Kill Switches for ABS and Airbag

[Christopher Assal]

Hello all , looking to start a discussion here and get information on a topic that I am a little confused over...... Also have had conflicting results in asking garages, and will probably get here. However I am sure that the answers here will help with my decision process.

So my main garage that i use and one i trust a lot with the mechanics side of my car have stated that they can put the switches in. When asked though if i have any power or breaking issues in my drives, which i stated no, in turn they have said that due to this they do not recommend putting in a kill switch for the traction control and abs.

I drive a Nissan patrol , safari 2014 LWB, and truth be told I am not finding any issues with power, climbing dunes (too date lol) or any issues with braking at all. She runs perfectly touch wood. They also said that they normally do not put kill switches in for airbags. In my thoughts, if I am going to hit something hard enough to activate the airbags then would I not want my airbags to go off???? I am new to this so looking to stand corrected if I am wrong. Or is more the case of incase of roll overs etc?

New garages that I have spoken to re quotes were just happy to do it no questions asked about driving or how things ran on the desert, obviously cash in their pockets for a job. So I am not sure wether to roll with the opinion of my standing mechanics or not.

Obviously while learning with Carnity, the Marshalls, chats with senior drivers etc that it seems that its recommended and some cars have been kitted out with this and we are asked to turn them off if we can.

There are other jobs that I wish to do on the car but as with most of finances need to be juggled and I do not want an angry wife when i bleed the bank account dry on my new hobby lol so doing jobs bit by bit.

So how important is it to have a kill switches for these two functions?

Does everyone in the group run like this?

What are peoples general thoughts on this topic?

And does it widely change depending on the 4x4 you run and drive?

Thanks in advance and look forward to reading the answers. 

P.S I normally make cakes so I have read up on how the traction control, ABS and airbags work so as to educate myself a little to help read these answers better but it only added to my confusion 

 

 

 

 

[Frederic]

22 minutes ago, Christopher Assal said:

Hello all , looking to start a discussion here and get information on a topic that I am a little confused over...... Also have had conflicting results in asking garages, and will probably get here. However I am sure that the answers here will help with my decision process.

So my main garage that i use and one i trust a lot with the mechanics side of my car have stated that they can put the switches in. When asked though if i have any power or breaking issues in my drives, which i stated no, in turn they have said that due to this they do not recommend putting in a kill switch for the traction control and abs.

I drive a Nissan patrol , safari 2014 LWB, and truth be told I am not finding any issues with power, climbing dunes (too date lol) or any issues with braking at all. She runs perfectly touch wood. They also said that they normally do not put kill switches in for airbags. In my thoughts, if I am going to hit something hard enough to activate the airbags then would I not want my airbags to go off???? I am new to this so looking to stand corrected if I am wrong. Or is more the case of incase of roll overs etc?

New garages that I have spoken to re quotes were just happy to do it no questions asked about driving or how things ran on the desert, obviously cash in their pockets for a job. So I am not sure wether to roll with the opinion of my standing mechanics or not.

Obviously while learning with Carnity, the Marshalls, chats with senior drivers etc that it seems that its recommended and some cars have been kitted out with this and we are asked to turn them off if we can.

There are other jobs that I wish to do on the car but as with most of finances need to be juggled and I do not want an angry wife when i bleed the bank account dry on my new hobby lol so doing jobs bit by bit.

So how important is it to have a kill switches for these two functions?

Does everyone in the group run like this?

What are peoples general thoughts on this topic?

And does it widely change depending on the 4x4 you run and drive?

Thanks in advance and look forward to reading the answers. 

P.S I normally make cakes so I have read up on how the traction control, ABS and airbags work so as to educate myself a little to help read these answers better but it only added to my confusion 

 

 

 

 

Very good topic. The reason why we generally ask the people to disable their airbags is related to the side airbags, which are connected to yaw sensors and have the tendency to trigger and go off during criss-crossing. Mind you that this is mainly on the modern cars, your Patrol (which might have only frontal airbags) will not have issues with this hence you can keep them activated and i agree they are there to protect you in case of a serious frontal impact.

Traction control is a similar thing; again on modern cars it's a must to switch it off or the car will be constantly cutting the power. 

Long story short: You drive a Patrol which has little to no electronic gizmo's and full available power at all times. Consider yourself lucky !

