Accident-ABS failed?

Deastons

supermum38 wrote: »

13 days ago I had a free brake check and new discs and brakes fitted

How funny that your free brake check led to you buying new discs and brakes...

marlot

iltisman wrote: »

I have come across some road conditions where ABS has increased my breaking distance. Downhill with potholes and loose gravel is one where my old mini stops much better than my ABS equiped Fiat.

Snow is another such condition. Caused by a build up of matter in front of the locked wheels.

System

Deastons wrote: »

How funny that your free brake check led to you buying new discs and brakes...

Given how the OP has stated their reliance on ABS it would come as no surprise that they wear the hell out of their brakes. I expect their driving style involves foot on the loud pedal right everywhere up to the point that they have to brake quite hard to stop. I would hazard a bet that if you looked at their wheels the front ones were black with brake dust.

Norman_Castle wrote: »

ABS is Anti Lock Braking. It allows you to press the brake as hard as you can without the wheels locking. The brakes are stronger without it.

Err, no that isn't what it does. What ABS does is sense that one or more wheels are locked up whilst others are in motion, usually one or both of the rear ones will still be turning, and rapidly releases and re-applies the brake to the locked up wheel in order to allow you to steer. It basically does that long lost art, cadence braking, at a rate faster than you can do. You can actually emulate ABS in a car without it just by rapidly pumping the brake pedal.

The brakes are not stronger without it because the whole reason ABS comes on is because you are braking more than the friction of the tyre on the road surface can handle so the tyre has lost grip.

Norman_Castle

Tarambor wrote: »

Err, no that isn't what it does. What ABS does is sense that one or more wheels are locked up whilst others are in motion, usually one or both of the rear ones will still be turning, and rapidly releases and re-applies the brake to the locked up wheel in order to allow you to steer. It basically does that long lost art, cadence braking, at a rate faster than you can do. You can actually emulate ABS in a car without it just by rapidly pumping the brake pedal.

The brakes are not stronger without it because the whole reason ABS comes on is because you are braking more than the friction of the tyre on the road surface can handle so the tyre has lost grip.

For the benefit of the op, the brakes are effectively stronger without ABS. Its failure would not have caused your accident.

I don't need an explanation of how ABS works but thanks anyway.

parking_question_chap

daveyjp wrote: »

Too close whilst going too fast is why you had the accident.

ABS merely prevents skidding and allows you to steer when braking to avoid a crash, it does not necessarily make the car stop in a shorter distance.

This.

Move on and dont drive as close in future.

RichardD1970

In all my years of driving ABS equipped cars I have never had the ABS kick-in in normal driving conditions (only in snow and ice) regardless of how hard I have braked.

George_Michael

Tarambor wrote: »

Err, no that isn't what it does. What ABS does is sense that one or more wheels are locked up whilst others are in motion,

A good ABS shouldn't allow any of the wheels to actually lock up.
It will sense the rotational speed of each wheel and if it determines that any of those wheels are going significantly slower than the others during braking and it is likely to lock up then the brake pressure to the wheel or wheels in question will be reduced.

parking_question_chap

George_Michael wrote: »

A good ABS shouldn't allow any of the wheels to actually lock up.
It will sense the rotational speed of each wheel and if it determines that any of those wheels are going significantly slower than the others during braking and it is likely to lock up then the brake pressure to the wheel or wheels in question will be reduced.

No it doesnt.

ABS means automatic braking system, which should stop you crashing into stuff.

lockedout69

parking_question_chap wrote: »

No it doesnt.

ABS means automatic braking system, which should stop you crashing into stuff.

ha ha:eek:

John-K_3

parking_question_chap wrote: »

No it doesnt.

ABS means automatic braking system, which should stop you crashing into stuff.

Come on now, people might believe you, and get themselves into trouble.