Skidding with ABS on wet road? possible....?

Wife rammed the car into the back of somebody yesterday by breaking/ skidding on the wet road etc.

Just realised that the cars got ABS brakes. I always thought the wheels wouldnt lock in this case? Or am I wrong?

Reply to
paulfoel
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The wheels won't lock, but if there's not enough grip on the road the stopping distance will increase..

Mike P

Reply to
Mike P

paulfoel gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

ABS doesn't magically increase the level of grip available. All it does is automate what used to be called "cadence braking".

Brake-lock-release-brake-lock-release-brake-lock etc.

It decreases the stopping distance compared to locked wheels, whilst allowing you to steer. The stopping distance will still be longer than for brakes held just before the point of locking. And, of course, longer on a wet slippery road than a dry one.

Reply to
Adrian

The wheels don't lock, or shouldn't lock, but that doesn't mean the car will stop dead. If the ABS does operate (felt as a pulsing in the brake pedal) the actual braking distance will be longer than with good tyres in the dry with a competent driver.

As to the airbag question, that would depend on the speed at the time of the collision.

Just put it down to your wife being a numpty and move on.

Reply to
Steve Firth

Yeh. Undoubtedly my wifes fault. If you rear end someone then its your fault for being so close pure and simple.

Its just that if the car ever gets fixed I'd like to know that the ABS is working OK. Might not be so lucky next time....

Reply to
paulfoel

paulfoel gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

ABS is easy enough to test. Plant the middle pedal. The brakes should lock-release-lock-release, and you'll feel the pedal pulsing.

If she hit the other vehicle as hard as it sounds, it's slightly more than just faulty ABS that's to blame...

Reply to
Adrian

The ABS is probably working fine. All it can do is compare the wheel speeds between the four wheels and attempt to compensate for locked ones. If all four wheels are on a very slippery surface then it can't do much at all if none have grip.

Reply to
Pete M

Pete,

Tell you what. If you're going to have a dig at every one of my posts then please feel to ignore them.

Reply to
paulfoel

As if I'd do that.

Oh, snip sigs :-)

Reply to
Pete M

People do seem to brake fairly heavily and late these days in my opinion. This is not always going to work in the wet, no matter how good the technology. I suspect most people expect their car to stop just as well in the wet or more likely, don't give it a single thought and carry on driving the same way they do in the dry. Just driving my old Sierra for a day would teach them to brake more gently, look ahead/predict more and keep their distance. And that is a Sierra which stops damn well in my opinion, but of course not great compared to modern stuff. Drive a Mk1 Escort with drum brakes all round and no servo (my previous car and driven up until 1995) and modern driving styles would cause them to hit the first car they came up behind.

Reply to
Graham

In message , Adrian writes

I can't get my Focus to do that on a dry road. If I stand on my brakes, it just pulls up bloody sharp with the seat belt trying to cut me in half. The only way I can test mine is on a wet road.

Reply to
Paul Giverin

Paul Giverin gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Go faster, then, and plant the pedal harder.

Or get the brakes sorted. They certainly _should_ be able to lock on a dry road.

Reply to
Adrian

ABS does not necessarily operate at very low speed, when it does work it cannot change the laws of physics.

Get decent tyres and stopping improves dramatically.

If it gets fixed then check the abs works , if the warning light does what it should then probably it is all ok.

Teach the driver the 2 second (4 in bad conditions) rule, it is then more difficult to hit the car in front.

Reply to
Mrcheerful

Reply to
Mrcheerful

They will lock once you've got down to about 5 mph. But most don't actually know what ABS feels like in operation so your lady may just have thought it was a skid. Best to check them out.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

His wife is probably the best bet -- though not for the marriage!

Reply to
David Taylor

Yes they can lock up, depending on the car, design and road speed. Some at specification don't operate below a certain speed, which can be 20 mph for the older designs, 5 mph, 2 mp or whatever. My Ka's ABS operated at walking pace on the snow. You still had no steering or braking ability though. :)

Reply to
DervMan

In message , Adrian writes

I have tried going faster. Makes no difference. I expect if I really hammered the pedal, it might work but I'm breaking fairly violently as it is.

This is on a Mk2 Focus with discs all round and fairly wide rubber. When I had a Mk1 Focus, I could provoke the ABS fairly easily.

Reply to
Paul Giverin

They will lock for a split second, then release, then brake as hard as possible and so on. Either she didn't brake or the brakes/tyres/shock absorbers are faulty. In accident investigations it is always possible to tell if someone has braked and the ABS has come on by the broken lines left on the road. I think she might be telling porkies.

Reply to
kcr

Oh yes they do - I have investigated many RTCs when people have lied about braking or not braking as the case may be. I take it you have never looked at how ABS works or why people think they can lie about speeding?

Reply to
kcr

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