The Recent snowy weather ( in North Yorkshire) I had to stop all of a sudden for a rabbit, ( this is true, and i will get to the point), this caused the car to slide, but i could control where it was going. I noticed that the brakes made a funny noise (sort of rumbling sound) and the brake pedal was sort of vibrating and pulsing, the car has just past a MOT, and it has ABS to which the ABS light goes out on start-up as it should, the car stops fine under normal breaking conditions- is this normal??? I thought it might be the ABS trying (but cant) stop the car sliding on snow.
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1983 (A) Vauxhall Astra 1.3L
1993 (K) Vauxhall Cavalier 2.0i GLS
1999 (T) Renault Laguna 1.6 Alize
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Sounds as if it's doing what it should do to me.
When you say "caused the car to slide" I take it you were pressing the brake but not getting much retardation? The fact that you could steer confirms that the wheels weren't locked, which is all ABS can do for you. It can't create grip where there isn't any, or any more where there isn't very much.
If you aren't that familiar with its operation and you've plenty of snow up there, I'd have a practice (in an open space of course).
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Sounds like the brakes are working fine to me. I have a Renault Scenic with ABS, last year we had some snow which ended in ice on our road and I had an interesting experience coming to a halt, feeling ABS operate for the first time .... a couple of hours later there was a head-on accident in the same spot, low speed and no injuries.
The pulsing of the brake pedal is an effect of the ABS operating, and the noise is the ABS applying, releasing and re-applying the brakes rapidly. On snow, the wheels will lock earlier than on a dry road due to the build-up of a wedge of snow in front of the "locked" wheels; on ice, the car thinks that it has stopped immediately because the brakes stop the wheels, the speedo registers zero but the car can continue to slide.
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Just as a point of interest I did a course recently on ABS, traction control,vehicle stability etc. I discovered that the pulsing you can feel through the brake pedal is actually a feature whereby the ABS system is 'telling' the driver that the ABS is active at that moment, after all when the average Joe is in a distress situation, you know, brake pedal buried in the carpet, knuckles white and arms paralysed with eyes tight shut he aint going to notice, or want, a girt big warning light shouting ABS at him is he?
Andrew
Simplicate and add lightness!!
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Hi Everyone
Thanks for the replys, this is the first car i have driven that has ABS brakes, and its reasuring to know that this is how they function
i dint relise how usefull they can be, a point that was hammered home to me in my cavalier, when someone decided to stop all of a sudden after a mssive downpour on really smooth tarmack, the cavalier DIDNT have abs,, wheels locked up and the heavy wieght cavalier was sliding about all over the place,
Going down a contry lane one night in the Laguna, there was a bend that i coudnbt see, braked all of sudden (white knucles on the sterring wheel) ABS applied and brought the car to a stop without me slidding into a ditch.
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1983 (A) Vauxhall Astra 1.3L
1993 (K) Vauxhall Cavalier 2.0i GLS
1999 (T) Renault Laguna 1.6
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