welcome to vhs night and for your viewing pleasure i have your new vehicle's anti-lock brake system
how it works for you starring rick johnson this is a tape that was put out in 1994 by general motors
congratulations on your purchase of a general motors truck
in this video tape champion motocross and off-road race driver rick johnson uses
his expertise to explain the operation of the anti-lock brake system abs of your gm truck
abs was still a pretty new feature at the time and for all the things that were wrong with gm
at the time and there were many things wrong with gm back in the early 90s one
of the good things they did was make abs available on virtually their entire model
lineup including on inexpensive vehicles like the chevy cavalier
so this was their introduction for new owners explaining how abs works but before we take a
look at the video on this tape i wanted to take a closer look at the tape itself
the first thing you notice there's no window instead there's this huge sticker covering the
entire top of the tape and the whole thing feels extremely light
and you may say that's just because it only has 12 minutes of tape on it well i have
this vhs head cleaner which only has about five minutes of tape on it and it feels much heavier
and if you take a look at the back you can see there's quite a bit of difference between this
tape and a more normal vhs tape for example there's no safety latch on the flap you can
just open it at any time and there's no screws holding it together it's all snapped together
if we look back under the door there are no rollers for the tape it just slides across
these hard plastic posts which may be why it looks a little bit chewed up at the edge there
and it's made of a different kind of plastic than normal vhs tapes and the hubs are even
slightly translucent it does still have the spring latches to prevent the tape from getting unspooled
when it's not in the machine but you can see they're exposed and they're made of plastic
so when you put this in your vcr it goes down on top of a post
like that and you can see it releases those latches to allow the tape to move
and when you eject it the latches go back and prevent the reels from getting unspooled
youtube channel 12-volt vids did a video about one of these tapes and he actually took it apart but
i'm not going to do that to this because in order to take it apart you have to basically destroy it
because it's all just snapped together and i believe this was designed to be molded from a
single piece of plastic to really cut the cost of these tapes especially for the kind of tapes
that they were going to give out for free they obviously didn't want to spend a lot of money
on it and if it's only holding 12 minutes of tape it doesn't really need to be that sturdily built
so they really cut the costs on this design and also it was made of recycled plastic
which is good so this is probably the cheapest vhs tape design ever made
molded from a single piece of plastic with no window no security latch to keep you
from opening the flap no screws holding it together and no rollers for the tape
and there's the tiny recycling symbol showing number five and there's another one on the black
shell here indicating number five which is polypropylene which is the material
they make plastic food containers out of now normally vhs tapes are made of polystyrene
which is a much harder and more brittle plastic material which cannot normally be
recycled but this was made out of polypropylene which most recycling programs will accept
i'm not going to recycle this i'm going to play it and because a cheap tape deserves a
cheap vcr to play it on i'm going to use this funai vcr from the early to mid 2000s this was
one of those super cheap end of the line really lightweight and flimsy meant to be disposable
vcrs that they sold back then i remember seeing these as cheap as 29 brand new but
this one is slightly better than those because it actually has hi-fi stereo and despite his
super cheap design it actually works perfectly and delivers a surprisingly good picture so here we go
if your new vehicle's interlocked brake system how it works for you starring
rick johnson on this world's cheapest vhs tape molded from a single piece of recycled plastic
played on an extremely cheap vcr
rick johnson has enjoyed tremendous success in racing earlier in his career rick was a champion
motorcycle motocross racer since moving to truck racing rick was named 1992 rookie of the year
for the mickey thompson stadium off-road racing series and due to his class 8 win in the baja 500
1993 score international rookie of the year for desert racing
hi i'm rick johnson this video isn't going to teach you how to be an off-road racing champion
rather it's going to help you understand one of the latest technologies in safety
four-wheel anti-lock brakes i've asked a couple of friends of mine to join me
dave cindy come on over just like you they've recently purchased a new gm truck and they want
to learn more about the new anti-lock brake system on their vehicles ready to get started
go ahead and get into your vehicle so you can experience the benefits of abs for yourself
we have some other abs equipped vehicles for them to drive as well
abs uses wheel speed sensors a hydraulic control unit and a computer control module
to greatly reduce the possibility of skidding during hard braking
abs also lets the driver steer the vehicle to help you avoid an accident
before we look at how abs works and what it can do let's talk about
what abs doesn't do anti-lock brakes do not necessarily make stopping distances shorter
you need to maintain the same distance from the vehicle ahead as you do with conventional brakes
also you still need to firmly apply the same amount of pressure on the pedal
get enough time to stop the vehicle and you must keep constant pressure
on the pedal to accommodate any brake pedal travel that may occur while abs is working
now let's take a look at what anti-lock brakes do for you in a hard braking situation without
