basshead
X-TRAIL HOLIC
Date Registered: 02-2004
Location: Panania, Sydney
TOTAL POSTS: 2852
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emergency braking incident
Hi guys,
The other day, I was coasting down the "Bexley Rd Big Dipper" (alongside the tennis courts) when a dog ran out onto the road (right at the bottom of the hill!) from ly left, and I was in the gutter lane at the time. I instinctively slammed on the brakes, and deliberately swerved to the left, towards the gutter, to avoid hitting the dog (which I ended up hitting anyway). I am 99% sure the ABS didn't kick in, which IMHO says alot for the braking capabilities of the tyres (standard Toyo Tranpaths with <5000k's). I didn't even think of rolling the car (it was quite a swerve, and I reckon I would've been doing at least 70 by the time I got to the bottom of that hill, which is normal in any car if you don't brake). The cars behind me (closest one was in the other lane) slammed on their brakes as they wouldn't have been able to see the dog as my X-Trail was blocking it from their view, and they probably wondered what the hell I was doing swerving all over the road for no apparent reason. I didn't come to a complete stop, as I continued once the dog had crossed in front of me, and I saw in t he mirrors that it had run back onto the footpath behind me (still on the same side of the road). The other cars also continued on their way.
I'm quite sure no harm was done to the dog, seeing as it was still standing, and running around (not limping) and after stopping and inspecting the bumper, there was just a small amount of slobber on the corner, so I gather he'd turned to face me and copped a whack on the head (I apologise for any dog-lovers who might be reading this).
The reason for this message:
The strange thing I noticed immediately after the incident was that the X-Trail felt very strange while braking - maybe up to about 20 times of braking after the emergency braking, and steering also felt abit strange (heavier?). I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this situation after emergency/hard braking?
Rich.
--- Rich. X-013(c)
'04 S2 ST Auto. Nudge_roofracks_tow_tints_Lightforce_GME_YokoGeoA/T-S_TBS_bashplate_50mm-spacer-lift
Click here to see >300MB of photos and videos All For His Glory.
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27/Jul/2004, 5:43 pm
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jalalski
Date Registered: 02-2004
Location: SUTHERLAND, SYDNEY
TOTAL POSTS: 29100
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Re: emergency braking incident
I have tested the ABS on mine within a week of buying the car from the dealership and I have done that on a rainy day driving at 65km's and braking really hard...nothing happend! not even a skid, so I thought the tyres are new and they gripped really well, therefore there was no need for the ABS to kick-in.
Haven't tried that again 33,000km's later, but will give it a go next time we get lucky and it rains in Sydney.
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29/Jul/2004, 7:18 am
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weigen
Date Registered: 08-2004
Location: Wagga Wagga, N.S.W
TOTAL POSTS: 40
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Re: emergency braking incident
Mate,
Main thing is your o.k.I have unintentionally "tested" my abs and it gave the usual shudder in the brake pedal but was otherwise ok.
Moral of the story,,,test the bull bar it may sound harsh but I have seen people swerve to avoid obstacles just to make matters worse,not that you think this in the split second you have to react! You gotta love that bexly big dipper(especially at night with no fuzz around )
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3/Aug/2004, 8:00 pm
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noodlesg
Date Registered: 02-2004
TOTAL POSTS: 23
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Re: emergency braking incident
I think legally you are obliged to hit the animal (if you can't stop in time) - ie if you cause an accident swerving, it's your fault (ie, if you hit the anchors and stay on your line, you are alright). I don't know if this applies to humans!
I get the ABS to come on in Shrek (my 'trail) all the time! (Yeah - I'm a revhead, and the X-Trail is going at the end of the year - I can't be giving X-Trail drivers bad names .)
I will attest to some sort of problem with the ABS and turning. Just before I replaced my tires, when I was turning hard on wet slipper roads (eg, slowing right down to turn right), my front end would go into a slide. My theory is that as while the front tires are exceeding sideways grip ABS can't have much affect. ABS works by letting little pinches of braking stop the wheel from sliding, if it isn't turning the way you are sliding, this won't have an effect (and the ABS probably won't come on).
As far as rolling it goes, I've yet to be worried - I reckon it's stance is low and wide enough to take a fair old bit of sideways G-Force to roll it (with the exception of hitting an obstacle in a sideways slide).
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6/Aug/2004, 4:09 pm
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basshead
X-TRAIL HOLIC
Date Registered: 02-2004
Location: Panania, Sydney
TOTAL POSTS: 2852
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Re: emergency braking incident
Sounds like you drive the way I used to drive my Pulsar SSS... On the limit
I haven't got enough practice or confidence in the X-Trail to push it real hard yet, however, cornering feels so much slower in it than it did in my SSS - eg: Coming onto M5 @ Bexley Rd (heading towards King Georges Rd) if the lights are green, I usually take it pretty quick (racing line and all - ie: ignore all lane markings ) and I could do it I think @ 60k's in the SSS and it would slide abit (cheap, noisy rubber) but in the X-Trail, it feels like I could give it another 10-15k's or so before the tyres would let go...
Not that I condone crazy driving (ok, only when there's no-one else around ).
You know the X-Trail has quite a decent "anit-roll" setup (roll-bars), and I recall reading somewhere that they severely limit the articulation of the X-Trail, and if they're removed, you get heaps more articulation (but body-roll would be an absolute shocker).
--- Rich. X-013(c)
'04 S2 ST Auto. Nudge_roofracks_tow_tints_Lightforce_GME_YokoGeoA/T-S_TBS_bashplate_50mm-spacer-lift
Click here to see >300MB of photos and videos All For His Glory.
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6/Aug/2004, 4:30 pm
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noodlesg
Date Registered: 02-2004
TOTAL POSTS: 23
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Re: emergency braking incident
Out of interest (and work is slow this arvo ) I just went through the RTA's handbook. There's nothing in there that says you can't swerve to avoid an animal, but I imagine that it's a couple of rules put together that make up that one rule.
For a 4WD, the X-Trail goes alright. But I went from a well sorted 86 twin-cam to Shrek and a couple of weeks after I bought it, I went for a drive around Bathurst - of course at legal speeds *cough*. It's pretty startling the difference - mainly the understear. Corners that you could take the racing line at 60 or 70 have you sliding towards the outside wall in the X-Trail. There is however a big difference with the Auto 4WD on - but it's still understeery.
I have however, had some fun sinking the boot into Shrek. There's a nice bit of windy blacktop from Merimbula up to Bermagui (sapphire coast highway I think it's called) that is 100KM zones in areas where 80 is too fast. I always have a pretty big smile on my face after that drive.
If you didn't want to 4WD, you could easily drop 3 inches off the X-Trail, add some sway bars and new shocks and it'd be quite a nice steer I reckon.
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6/Aug/2004, 4:52 pm
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