What is life like with your car? Let us know and win £500 in John Lewis vouchers | No thanks
All - Safety Feature. - beufighter

Thank you David Ross for your latest feature. "4 out of 10" turn off 'Safety Features'

Who recalls the 'Austin Maestro' 1982 onwards, including the outstanding MG Maestro. With all those 'novel features' that the press said would never catch on. Some of the electronic safety features were soon 'turned off' by owners in those days.

Nothing new then??

Alan Taylor.

All - Safety Feature. - mcb100
I’m not sure what point you’re making, to be honest.
From memory, the only safety features a Maestro had were seat belts and a brake pedal.
All - Safety Feature. - beufighter

Austin Maestro Van-Dan Plas and my MG version which went like snot.. Plus Austin Montego of the same models were fitted with a voice synthesiser warning and information system. Which was always faulty and savaged by the press who said it would never catch. . Dealer ended up disabling it. Had all kinds of novel, for the time, features.

All - Safety Feature. - catsdad

This took some finding, it’s in the “News” section.

It’s an interesting press release based item but a bit one sided in its view on switching off safety systems. There have been numerous past comments on this site regarding over aggressive lane-keeping features for example. Some systems cannot cope with narrow country lanes. And although, it seems to have been resolved in later version, early VW Golf emergency braking could be activated by a flying crisp packet I am sure there are other features that can cause issues. So occasionally its appropriate to turn them off.

As it happens I leave all mine activated but I think I may once have had to briefly disable traction control in lying snow as the system got confused and I was going nowhere. It was some years ago and more modern systems may be better able to cope.

i don’t know what systems the old Maestro had but I had a later Rover 214 and all I recall is traction and ABS. Did the Maestro have more?

All - Safety Feature. - gordonbennet
As it happens I leave all mine activated but I think I may once have had to briefly disable traction control in lying snow as the system got confused and I was going nowhere. It was some years ago and more modern systems may be better able to cope.

A few years ago we had about 6" of snow on our drive, the exit of which is very steep, which i didn't have time to clear, the Landcruiser drove out like it was bone dry with SWMBO at the helm, yet i struggled in our Subaru Outback on full winter tyres, about 6 hours puzzling why later the penny finally dropped, i hadn't disabled TC, and just as in your case the somewhat old system was defeating itself.

I too wouldn't have thought a Maestro to be the last word in safety aids, not as i want any of them apart from ABS.

All - Safety Feature. - Ian_SW

I'd have thought the safety features on a Maestro would have been limited to front seat belts, brake lights and possibly a laminated windscreen. ABS might have been available as an option on high end models, it wasn't fitted as standard to most ordinary cars until the mid to late 1990s.

Of those, the only one which could have been "switched off" by the user would be the seat belts, though it would be more a case of not using them than operating a switch.

Out of interest, was there ever a car with ABS fitted where the driver could switch it off? I've only ever come across the ability to disable traction or stability control.

All - Safety Feature. - elekie&a/c doctor
The only car I know where the abs system could be turned off , was the original Audi Quattro . Maestro models never available with abs . Late 80s Ford escorts were available with a basic abs system that only worked on the front wheels. It was a mechanical system known as the Lucas Girling stop control system.
All - Safety Feature. - Engineer Andy
As it happens I leave all mine activated but I think I may once have had to briefly disable traction control in lying snow as the system got confused and I was going nowhere. It was some years ago and more modern systems may be better able to cope.

A few years ago we had about 6" of snow on our drive, the exit of which is very steep, which i didn't have time to clear, the Landcruiser drove out like it was bone dry with SWMBO at the helm, yet i struggled in our Subaru Outback on full winter tyres, about 6 hours puzzling why later the penny finally dropped, i hadn't disabled TC, and just as in your case the somewhat old system was defeating itself.

I too wouldn't have thought a Maestro to be the last word in safety aids, not as i want any of them apart from ABS.

Probably why I've never had an issue driving my 2005 built Mazda3 on snow (even on summer tyres) compared to UK spec cars - my car never had TC (or SC) fitted despite it being a mid-spec model (other things to compensate monetarily). It was originally destined for the Mediterranean market (Cyprus), if that makes any difference.

I recall HJ himself saying to switch TC off in snowy/icy conditions as (back then at least) it couldn't cope with the conditions.

