So has anybody else had their ABS try to kill them lately...

[MK1]

I only ask because this is the third time my ABS has fully released my brakes (to the point of gaining speed). So here's the situation: I was driving down a mostly plowed road entering a left turn lane, I was applying about half a pedal's worth of pressure when I hear the moaning of the ABS motor. My knee is jammed into the steering wheel (long legs & short arms) and I actually gain about 5mph; forcing me to make a turn at 30 or hit the car across from me. I wasn't sliding to my knowledge, and was slowing down much quicker before the ABS kicked in. I have had many cars and never have been unable to stop when the ABS engages. Is this normal with Ford ABS or do I have a problem with my brakes?

 

[corkey]

there your problem, lack of communication between you and the abs,
it works when you mash the pedal all the way down to regulate the pressure, it might not work exactly proper at 1/2 brake pedal,,

 

[sport97]

I have never had mine kick in while driving in the snow, mine sometimes kick in while on bumpy roads or hills, which almost caused me to rearend someone one time. I know your not to pump the brakes or anything when the abs kicks in, it must have had to due with it coming on while only applying 1/2 of the pedal.

 

[MK1]

This is my problem it'll come on while I'm still slowing down, not skidding. Once applied I've tryed to mash the pedal, to the point of standing on the pedal, but cannot seem to loose any speed. So based on the replies so far, I take it this isn't normal?

 

[my pos mounty]

Does not sound normal to me, not in comparison with my 99 Mounty. Checked your rear brakes to see if they are hanging up? It always feels like my rears are slowing me down more that the fronts when the ABS system kicks on.

 

[Joe Dirt]

It senses skidding before you do. When properly working, the ABS can kick in at any time, you do not and should not feel "skidding" anyway, just the vibrating pedal per se. Apply the pedal fully, and the computer controls braking. I think they're working normally, I think you're possibly trying to feather the brakes, and fighting the ABS system. It feels like you're speeding up, since the brakes are unapplied 1/2 of the time, when the ABS is pumping.

The ABS is not going to stop you cold, sometimes it takes a LONG way to stop the truck, even with ABS... It only keeps you from getting into a skid, it doesn't overcome the conditions.

I think they're working normally, I suspect that you think they'll do more than they're really capable of perhaps?

 

[Elessar65]

I agree with Joe, the ABS will sense a wheel being locked up LONG before you do, unless you can respond in milliseconds. The point of ABS isn't really to stop you faster, its to keep you from going into a sideways skid. I'm not saying this is you, but a lot of accidents I see are from people thinking that cause they have ABS they can stop quickly on ice/snow. That is totally false. ABS just keeps you in control of the vehicle and able to steer, vs skidding out of control when you lock a wheel up.

 

[sport97]

They are right, ABS isn't designed to stop you fast, it designed to give you a controlled stop, so you can steer and not skid. It might not be so much that you're gaining speed, its that you are not stopping as fast as you would under normal conditions.

 

[Joe Dirt]

The sensation of "Gaining speed" does exist, but it is only becasue you're feathering a stop, and just when the truck is slowing, the ABS kicks in and releases the brakes and goes into it's repid apply/release/apply/release characteristic. That sensation makes it feel like you're speeding up, but in reality it is just either maintaining speed or slowing down in a different way.

ABS is one of those things that does help, but I think a lot of people (myself included when I first had it years ago) thought that the car would stop much faster, which just isn't true most of the time.

If you think about it, pretend you're on an icy road- if you feather the brake just to the point of skidding, that is where the ABS will reside, and that is the brake pressure that it will have- that is how fast you will stop. If it's ice, you can barely apply your brakes without skidding. If you barely touch your brakes, how much distance would it take your Ex to stop, even on dry pavement if you apply 10% of your brake capacity?

 

[john93rangerstx]

mine does that to me in my escape that why i took the fuse out

 

[YBCold]

yeah i got rid of mine. its all just a gimmick. i hear now even mopeds have computers WTF?

 

[rhauf]

I've had ABS fail me a number of times, in two separate vehicles (one being my first gen explorer) ...i'm no fan of ABS so i disable it.

the worst fail was in a ford ranger i was offroading, i had gathered a lot of speed and made it 90% of the way up a very tall hill climb, when i got to the top (having not made it) i applied the brakes, but the abs kicked in and they did nothing.. i pressed the pedal harder, jamming it to the floor.. it did that vibrate crap and i was accelerating out of control, backwards, down this hill... towards a bunch of trees. luckily it was a stick shift so i managed to stop myself by dropping the clutch (with it still in 3'rd gear) before i slammed into the trees at the bottom, backwards, at some high ridiculous speed. (the act of dropping the clutch spun the engine backwards and did a little damage).

later, in that same vehicle, i was flying down a sandy river bed (at about 60mph) and there was a tree fallen across it, i slammed the brakes but of course ABS kicked in (preventing the wheels from locking up and digging into the sand like a normal vehicle) and so i crashed through the fallen tree... which turned out to be pretty fun.. but yeah... after that i disabled the ABS.

my explorer's ABS failed on my g/f while she was driving it, shortly after we got it, luckily there weren't many cars around so she had time to steer... i disabled it after that.

there have also been two other incidences where I've spun out cars (a mustang once, and a topaz which blew a tire another time) and had to lock up the brakes to guide the car where it needed to go (aka NOT off the cliff one time, and NOT into a street light the other time) had i had ABS the car would have gone where the wheels were pointed as it regained traction, but with the ability to lock the brakes, i was able to guide the car in a straight line down the road. and avoid death.

