Yesterday while driving in our snow storm that occured here in E.Pa., I noticed that when I applied brakes hard enough the wheels would lock up and I would lose all steering. However, I would regain my steering by pumping my brakes the old fahion way. I found this very disstressful thinking that this was the whole purpose behind ABS brakes. Anyone else experince similar circumstances?

 

Sounds like your ABS is not working properly.

When ABS is engaged you should feel a vibrating or grinding through the brake pedal and hear a grating sound. There sholuld be no wheel lock, no loss of steering.

Driving in the recent NE blizzard, I was a bit surprised how quickly the ABS kicked in. There were situations, such as approaching an icy intersection where I'd have preferred to lock the wheels for maximum traction and just deal with a bit of skidding. Most Northerners know how to drive in winter conditions. The ABS helped keep the car going straight but at the cost of a few feet of stopping distance.

 

The trick with ABS is to press on the brakes and keep pressing. The ABS pumps the brakes for you. If you were maintaining pressure and heard the ABS activate and still lost steering then you need to get to the dealer as your ABS system isn't working correctly. You won't have as much control as you would if the road wasn't slippery, but you certainly shouldn't totally lose your steering.

When you apply the brakes in an "ABS-required" situation you'll hear a sort of grinding noise (the MINI ABS noise is somewhat unique) - you should easily be able to hear the sound and may feel a pulsing in the steering wheel.

 

>>Yesterday while driving in our snow storm that occured here in E.Pa., I noticed that when I applied brakes hard enough the wheels would lock up and I would lose all steering. However, I would regain my steering by pumping my brakes the old fahion way. I found this very disstressful thinking that this was the whole purpose behind ABS brakes. Anyone else experince similar circumstances?

If the roads were very snow covered, maybe even the ABS could not give you traction ... I have been taking it very gently this last day in the storm, even with DSC, ABS, etc, etc.

 

Sounds like a malfunction to me, I would have it checked

Better safe than sorry especially when it comes to brakes


RAT

 

Your ABS cant be working right, when I hit the brakes in snow it does the automatic pumping. It works quite well and I never lose control or get scared about losing control of my baby. :smile: :smile: :smile:

 

ABS works by detecting that some wheels have stopped while the others are moving.

In very icy conditions if you apply the breaks hard, as you say you did, then you could lock up all four wheels at once.

The ABS system has no way of knowing that you are in a four wheel skid instead of say sitting at a light!

Part of driving in snowy and icy conditions is to drive very defensivly, assume that you will skid at any moment. Anything that the ABS can do for you is a bonus.

Once it clears up, and it's safe to do so, try an emergency break. If you manage a 4 wheel skid in these conditions then there IS a problem with your ABS. I suspect you'll find it works ok though.

:smile: