What Car? Car of the Year 2005 - Reader award

Standard fitment of anti-lock brakes

This is the first time that we’ve asked readers to vote for the What Car? Reader Award. You settled on one clear winner that stood head and shoulders above other nominations: the standard fitment of anti-lock brakes.

Since July 2004, almost every new car on sale in Britain has had anti-lock brakes (ABS) fitted. Europe’s car manufacturers agreed a voluntary scheme to fit the technology, which previously cost around £300 if it was an option. Only a handful of specialist sports cars do without it.

The technology is credited with saving tens of thousands of lives since it was invented by Bosch in 1978. By preventing a car’s wheels from skidding under heavy braking, anti-lock brakes allow drivers to steer safely around an obstacle. All the driver notices in an emergency stop is a pulsing sensation as the brakes are rapidly applied and released automatically.

What Car? has long championed anti-lock brakes and we’d always prefer to see a car equipped with this ahead of luxuries, such as air-conditioning. Now that it’s standard-fit, buyers don’t have to make that choice.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

M6 toll road

London congestion charge