[Christopher Assal]

I do consider myself very lucky, didn’t  want to sound ungrateful 😂and thank you for the response. Will look into wether it has side airbags !

[sertac]

I have no kill switch installed in my Xterra since i bought at last July. Everyone told me that it is necessary same as you i am not having any power cutting issue or any serious breaking issue. Yes i feel the abs kicking sometimes but it is not bothering me at all. I might be the only high level driver driving a Xterra without kill switch. 

[Lawrence_Chehimi]

You might have some trouble with the ABS though in future drives!

When I started with Carnity I never thought I would need a ABS Kill switch for my Y62, but when started going on fast pace drives i changed my mind.

Few weeks back I almost ran into the car in front of me, we were criss-crossing at higher speeds than usual and the car in front had to stop, I pushed the brakes and the ABS kicked in and literally had no braking power, the system detected a wheel slipping and just stopped cut power on the slipping wheel/wheels.

[Christopher Assal]

Ok so something to bear In mind then when I start progressing to intermediate and above level drives.

Which are fast paced , but for my current fewbie levels I should be ok I guess? Thanks for the insight on your drive experience with the Y62

[M.Seidam]

Hi @Christopher Assal 

different vehicle models of the same brand might have differences even in their set up , usually modern cars are more electronically sophisticated while older ones are “simple” but not “simpler” !

Regarding disabling the side airbags it’s highly recommended as the drive difficulties gets higher as you climb the off road ladder , and in some vehicles like JGC is highly sensitive and the only way to disable it is to pull the fuse. For the front one as @Fredericmentioned it’s for the driver protection in case of hard frontal impact. 
 

ABS in Xterra for example kicks very soon and I felt it on my first Fewbie drive so I had it installed before I put a foot on brake for the second fewbie 
 

Power cut down ( especially on longe sidys ) can be dangerous, hence comes the importance of kill switch ( ABS+Traction control ) 

As You see it’s a learning curve we climb with our vehicles and along you will discover what is necessary and what is not safely .

cheers 

 

[Christopher Assal]

@M.Seidamthank you for your thoughts, I did feel it may be a learning curve and getting to know the car and it’s capabilities along with my driving as it develops. I need to find out when it’s in the garage next wether it has side airbags as online it seems to say that some models do and some don’t even if from the same year 🤷🏽

[Islam Soliman]

I agree with what @Frederic said. However I saw many cars flying of a ridge due to approaching with higher-than-needed-speed to avoid getting crested but resulting in flying off the crest and land hard with front almost hitting ground, depending on the sensitivity of the airbag impact sensors can deploy the airbags.

 

what @Lawrence_Chehimi mentioned about ABS is 100% true too.

 

However, personally, I don’t like kill switches as they add more potential failure points to sensitive systems and if they are not done professionally can lead to unpleasant incidents. So I go for the simple solution of unplugging the fuses from the fuse box while deflating and put them back while inflating. In my case, 4 fuses; takes 10 seconds.
 

Of course I know this may not be an acceptable solution for our inconvenience-tolerant Lazyboy gang @Hisham Masaad @Ahab Shamaa @Watteau @Lorenzo Candelpergher @Niki🤣🤣🤣

 

switching gear @Christopher Assal, when do we get to try the cake?

[Hisham Masaad]

3 minutes ago, Islam Soliman said:

I agree with what @Frederic said. However I saw many cars flying of a ridge due to approaching with higher-than-needed-speed to avoid getting crested but resulting in flying off the crest and land hard with front almost hitting ground, depending on the sensitivity of the airbag impact sensors can deploy the airbags.

 

what @Lawrence_Chehimi mentioned about ABS is 100% true too.

 

However, personally, I don’t like kill switches as they add more potential failure points to sensitive systems and if they are not done professionally can lead to unpleasant incidents. So I go for the simple solution of unplugging the fuses from the fuse box while deflating and put them back while inflating. In my case, 4 fuses; takes 10 seconds.
 

Of course I know this may not be an acceptable solution for our inconvenience-tolerant Lazyboy gang @Hisham Masaad @Ahab Shamaa @Watteau @Lorenzo Candelpergher @Niki🤣🤣🤣

 

switching gear @Christopher Assal, when do we get to try the cake?

No I didn't like your Solution @Islam Soliman 🤣🤣