had an oh crap moment today.

I know there is already a huge thread on this, but I didnt want to be just another one of the countless posts in there. I took my truck today to get lunch for me and my coworker. after I got the food, I was pulling out of their lot and up to the main road (VERY busy road). it was a little bit slushy right where the driveway entered the main road. I was going very slow, and when my truck got to the slush, the abs kicked on. I had my foot hard on the brakes, and I lost ALL braking power. My truck rolled straight into the main road and I cutoff a car, who was now blaring their horn at me. The truck rolled the same way it does when your in gear, and you let your foot off the brakes and just use the engine idle to roll forward. I am extremely lucky there happened to be a break in traffic, and that this driver saw me. If there happened to be an 18 wheeler etc this wouldnt have ended well. I had no control with stopping the truck. And no, it was not "ice" or anything that did this, it was the braking system. Ive been reading the Abs is dangerous thread for months and just shrugging it off because it never happens to me, and I see snow daily. Well now I know its real, and im a little nervous of this situation now. On my way home from work I repeatedly tested my brakes on my snowy street, and could not replicate the situation. Do you think this will ever get addressed? this could be fatal.....

 

Welcome to the believers

 

OP, I'm not disputing your post in any way. Glad you didn't get hit!

Could you clarify - was your ABS stuttering throughout, and your wheels rolled anyway? Or did the ABS kick in then disengage and allow the wheels to roll? Or did the ABS kick in and your wheels locked up anyway and slid?

 

I was slowly creeping up toward the road. Once I hit the slush, the abs kicked on and pulsed. It then stopped pulsing, and my truck continued to roll forward into the street. It rolled forward freely like I didnt even have my foot on the brake, but I had my foot on the brakes hard. I Was frantically trying to stop!

 

May have looked like slush, but it was probably ice underneath.

 

did you try e-brake?

 

Thanks.

 

No. Both my front tires were on bare road and my truck continued forward. I didnt think to hit the e-brake During the stress of the moment.

 

I have yet to experience this. I have a manual though and tend to use the lower gears to come to a stop more so than using the brakes.

 

You sure it wasn't black ice?

 

I guess its possible, but I do not think it was. Tons of people have had this same thing happen.

 

This is a bad practice. Would you rather pay for a new clutch or new brake pads?

 

It wasn't when it happened to me.

 

How do you know it 'rolled' (wheels turning) vs slid (wheels not turning). I mean physically know, not what you may have sensed.

I'm very curious. I'm trying to understand (in my feeble understanding of ABS) what is actually going on.

While some of us old guys preferred NOT to have ABS driving street cars in closed course events, it didn't take long to learn that it was way better at braking than even the most seasoned of us. At least from the mid 90's on.

And I've done that on wet, hot asphalt (rising oils), which when combined with cold dry track tires, is about as close to ice as you can get in responsiveness.

So I'm reading these threads, and get an idea, but I'm really not quite understanding what is happening mechanically, only what the driver is sensing.

If there is a problem I'd like to know before rainy season starts, especially while all the 'wandering snowbirds' are still darting around looking for a blue plate special.

 

Im very glad you are ok!

The tires locked up, at that point the truck assumed you were at a dead stop and the ABS system is defeated. Manually pulsing the break pedal may have helped some. I say "may" because that was some slippery stuff by the sounds!

Again it is good to hear that you made it out of the situation unhurt.

 

Also, if it was black ice, I would think the abs would have been pulsing the whole time.

 

No exess clutch wear if you know how to rev match. It's not hard.

 

You can do that with the auto too

 

The ABS kill mod takes about 15 minutes for an Offroad. Do it, and quit complaining about how dangerous ABS is.

 

I wouldnt know unless I had my head hanging out the window looking at the tires. I just know ive lived here, and have been driving in snow/ice for a long time, and have never had any vehicle do this, EVER. You live in fl, and I dont think you will ever experience this.