ABS on this truck is dangerous...

Could this just be a fundamental disconnect between the marketing/hype that promotes ABS, assumptions possibly being made by drivers as a result, and the reality of Newton's second law: F=mass x acceleration ("The more mass the object has the more inclined it is to resist any change in its motion")?

Just asking.

 

I agree. Although I think it should be disabled at closer to 10mph or so, I guarantee I was not moving even 5mph the other day when it kicked in. I was at an absolute crawl.

 

Taking away your braking power entirely certainly won't stop you.

In both examples I typed out, ABS could have caused an accident. And in both examples, had ABS not been there, I would have had absolutely no problem stopping.

 

I agree the ABS is not the best on our trucks. Hopefully they make some changes to the programming on the upcoming models. It is far too sensitive on the front wheels. Some other manufacturers have changed the logic to allow wheel lockup thus allowing a buildup of sand, dirt, snow in front of the wheels that will assist in braking ability. It's all in the programming.

 

The system knows the terrain better than you do.... and it shouldn't engage unless a wheel has locked up.

Like I said before....take the truck to the dealer and have the system checked for malfunctions.

The fact that you coasted through the intersection was not due to the ABS. You're going too fast to begin with. The fact that you needed to use the brakes that hard to force the wheels to lock up to engage the ABS - says (to me anyway) that you're going too fast.

Try going a little slower - like 5-10mph slower on these same conditions and report back to use on how the ABS is doing for you. Because chances are, it'll never engage.

 

I promise you, I was not going fast in any circumstance.

In the case of going through the intersection, I had already almost come to a complete stop. The road was clean and dry, but it was a cold morning. I wish I had a picture of the road where the ABS kicked in to show you. There was not enough ice on the road to have more than one wheel on it at a time. Best I can figure, I was on the brake, still decelerating as I was nearing the stop sign, one wheel hit the patch of ice, ABS sensed it wanting to lock up, and took away braking power to all four wheels. That is a defect, not operator error.

Same with the situation the other day, except that situation the parking lot was covered in snow. Still, I was crawling, and my traction was good enough to keep myself in control of the truck. I'm assuming ABS felt a wheel hit a slick spot and again decided to just take away my braking power.

Trust me, it's not operator error.

ETA: Hypothetically, given a perfectly dry, clean, paved road with a patch of ice one foot by one foot, ABS senses a wheel lock up when it hits that patch of ice, but I have three other wheels on dry pavement with excellent traction, how does it help for the ABS to kick in in that situation?

That situation was not so hypothetical for me.

 

I am in agreement with Janster. The abs must have detected that you were sliding. ABS does not make your brakes fail. It is only supposed to make the wheels have more traction under panic stop conditions.

On the other hand, it probably would be good to have an abs over ride switch when on snow and ice.

 

I hate my ABS too. I've also had it kick in on a hill and caused me to accelerate through an intersection...Also had it kick in several times and not provide any braking assistance.

I never had a problem with my 99 Taco with no ABS. I'd love to have a button to turn it off around town and anything under 40-45 mph.

 

x2

 

I've had this problem but it was my fault and I was playing but I figured I was pressing the brake's to hard if it lock's up use less brake. It's ice you cant drive up a road covered with it what make's you think you can stop on it. It's common since people! If you need to stop on ice get your tires studded.

 

Funny, I credit ABS, in part, for safely making it 300+ miles through the blizzard a couple weeks back. It worked wonderfully for me.

On ice, forget it, nothing short of studs will help you.

 

ABS may have detected one wheel beginning to slide, that I will give you. ABS did not detect the truck sliding, because it wasn't. If one wheel momentarily sliding is reason for ABS to take away the brakes from the other three wheels that still have traction, that is a dangerous defect.

 

If only one wheel is on ice, and the other three are on dry pavement, and I'm moving at a crawl, I guarantee I can stop....unless ABS takes away all my braking power.

 

--- ABS has one purpose. To enable a given vehicle retain steering control during hard braking conditions. Nothing more.

Since it was created numeous other systems have been created to further enhance directional stability, braking, traction aids.

 

You might be talking about the EBC then not the ABS.

 

A few weeks ago I was driving down a snowy hill and in front of me was an older S10 Blazer from the 80's without abs. He slid sideways down the hill out of control while my Tacoma's abs kicked in and kept me straight and in control. I will agree this system is very sensitive, but I'll keep mine. JMO.

 

I can tell you for 100% certainty in the situation a couple years ago that I wrote about, it did indeed take away braking power from all four wheels, not just the one that momentarily wanted to lock up. It was dry pavement. There was nothing on it, except one patch of ice that couldn't have been more than one foot long front to rear, and only on the right side of the lane. I guarantee three wheels were on dry pavement when the ABS kicked in. And if it only pulsed the wheel that was on ice, I guarantee I would have stopped, instead of coasting through the stop sign.