anti-lock brakes the wheels may skid losing traction between the tires and the road
but as you can see with anti-lock brakes wheel lockup is kept to a minimum
four-wheel anti-lock brakes also improve steering control throughout the braking situation since the
front wheels don't lock up traction with the road is maintained helping the driver to steer
around any obstacles on the other hand without abs the vehicle goes into a skid and directional
control may be lost until the driver lets up on the brakes and the wheels start to roll again
you may also think anti-lock brakes only work when you slam on the pedal
that's not true anti-lock brakes will begin to work as soon as a wheel starts to skid which
can happen even with a slight application of the brakes especially if the road is slippery or bumpy
anti-lock brakes will activate on wet rain slicked pavement on roads that are snow covered or on ice
braking on gravel roads sand covered roads
and other loose surfaces may also activate the anti-lock brakes
as could braking while going over bumps and elevations such as railroad tracks
and even if the road surface is dry smooth concrete such as a highway
the anti-lock brakes will activate if the brake application is hard enough
so no matter what the road surface or driving conditions you can be assured
that your four-wheel anti-lock brake system can help you get safer more controlled stops
but to maximize the effectiveness of this system there are several things to remember
with anti-lock you should not pump the brakes
just apply constant firm pressure to the brake pedal and let the anti-lock system do the rest
also like a conventional brake system abs is most effective when the tires are
in good operating condition with good tread and the correct tire pressure is maintained
like any vehicle whether equipped with abs or not proper seat adjustment is important position the
seat so the driver's foot can be placed on the pedal with a moderate bend in the knee
even when the pedal is fully depressed the leg should still be able to push the pedal further
and for commercial applications the load should
be evenly distributed over the rear axle for maximum effectiveness of the anti-lock brakes
now let's review some of what you may experience when the abs is operating normally when the brake
pedal is applied and the anti-lock brakes activate the brake pedal may feel hard it may also seem to
ratchet or pulsate or there could even be a combination of these sensations maintain firm
constant pressure on the pedal and be ready to push it further if it travels closer to the floor
you may also hear a sound like this as i said earlier this four wheel anti-lock brake system
or 4WAL for short is one of the most advanced braking systems on the market today you've
probably asked yourself how does it work and what makes it so sophisticated let's take a look
the anti-lock brake system consists of several major components
wheel sensors a hydraulic control unit and an electronic control unit which is essentially
the brain of the system the system works like this
when the brake pedal is applied the electronic control unit monitors information from the wheel
speed sensors when the control unit detects that a wheel or wheels are about to lock
the module signals the hydraulic control unit to reduce brake pressure to those wheels the
system holds the wheels near lock while keeping the wheels rolling to help the driver steer
sound pretty complicated it is however you can be assured of proper operation due to the various
self-checks that the system goes through some of them are noticeable some are not the first
self-check occurs when you turn the ignition key to the on position the anti-lock and brake
warning lights will illuminate momentarily this is called a bulb check and is normal operation
the next self check occurs when the vehicle accelerates to approximately eight miles per hour
during this self check the anti-lock system may make sound like this
and if your foot is on the brake pedal you may feel some vibration the anti-lock system
goes through other self checks while you are driving however these checks are unnoticeable
in addition to those self checks there are also indicators to let you know if there is
a problem and your anti-lock brake system needs servicing if the yellow anti-lock or red brake
warning lights do not illuminate during the bulb check the warning light system requires servicing
if the yellow anti-lock warning light does not go out after the bulb check or if it comes on
during vehicle operation have your anti-lock brake system checked and serviced this is an indication
that you do not have the benefit of abs however the conventional brake system is fully functional
if the red brake warning light doesn't go out after the bulb check or illuminates during
vehicle operation bring your vehicle to a stop and have the entire brake system serviced immediately
welcome back so what did you think we covered an awful lot in a short period of time
can you tell me what you've learned about anti-lock brakes
well one thing for sure my new anti-lock brake system greatly
reduces wheel lock which can help me to steer the vehicle
the thing i learned that i didn't know is that anti-lock brakes can activate
on many different road surfaces oh and also that tire inflation and quality as well as
proper seating position are just as important with abs as they are with a conventional brake system
but you know the most important thing i learned is that abs gives me improved
steering control during hard braking which can help me stay out of accidents
that's absolutely right cindy
also keep in mind that sometimes the brake pedal may vibrate or pulsate as the abs works
you may hear some sounds and noises that are all normal in anti-lock brake system operation
well as you can see my friends learned a lot and i hope you have too
gm's commitment to safety provides us with one of the most advanced braking systems on the
market today four-wheel anti-lock brake system safer stops controlled steering peace of mind