 

[Joe Dirt]

While I understand the situations rhauf, I don't think the correct term would be "fail" as I don't think the engineers considered rolling backwards out of control down a hill, or rolling 60mph down a riverbed to be a normal operating condition. : (but it should be, because that's an f'n blast...)

With the other situations, how did you have better control of steering the vehicle with your wheels locked up instead of when they were still allowed to steer the vehicle under ABS? That one confuses me. If it was a distance thing, I could see that...

Maybe this link will help clear up some stuff on the purpose and function of ABS...

CLICK ME

 

[kert0307]

I only ask because this is the third time my ABS has fully released my brakes (to the point of gaining speed). So here's the situation: I was driving down a mostly plowed road entering a left turn lane, I was applying about half a pedal's worth of pressure when I hear the moaning of the ABS motor. My knee is jammed into the steering wheel (long legs & short arms) and I actually gain about 5mph; forcing me to make a turn at 30 or hit the car across from me. I wasn't sliding to my knowledge, and was slowing down much quicker before the ABS kicked in. I have had many cars and never have been unable to stop when the ABS engages. Is this normal with Ford ABS or do I have a problem with my brakes?

1. When there is snow/ice on the ground never apply your brakes at all while turning/changing lanes
2. The ABS will not increase the speed of the vehicle. I have however when to hit the brakes before and hit both the brake and the gas with my right foot at the same time... (Size 15 feet wedged under the dash...)

 

[peterbrown77]

I had a Suburban with one of the first available 4-wheel ABS systems and it did the same thing. I took it back.

The problem was that if you were going around a moderate or tight bend in the road, and getting on the brakes the computer would interpret the difference in wheel speed from the fact that the inside tire is covering less distance as the outside tire as being caused by the inside wheel locking up - and it would release the caliper on that wheel. The wheel wasn't locked up though, but the computer didn't know that.

Very spooky!

 

[malodin]

happened to me, i was hauling a little heavier load than i should have on my trailer, started tail whipping ended up sliding sideways in the middle of the freeway(luckly no cars near me) was facing the wall but about 10 feet away from it and coming to a complete stop(probably down to 15mph at the time) then all of a sudden abs "pulsated" and there was enough force on from the trailer it straitened out and pushed me into the wall....i would have been fully stopped had the abs held out for just a few more seconds. now my ex is severely f*d up in the front clip

 

[rhauf]

While I understand the situations rhauf, I don't think the correct term would be "fail" as I don't think the engineers considered rolling backwards out of control down a hill, or rolling 60mph down a riverbed to be a normal operating condition. : (but it should be, because that's an f'n blast...)

With the other situations, how did you have better control of steering the vehicle with your wheels locked up instead of when they were still allowed to steer the vehicle under ABS? That one confuses me. If it was a distance thing, I could see that...

Maybe this link will help clear up some stuff on the purpose and function of ABS...

CLICK ME

both situations i was in a turn and got sidewaysed. the first one i was screwing off my my mustang, getting (very) sidewaysed out of a parking lot, well i over-recovered and it got more sidewaysed than my steering would allow me to compensate for, so the steering started pulling me in (and increasing my angle) so i just stomped the brakes which carried me in my current direction (directly down the road) instead of in the direction the car was about to take me (over a curb and into a pole and fence) yes i was 18 and i was an idiot.. but still.. not having abs saved me there...

the other time, i was driving in a '94 mercury topaz and had a tire blow in the middle of a turn (on a windy mountain road with cliffs on the side), the car went sideways coming out of the turn and i was able to keep it in the road by locking the brakes, had i not been able to lock the brakes, it would have regained traction at some point and taken me off the cliff. its hard to explain if you weren't there, but i was glad i didn't have abs.

haven't you ever seen those videos where people get a little sideways around a corner and when they regain traction they are facing the inside of the turn so much they cant steer to avoid going off the INSIDE of the turn? and they are going too fast to slow down... so they crash? there's a couple i've seen on youtube. if you want i could search one up. anyhow, that can always be avoided if you can lock you're brakes/skid out... just as i did in the mercury.

 

[gijoecam]

yeah i got rid of mine. its all just a gimmick. i hear now even mopeds have computers WTF?

Gimmick? Nope.

later, in that same vehicle, i was flying down a sandy river bed (at about 60mph) and there was a tree fallen across it, i slammed the brakes but of course ABS kicked in (preventing the wheels from locking up and digging into the sand like a normal vehicle) and so i crashed through the fallen tree... which turned out to be pretty fun.. but yeah... after that i disabled the ABS.

my explorer's ABS failed on my g/f while she was driving it, shortly after we got it, luckily there weren't many cars around so she had time to steer... i disabled it after that.

