Twenty-first century cars come with an armoury of safety systems, from ABS (antilock braking) to Sips (side impact protection system), ESP (electronic stability program) and the dangerous-sounding Whips (whiplash protection system). Nonetheless, fewer than 30% of those questioned in a recent survey by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders had heard of ABS, even though it is now standard on all new mass-produced cars. Only 5% were versed in the benefits of ESP. Drivers increasingly take for granted that their car will meet high standards of safety.

A campaign by European governments and competition between manufacturers have led to a steady increase in the number of gadgets and systems to warn drivers of dangers and prevent them losing control of their vehicles. Recent innovations include lane departure warning systems, blind spot protection, which issues a visual or audible warning when an object enters the driver’s blind spot, and brakes that are applied automatically if sensors tell the car it is in danger of colliding with an object ahead.

But as cars get better at keeping out of trouble some experts worry drivers are getting worse — cocooned from danger, unaware how fast they are going or how slippery the road is, and less aware of other vehicles. The Sunday Times decided to put four motorists to the test to see how they would cope in a car with no “active” safety features at all. With an expert sitting alongside them we would assess how well they reacted to hazards and difficult conditions without the unseen protection of a battery of electronic guardian angels.

Our guinea pigs were Jean Curran, 60, a social worker and Skoda Fabia driver from Wargrave, Berkshire; Ceri Jones, 57, a dentist and Volvo V70 owner from Cardiff; Simon Chester, 30, a Subaru Impreza owner and buyer for Pizza Express, from East Yorkshire; and Eleanor Ball, 30, a supply chain manager for Dixons and owner of a Honda S2000 sports car, who is also from East Yorkshire.

To test their skills we brought along a 15-year-old BMW 3-series devoid of every modern safety feature and met them at the Transport Research Laboratory in Crowthorne, Berkshire, to put them — and the cars — to the test. Here are the results.

TEST 1: BRAKING

Before ABS, drivers were taught the technique of “cadence braking” — applying and releasing pressure on the brake pedal to prevent the wheels from locking. Would our drivers be able to manage it? Graham Griffiths of Ultimate Car Control (www.ultimatecarcontrol.com), an advanced driver training school based in Crowthorne, was our expert. He used traffic cones to simulate three lanes of a motorway, with one stationary vehicle in the middle lane. As the drivers travelled towards the obstacle at 50mph they had to imagine a car ahead had stopped suddenly and, on Griffiths’s command, they were to swerve into the left or right-hand lane, braking at the same time to avoid slamming into any other vehicle.

Each of our four drivers began by completing the test in the car they usually drive, all of which were fitted with ABS systems. Once they were familiar with the test we put them behind the wheel of the older BMW. First to take the challenge was Curran. She admitted she thought ABS was “something like an Asbo” and had no idea that it enabled her to stop under hard braking without the wheels locking.

She may not have known what ABS was but she missed it when it wasn’t there. Griffiths had added a little water to the surface to reduce grip and the results were predictable. The wheels locked and Curran could no longer steer the car out of danger. The BMW ploughed straight on into the cones, leaving a trail of rubber tyre marks.

The other drivers didn’t fare much better. Before the test Chester and Ball had confidently rated their driving ability as 9 out of 10 and 8 out of 10 respectively. But even these self-confessed petrolheads were unable to control their cars without the aid of ABS. Had this been a real-life situation on a busy motorway, they would have ploughed into other traffic and probably caused a multiple pile-up.

TEST 2: STEERING

This test was designed to show the effectiveness of a whole variety of innovative stability features. Ball’s Honda S2000, for example, comes with an aluminium x-bone frame, which links the wheels diagonally to increase rigidity, as well as torque-sensing limited slip differential (LSD), which will automatically reduce torque if it senses the car is about to skid.

Chester’s Impreza is four-wheel drive and also has LSD to make sure power is divided equally between each side of the vehicle and again stop skidding. Its yaw sensors prevent the car sliding from side to side and counteract over or understeer on sharp bends.

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