ABS on this truck is dangerous...

I actually wrote to both not too long after I bought my truck in 2007. Actually, the heads up to Toyota I believe involved a call.

Since I had another incident this year with this ABS that could have been disastrous, I may do it again.

 

Well said. The know-it-alls who constantly seem to come in here and insist it's either the fault of the driver or the tire are getting tiresome. If they read the descriptions of the situations that have been posted here, they might understand that it is indeed a defect in the system.

 

Here's where you're mistaken, and what is partly the root of our problems. The ABS is acting on all four wheels, not just the one it senses is slipping.

I've had the exact same thing happen, I know I've posted it several times in this thread and others. I was approaching a stop sign, on the brake, with controlled deceleration on nearly completely dry, clean road. One wheel hits a small patch of ice, ABS senses that wheel trying to lock up, and it cuts braking power to all four wheels, despite three of them still being on dry pavement.

It doesn't always happen though. At least for me, it's not always a repeatable fault. But let me tell you, when it happens, it scares the hell out of you.

Some moron will be along shortly to tell me either I was going too fast approaching the stop sign, or I didn't have the proper tires for gripping that dry pavement. They will then accompany those accusations with an explanation of how the ABS system is supposed to work, since clearly I don't know since I have an issue with it.

 

If a tire spins while applying the brake, you apparently have a whole separate set of problems aside from ABS or tires...

But hey, thanks for that sage-like wisdom. You're right. The system could never be at fault. That's impossible. If you apply the brakes for a slow, controlled stop on dry pavement, and one wheel hits a small patch of ice and locks up, naturally the ABS' logical answer should be to cut braking power to that wheel and also the three wheels that are on dry pavement, causing the truck to glide right through the stop sign. Obviously I need new tires.

 

In approximately twenty-five words could someone please tell me the problematic symptoms the ABS system on my 2007 Tacoma is supposed to exhibit that's got everyone in an uproar?

 

Only if you ask the question using 25 words or less

 

It sometimes at very low speeds activates when it shouldn't, cutting braking power to all four wheels if it senses a loss of traction in a single wheel.

That was 28 words. Let me know if those extra three are a problem and I'll reword.

 

That's a good point, he used 30 words to demand a 25 word answer.

 

I agree with Janster. I live in Calgary where ice is a big problem. ABS or not if your on ice and your going too fast your sliding thru, end of story.

 

Damn ice will get the best of you.

 

My bad , i meant "locks up", not "spin". You are smart enough to catch the error , you should also be wise enough to know what i meant to say, and the line was meant towards bad ABS, even if i didn't clarify it.
Even snow tires wont stop you at times we all deal with it. I have chains and never use em.... if i slide down a hill on my snow/ice tires I know its not the tires or ABS , i know i should have chained up. ABS is scary on ice, no doubt, on any rig.

Of course ABS could be broken , or even due a recall, Since ABS came out we hear the same stuff over and over again. Most issues... not all, come down to false exectations of ABS, I dont like it , had it since a 95 bronco, but i have to admit i never had a problem with it. My 95 bronco had no snow tires and wouldnt stop from 10 to 0 in 150' downhill from a ski resort I blamed ABS too, snow tires resolved most issues not all.
Just consider, ABS, snow tires , studs and 4000lb truck..... there are still times you just cant drive on ice safely.
Heating it up in with smart remarks wont reslove the issue, finding out you can do some things to make it better helps. But that isnt meant to say all problems driving in snow can be resolved.

 

This is my first winter with my 09, but right now the snow in DC is NUTS... I have to agree, and have had no problems with my ABS.

 

Sorry for the smart remarks. I just had enough comments from those coming into this thread explaining how ABS is supposed to work, and then saying that all of us that have had these issues either don't know how to drive or have bad tires. All anyone would have to do is read the stories posted and comprehend them to see that is nonsense.

It's as if someone posted that they had a flat tire, and others came in and explained how tires are supposed to work, and then said the guy doesn't know how to use tires or he needs new windshield wipers. It simply doesn't make any sense.

 

Thanks PS452, too many tire and experience vartiables in the first place to even be sure what the problem might be for 10 of us. I know I blamed ABS in my before stated Bronco, but i did find snow tires would help, but not reslove all the ice problems with abs.

what i do know on some ABS but not neceessarily all systems, they use a sound ring to detect a tone that correlates to your speed, a flat causes a mismatch from what i hear and kick it in.
At work we use all kinds of truck for snow and ice, there are hills that 4 chains wont handle, the ABS worked fine, but thats the whole annoyance when you take 200' to stop from 15mph to 0

 

Mine has done this several times, the pedal got hard as a rock and braking was cut-off to all the other wheels. I've driven plenty of abs vehicles but this scared the shit outta me.

 

Yep, sounds familiar.

A know-it-all will be along shortly to tell you that you don't know how to drive or you need different tires, and then explain the purpose of ABS.

 

My Tacoma's brakes failed in the manner described by the OP a few days ago. This was on clean 100% dry and warm pavement. No ice for 1000 miles. A family member was driving the truck and described the incident. I thought Toyota worked this **** out years ago. I bought a new 1998 4Runner that exhibited this failure 3 times. Please no lectures on ABS functioning. I know how it works. These are incidents of ABS reducing braking power by about 95% for no reason. Is there a TSB for this??

 

I live in Calgary too and there have been times when I have not needed the ABS to kick in. However, the system doesn't know if I want/need ABS or not. it just knows, wheel slips, engage ABS. It can't read my mind. I usually try to keep a tire or two on the soft snow on the side of the road ruts. Works like a charm.

When in doubt, aim the truck at a curb and try braking on that instead. Probably soft/crunchy snow to slow you down. Plus decreased chances of hitting someone else.

 

YES... Crom is correct!!

I had 2 previous Tacomas... the '01 brakes were perfect, the '05 brakes were crap... I thought I was going to crash when it was raining or on dirt roads!!!

The 2010 is perfect (so far) once again!!!

All three were ABS brakes... so what the heck did they do to the 2005-2008 ABS to make them fail on all but dry pavement?