on 250,000+ miles on a 2004 and 2006 Dodge Ram 2500 's over the past ten years, and I can say without a doubt that the abs system on these trucks dramatically increases the stopping distances in many of the road conditions I encounter, and can be downright scary at times.

These trucks have 4 wheel disk brakes, with a 3-channel abs system.

These are my personal daily driver trucks that I use in the city, on the highway, on the farm and for driving to remote oilfield work sites. I can list several driving conditions that I regularly encounter that the abs on these trucks increases braking distances to the point that is truly dangerous.

1 - Gravel Roads - Even your study that you linked showed that with every one of the test vehicles the stopping distances were significantly increased on gravel with ABS. (an average of 30%!)

2 - Gravel Roads with a Washboard Surface - Braking is horrendous with my trucks on this surface that is routinely encountered at intersections on gravel roads

3 - Washboard Gravel Roads During the Winter Months - Add a bit of ice or packed snow to a washboard surface, and braking essentially non-existent. I was absolutely shocked when I experienced this during the first winter I owned this truck. I was travelling down a gravel road, and was late to notice my turn off. I had to brake a little harder then normal to make the turn off, but the abs wouldn't let that happen, instead braking force was virtually non-existent, and I slid wayyyyy past my turn off! Blown away by how horrible the braking performance was, I immediately pulled the abs fuse and attempted the same stop again. This time I was able to lock up the brakes, and the tires dug in and I was able to stop so hard that any thing I had on the seat slid off, and I stopped well before my corner! There had to be a ten fold decrease in stopping distance!

This wasn't an emergency situation, but I'm glad I experienced it, in a non critical situation. After this I started to pull my ABS fuse anytime I left the pavement.

4 - Muddy roads. This is another situation that a locked up tire will allow the truck to stop in a lot shorter distance.

5 - Pavement with Sand or Gravel on the Surface - They put a lot of sand on the streets during the winter up here. There are several weeks in the spring time, before the city has a chance to clean the streets, that the abs on my trucks is horrible. A locked up tire will slow a vehicle far quicker then a rolling one on sand covered pavement.

7 - Icy snow covered roads - The roads up here rarely have a uniform coefficient of traction. Usually traffic makes a pretty good path on the road, but move over a few feet, and the surface can dramatically change. You can have ice, packed snow, snow drifts, etc. I find that these rapidly changing road surfaces can really confuse my abs system.

6 - Rough Roads on any Surface During any Season - This is the big one. I can handle poor brakes off the pavement where there isn't a lot of traffic, but when the abs fails you when you need it the most on the streets with traffic, you really start to hate the system.

Our roads here in Canada are far from smooth. We have potholes, bumps, frost heaves, railroad tracks, grooves in road, etc. These uneven surfaces really upsets the abs on my trucks. I'm often unloaded, so it doesn't take much of a bump to cause a tire on the back axle to lock up under moderate braking. When this occurs the abs pushes the pedal up, and significantly decreases the deceleration. I have yet to have an accident, since I try to always maintain a safe following distance, but everyone knows that if you leave a car length of space in front of you, someone is going to try and fill it. It's when these cars pull in front of you and then suddenly have to brake for whatever reason, that I have repeatedly had some white knuckle experiences wondering if my truck will stop in time!

I have had several people experience my abs kicking in way sooner then expected while driving my trucks, and it has startled them to the point where they don't feel safe driving my truck!

There is no doubt that there are better ABS systems out there. The four channel systems that can reduce braking force to a single wheel without reducing braking force to the other wheels are ideal. Unless we mandate 4 channel ABS systems that are tested to ensure that they perform in real driving conditions, I'd much just prefer an ABS switch like a cruise control cancel switch, which allows the driver to disable the ABS when the conditions warrant it!

ABS is great at higher speeds for maintaining control under hard braking, where swerving to miss an object is still an option. Most of the situations I listed above, having the ability to turn doesn't help, and anything that increases the braking distance is a hindrance.

I love winter driving, since it allows you to drive at the limit at relatively slow speeds without to much risk. My friends and I love to drive after a fresh snowstorm. We routinely go out in the middle of the night after a fresh snow to play, and test the limits of our vehicles without endangering or harming the public. We all run studded tires in the winter, and with the grip they provide, I've observed that it is only the trucks that have ABS issues. Any of the cars in my circle of friends are just fine with ABS and studded tires on the street.

I know when ABS systems came out I was told in panic situation to slam on the brakes, and let the system due the work. This doesn't work to well on icy surfaces, instead we have observed that threshold braking on slippery surfaces with or without the abs produces the shortest braking distance. One can usually stop a couple feet shorter without the abs, but it isn't as controlled or as pretty.

I'm late to discussion, but it's essentially the same every winter. The arguments are quite heated with strong support for either side. I always find it quite entertaining, especially since there is a simple and obvious solution that can keep everyone happy. A switch!

A switch would allow a person to have full control over the ABS system, allowing the choice to turn if off if the road conditions warrant it! Like it was previous mentioned Audi used to have an ABS off switch on their cars, why can't we have a switch like that today?