996 safety features

[Simonk]

Hi all

 

I'm considering getting myself into a 1998-2000 996 as a daily and I'm trying to figure out what standard and optional safety features it has like how many airbags and where, stability control, traction control etc. I've done some searches but keep getting different results from different websites.

 

Simon

[edgy]

2004 and I only have airbags and ABS. 

 

I am not sure what those year models have, but I'd be almost certain you won't get stability control... traction, possibly?

[Simonk]

Thanks Edgy. Are there just the two front airbags or do they have side also? Any in the rear?

[edgy]

Thanks Edgy. Are there just the two front airbags or do they have side also? Any in the rear?

 

Driver and passenger... I believe some had side airbags too?

[Ozvino]

PSM was standard on the Carrera 4 from the series 1 onwards I believe so all Carrera 4's, 4S's and Turbos should have it I assume

Dave

[Carrera28]

I have a 1998 it has:

 

Driver, passenger and side airbags.

 

ABS

 

Traction Control

[withers]

Sorry to revive such an old thread, but seemed pointless creating a new one for the same subject.

As Simon originally pointed out, there's not much info online about 996s and PSM.

How would I know if a 996 has traction control?  Is there a code, button or something i should be looking for looking at adverts.

[Simonk]

There’ll be an oval shaped PSM button next to the climate control if it was optioned with traction control.

[JWM]

On 04/10/2019 at 07:05, amanda said:

How would I know if a 996 has traction control?  Is there a code, button or something i should be looking for looking at adverts.

This was something that loomed large in my thinking for quite a while, although in the end I ended up getting a car without it. 

I knew the 996 4S had it in all of them standard, otherwise for a Carrera I would rely on the option codes to check, I forget what it was but it’s on the usual sites that come up on Google for checking them.

In the time I was looking, I only remember a few 996.2’s that had it, don’t recall ever seeing a 996.1 with it. It was originally one of the reasons I started out only looking at 997, because I think all the Carrera and Carrera S have it standard. I do wonder how good it is being ~15 years old now though?

[withers]

2 hours ago, JWM said:

This was something that loomed large in my thinking for quite a while, although in the end I ended up getting a car without it. 

I knew the 996 4S had it in all of them standard, otherwise for a Carrera I would rely on the option codes to check, I forget what it was but it’s on the usual sites that come up on Google for checking them.

In the time I was looking, I only remember a few 996.2’s that had it, don’t recall ever seeing a 996.1 with it. It was originally one of the reasons I started out only looking at 997, because I think all the Carrera and Carrera S have it standard. I do wonder how good it is being ~15 years old now though?

Yes the 'how good is it' now also occurred to me as well.  I've been driving modern cars for years and I must say going back to a 20yr old car without it concerns me a bit. Especially given I hope to take my son on some drives in it.  I got the 987 a bit sideways twice and then the PSM corrected me and set me straight.   I realised the error of my ways and avoided it happening again, however in a 996 you can get it wrong once and that's all that has to happen for something bad to go wrong.

 

[JWM]

6 hours ago, amanda said:

Yes the 'how good is it' now also occurred to me as well.  I've been driving modern cars for years and I must say going back to a 20yr old car without it concerns me a bit. Especially given I hope to take my son on some drives in it.  I got the 987 a bit sideways twice and then the PSM corrected me and set me straight.   I realised the error of my ways and avoided it happening again, however in a 996 you can get it wrong once and that's all that has to happen for something bad to go wrong.

 

Yeah, I assume it’s still better to have than not, but would love to see a test of old and new and see how it really performs still and be able to answer that question.

I thought about it quite a lot for the same reason as you, for when little ones are in the car occasionally, and still do sometimes. I guess my not entirely satisfactory answer is to just be as aware as I can and drive very much under my limits at the moment.

It will make for a great excuse to tell myself if I want to change the car though 😂

[TINGY]

I can honestly say you would have to be pushing really hard to upset the car and need electronic driver aids to correct it.

I have driven my car in most situations weather wise now and feel pretty confident in it, apart from extreme weather of course, drive to the conditions and you will be pretty safe in a 996 me thinks.

[JWM]

My only major concern is if for some reason you needed to do a big adjustment mid corner, I reckon it could be a bit of a hand full, especially if the road was wet. 

[GC9911]

I put my 996 sideways mid corner first day I had it, totally driver error, scared the bejesus out of me. Decided I knew nothing about driving rear engine Porsches so booked in to Porsche driver training which confirmed I did indeed know nothing about driving rear engined cars. Highly recommend the driver training, have been sideways again but it was my choice.

[JWM]

Yeah that’s been on my list of things to do for the same reason (having no idea 😂) @GC9911

[daveyoul]

The 996.1 C4 has PSM. Haven’t had the opportunity to have a proper play on the track or skid pan yet, but under most conditions on the road you never know it is there. 

[MARTY]

On 11/10/2019 at 22:09, JWM said:

This was something that loomed large in my thinking for quite a while, although in the end I ended up getting a car without it. 

I knew the 996 4S had it in all of them standard, otherwise for a Carrera I would rely on the option codes to check, I forget what it was but it’s on the usual sites that come up on Google for checking them.

In the time I was looking, I only remember a few 996.2’s that had it, don’t recall ever seeing a 996.1 with it. It was originally one of the reasons I started out only looking at 997, because I think all the Carrera and Carrera S have it standard. I do wonder how good it is being ~15 years old now though?

My 996.1 has got it but it was an option so I’m guessing maybe not a lot of cars got that box ticked.

[Mike737]

On 12/10/2019 at 07:53, JWM said:

My only major concern is if for some reason you needed to do a big adjustment mid corner, I reckon it could be a bit of a hand full, especially if the road was wet. 

I had a moment where I was mid corner at about 100 and someone decided to cut me off without any warning doing about 40 under the speed limit. I luckily had an emergency lane to move around them otherwise it would probably not have been an accident either car would have driven away from.

I took the opportunity whilst on a skid pan with an ex counter terrorist driving instructor to figure out what was the best approach if a similar situation occurred. The answer is to just smash the ABS and steer it where you want - do anything else and your in trouble. @amanda was actually there the day I was trying to figure this one out. 

ABS is actually a form of stability control since it has to deal with the possibility you might have half the car in the dirt/grass meaning it has a bunch of smarts on how to keep the wheels turning and not locked whilst the car is possibly changing direction. I was pleasantly surprised at how much control I had going from a high speed lift off snap oversteer into ABS breaking situation in the 996.

[withers]

14 hours ago, Mike737 said:

I had a moment where I was mid corner at about 100 and someone decided to cut me off without any warning doing about 40 under the speed limit. I luckily had an emergency lane to move around them otherwise it would probably not have been an accident either car would have driven away from.

I took the opportunity whilst on a skid pan with an ex counter terrorist driving instructor to figure out what was the best approach if a similar situation occurred. The answer is to just smash the ABS and steer it where you want - do anything else and your in trouble. @amanda was actually there the day I was trying to figure this one out. 

ABS is actually a form of stability control since it has to deal with the possibility you might have half the car in the dirt/grass meaning it has a bunch of smarts on how to keep the wheels turning and not locked whilst the car is possibly changing direction. I was pleasantly surprised at how much control I had going from a high speed lift off snap oversteer into ABS breaking situation in the 996.

Yup when I did driver safety training he really embedded into us that if in trouble you reduce speed!    And yes I was there that day, that very fun day!