On Wed, 06 Jul 2005 15:04:56 -0400, Daniel J. Stern wrote:

> On Tue, 5 Jul 2005, CH wrote:
>
>> Oh, btw, Nissan also uses power brakes, power steering, ABS and
>> countless other features that don't give you 'full control' of your car.
>
> Red herring.

No.

> Power brakes do not activate by themselves -- there is no braking
> effect until the driver steps on the pedal.

But the braking effect is significantly different from what it would be
if the car did not have power brakes.

> Power steering, likewise, does not remove directional control of the
> car from the driver;

BMW builds cars, who change their steering ratio according to certain
parameters. Plus any power steering system diminishes road feedback.

> there is no steering effect until the driver moves the steering wheel.
> ABS is a borderline case; it reduces one kind of car control and
> augments another kind of car control. Whether the tradeoff is a good one
> depends on the implementation and the driver. In no case, however, is
> any of these items analogous to DRLs.

That's right, all of the items I named have a significant influence on
control and safety of a car, a missing DRL override switch does not.

Chris