Anti-lock braking systems (ABS) and various other electronic driver aids were banned from Formula 1 racing by the governing body (FIA) prior to the 1994 season to preserve the fundamental principle that a grand prix car's performance should depend primarily on driver skill, reflexes, and mechanical mastery rather than sophisticated computer software. During the early 1990s, teams developed advanced active suspensions, traction control, telemetry, and computerized ABS that allowed drivers to slam on the brakes at the absolute limit without locking tires or flat-spotting rubber. The FIA ruled that these electronic interventions masked driver errors, reduced the spectacle of skilled threshold braking, escalated development costs to unsustainable levels, and turned the sport into an engineering contest of software code rather than a test of human athletic capability. Banning ABS forced drivers to modulate brake pressure manually under extreme deceleration forces, restoring a critical element of human error and driver craft to competitive motor racing.