All - Safety Feature. - bathtub tom

i don’t know what systems the old Maestro had but I had a later Rover 214 and all I recall is traction and ABS. Did the Maestro have more?

I had a (Rover) Maestro, so probably a later one. It had seat belts, perhaps crumple zones, roll-over stiffening (the back window never fell out, like its Allegro predecessor) and door reinforcement, but not even ABS. The major safety feature was the nut holding the wheel!

All - Safety Feature. - Andrew-T

The main difference between 'safety features' on 20th and 21st-century cars is that the earliest features were imposed by regulation - the first being seat belts, first on front seats only, then some time later rear seats too.

In this century buyers have been deluged with various computerised gizmos invented by nerds at the behest of marketing advisers. I am not looking forward to advancing numbers of cars which believe they can drive themselves without incident under any road or traffic conditions.

All - Safety Feature. - Xileno

Why would anyone want to turn the ABS off? I suppose on gravel locking the wheels might create a wedge in front of the tyre that may reduce stopping distances.

All - Safety Feature. - gordonbennet

Why would anyone want to turn the ABS off? I suppose on gravel locking the wheels might create a wedge in front of the tyre that may reduce stopping distances.

There were times with early ABS systems on artic trailers i wished it could be turned off, they were slow reacting to cut the brakes but even slower to re-apply them, imagine approaching a junction at a gentle pace, you're down to say 10mph and touch the brakes to bring the vehicle to a final halt, empty trailer with a not terribly efficient load sensing valve so despite gentle application a wheel slips...cue ABS releasing the trailer brakes and not re-applying them for probably a couple of seconds, during which time you either have to stand on the brakes to let the tractor unit alons stop the truck or keep the pressure steady and hope the brakes re-engage before you roll out onto the junction.

There have been times in cars in poor snow/ice conditions when ABS has made things worse rather than better, like its stablemate TC/ASR.

Short of pulling the appropriate fuse or relay i've not come across an ABS that could be turned off, on some vehicles you can't even switch AEBS off despite that being far from sorted in too many situations.

All - Safety Feature. - primus 1

I wonder if all these safety systems on cars today are being used as the test bed for future autonomous vehicles, they can tweak the settings so they will be ok on the driverless vehicles, we are doing the R&D for them…

All - Safety Feature. - Andrew-T

... we are doing the R&D for them…

That is probably not a bad idea. Hopefully not like all those postmasters beta-testing Horizon for years .... with the designers ignoring all the statistical evidence.

All - Safety Feature. - badbusdriver

Austin Maestro Van-Dan Plas and my MG version which went like snot.. Plus Austin Montego of the same models were fitted with a voice synthesiser warning and information system. Which was always faulty and savaged by the press who said it would never catch. . Dealer ended up disabling it. Had all kinds of novel, for the time, features.

Which other novel features did they have?.

The voice synthesiser (which surely wouldn't qualify as a safety feature) is the only one I can think of.

All - Safety Feature. - elekie&a/c doctor
Illuminated indicator and wiper stalk switches . Don’t recall seeing any other vehicles with this feature.
All - Safety Feature. - Xileno

Wasn't the Maestro the first to have height-adjustable seat belts?

All - Safety Feature. - skidpan

Which other novel features did they have?.

The voice synthesiser (which surely wouldn't qualify as a safety feature) is the only one I can think of.

Chap had work had a MG Montego with the voice synthesiser. One of the "safety features" was the lady warning you of brake failure constantly when they were in truth fine.

The cars were total tat.

All - Safety Feature. - bathtub tom

Did the Maestro have the 'square' steering wheel? IIRC they were replaced free of charge if requested. All my recent cars have had a flat section at the bottom of the wheel to aid ingress and egress. We seem to take it as normal nowadays

All - Safety Feature. - Andrew-T

Did the Maestro have the 'square' steering wheel?

AFAIK 'quartic' steering wheels only appeared on early Allegros, one of the features that caused some amusement - but others may know better ?

All - Safety Feature. - gordonbennet

Did the Maestro have the 'square' steering wheel? IIRC they were replaced free of charge if requested. All my recent cars have had a flat section at the bottom of the wheel to aid ingress and egress. We seem to take it as normal nowadays

Thankfully our cars are too old to have this feature, not as it matters so much because almost everything has power steering these days and wrenching the wheel round for maneuvers and tight turns is a thing of the past.