You have described one of but two circumstances where it's possible for a non-ABS vehicle to out-stop an ABS-equipped vehicle. Loose, soft snow and loose/soft gravel. In both those conditions, a non-ABS-equipped vehicle with locked wheels will push up a mound of dirt/snow in front of the tires, essentially digging-in and stopping faster than an ABS-equipped vehicle which unlocks the tires just before that mound has a chance to form. However, those are the only two circumstances where a non-ABS vehicle has a *slight* advantage in ONLY a straight-line panic-stop situation. The fact that your girlfriend's car was able to steer around the vehicle she nearly hit doesn't sound like a failure of the system, it sounds like the system performed exactly as it's supposed to (i.e. provides CONTROL).

Contrary to what you may *think* was a controlled stop in your two scenarios (the Topaz and the Mustang) the fact of the matter is that you were already out of control. The ability to lock the brakes simply allowed the vehicle to continue on it's uncontrolled path, which just happened to be an OK thing to have happen in those two circumstances. However, those circumstances are the exception, not the rule. (and if they're the rule, please don't drive behind me... or anywhere near me, for that matter! )

The fact of the matter is that an ABS-equipped vehicle can and will out-stop 99.9% of the driving population driving the exact same non-ABS vehicle 99.9% of the time. As someone mentioned earlier, the main purpose is to allow the driver to bring the vehicle to a CONTROLLED stop. Neither of your two skidding situations was a controlled stop. IIRC, AAA put out a commercial a few years back about the three S's: Stop, Stay, and Steer. That's what ABS is designed to give you the ability to do: Bring the vehicle to a controlled stop. When you're skidding, you're not in control, plain and simple.

ABS doesn't re-write the laws of physics. It just helps you better-utilize them.

Speaking of which, the advantage in the dirt and snow of a non-ABS vehicle may have disappeared. The Bosch system in the new Ford F150 SVT Raptor utilizes a completely different algorhythm for the ABS to determine when the vehicle is off-road, and adjusts the wheel speed thresholds to tolerate more wheel lockup and greater wheel speed differences before it kicks in. That's essential when crawling the rocks, or in high-speed desert running.... And from what I understand (I have a friend that was involved in some of the design and testing) the system works surprisingly well.

 

[gijoecam]

Oh, and getting back to the original topic... You did not speed up when the ABS kicked in, I guarantee that. You may have reduced your rate of deceleration, but I guarantee you did not speed up. It sounds to me like the ABS kicked in and did exactly what it was supposed to do (i.e. avoided locking the tires into an uncontrollable skid). Once the ABS kicks in, no further amount of braking force can be generated by pushing harder as the brakes are already trying to exert more braking force than the traction conditions can support (hence the ABS kicking on in the first place). Don't try to feather the brakes when that happens. Just look for your out.... It's telling you that you've exceeded the maximum traction, you're trying to brake too hard for the traction you've got, and if you're approaching an immovable object, you need to steer around it or brace for impact.

So many people fail to try to steer around the object, thinking that the ABS kicked in, so it'll stop them faster. In reality, it's just giving them a shot at an alternative: Steering around it. Without the ABS, you would lock into a skid and have zero control. At least with the ABS running, there is at least a shot of being able to redirect the vehicle.

 

[rhauf]

Well to answer you're last statement first, yes i did in fact speed up, because when i pressed the brakes i was nearly stopped (stalled at the top of the hill) and i was accelerating because gravity was pulling me down the hill backwards, accelerating me quite quickly. i was more-or-less coasting down the hill, and it was a very steep hill. That was a perfectly functioning 4-wheel ABS system on a '96 ford ranger.

the girlfriend incident, she did not "almost hit" another car, she simply pressed the brakes (as one normally would) to casually slow down for a stop sign, and they didn't work. (at least thats how she told it). that ABS system however, was not in perfect working order (the light ABS light came on and off, so there may have been other problems with it... nonetheless, the problems, or something, resulted in a malfunction of the brakes)

the topaz incident was when a tire blew in the middle of a turn. yes it was clearly out of control, but the wheels could have potentially regained traction at some point while the car was facing a less-than-optimal position (such as towards the 200 foot cliff). and having the ability to lock-up the wheels helped me avoid the possibility that that would happen (as the car became perpendicular to the road, facing the cliff)

here is a youtube video to illustrate my point; had this guy not had ABS he could have bailed out and gone straight down the road (the direction his momentum was currently going, sideways) , it wouldn't have regained traction and pulled him the direction he was facing (towards the other cars) with nothing he could do to avoid the situation.


as for the raptor and other modern ABS systems, i have no experience with them, and i will not speak for them, the OP asked about experiences people had with their ABS, and i mentioned a couple i had had, along with a couple non-abs experiences i considered good. that's all. i'm sure ABS is a very beneficial thing for most drivers, who panic and slam on the brakes then attempt to steer, that's what it was designed for.