So I was driving through Cornwall earlier, enjoying the sun and the winding roads, when rather suddenly the car jumped on the breaks (by itself) whilst simultaneously illuminating the traction control light. Not ideal and a little bit scary.

I pulled over, turned off and restarted the car and then proceeded to pull away (rather sheepishly). 20 seconds down the road, upon accelerating, the same thing happens again. Traction control light illuminates and the car applies the brakes all by itself.

 

It's as if the ABS kicks in..a loud juddery grinding sound like you'd hear and feel through the pedal when the ABS kicks in...but without touching the brake.

The ABS light doesn't illuminate however, just the traction control light.

 

I pulled the ABS/Traction control fuse from the fuse box and drove home without issues.

 

Firstly, does anyone know what might be causing this?

 

And secondly, is there any way of permanently disabling the ABS without triggering all the dash warning lights?! Id rather not have it anyway.

 

Thank you in advance

Edited 17 September, 201510 yr by Gizmo68
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If you get a vcds scan it may point you towards a particular abs sensor or something on that route, it could also be a brake pedal switch issue sending a weird signal. I would try a scan, weird signal like that should have thrown a code. Brake pedal switch is quite common and can cause weird things, gen ones aren't too expensive, if you need one though I have a new one I fitted for like 2 drives before the car died (tenner posted).

Post your cooler in the for sale section it should fly out. Think someone put a want ad up as well.

Er, unless you have ESP there is no mechanism by which the car can apply the brakes by itself other than through something pressurising the servo or pedal (linkage).