ABS is starting to annoy me...

[hexstatic]

Hey guys,

Back on 28-09-2008 I posted a thread on here saying I had a small accident due to a servo hose breaking, and got replaced by the local Skoda dealer, no hassle. (But the bodywork damage wouldnt be paid for. :()

Recently though, I've been having a similar problem and the ABS keeps kicking in when I brake and it doesnt seem to stop any faster, infact half the time it doesnt seem to even make a difference! What I've noticed in most of the occasions when this has happened, is that the car goes over a bump, or through a pot-hole and then it kicks in. A few of these times I've been close to coming into contact with other cars, including a Maserati that cut me up and slammed on his brakes.

Just wondering if this is normal, or is there any way to alter the sensitivity of it?

Thanks, Thom.

[KenONeill]

It's really difficult to comment without knowing how you drive, beyond saying that ABS is not there to stop you faster, but to stop you locking wheels and skidding under panic braking, or on slippery surfaces.

[MoggyTech]

ABS is not designed to stop you in a shorter distance, in fact a good driver can stop a non ABS car quicker. ABS will kick in under braking if you hit a pothole or slippery surface, it works off wheel speed sensors and a fairly smart ECU, but it's not a fool proof get out of jail card.

All it does is prevent wheel lockup during emergency stops, and allows you to steer while braking.

Rather than blame the system, I would look at improving certain driving skills.

[fuey]

if that was me - i'd find a stretch of road (private ideally) and perform some emergency braking to see how the ABS is behaving.

[JulieD]

If your ABS has been behaving differently since you've had this accident maybe it would be worth getting the car checked out for damage to the suspension, and have the geometry checked

[hexstatic]

My dads taken it out for a few emergency stops, said it was fine, but he hasnt driven it enough to notice anything wrong with the ABS. Might let him borrow it for a few days see if he finds anything strange with it.

I still prefer the non ABS system on my Fiesta, hahah.

I'll take it to the garage soon and see if they can find anything the matter. Thanks for the advice.

[KenONeill]

Quick tale of 2 Xantias:-

My dad had one, which was the first car with ABS I'd ever driven. I found this car's ABS unconvincing in 2 ways, (1) it seemed very sensitive, cutting in when neither he nor I thought it should have, and (2) occasionally allowing me to lock wheels, admittedly on marble gravel over tarmac.

I subsequently bought one (built 2 years later) which suffered from neither problem. If fact the way the ABS on it was most obvious was that if you braked hard on good tarmac, then put the LH wheels onto marble gravel you could feel the rate of retardation fall off as the ABS cut in to stop the LH brakes locking.