ABS on this truck is dangerous...

I'm way late on this one but I absolutely hate the ABS in the second gen tacoma. I'm on my second one now (both 05's) and I wired a switch inline with the 30 amp ABS fuse in the fuse/relay box under the hood. I've rolled past stop signs dozens of times, I've had it kick on while braking on uneven dry pavement, I've had it kick on while threshold braking on the highway for a dumbass that cut off the guy in front of me going 30MPH slower than us. That one really pissed me off. I'm shedding speed far faster than the guy in front of me. Then the ABS kicks in and it's like I took my foot right off the pedal. So I bumped him. And before someone says I can't drive I've been driving for over 20 years in New England on all kinds of road surfaces. I've completed numerous driving schools and track my own car at open track events. I know how to use brakes to an extent most people on the road never will. I've had other vehicles equipped with ABS where the system truly did only activate the one slipping wheel and retain braking power to the others. Toyota just didn't do a very good job on this one. So when the roads are bad I flip the switch and have the ABS warning light on my instrument cluster. But the bottom line is I can stop the truck better than the ABS can. I don't like staring at the light all the time so I put it on a switch. For the 2 percent of driving when I want it off it's perfect.

 

You've got it right. Exactly the type of failure you described happened 3 times in my 1998 4Runner. The 2010 Tacoma did it once. It has nothing to do with proper ABS functioning nor driver input/control. It is a ridiculous and obviously potentially deadly problem. I have owned about 15 non-Toyota ABS equipped vehicles and none exhibited the same type of brake system failure.

 

It's happened to me about 4 or 5 times now in really bad situations. I never had a wreck because of it by pure luck that no one was coming.

And yeah, I've never driven another vehicle that did anything like that.

 

I have to agree on this one. It's happened to me a few times on both snow covered and gravel roads. I drive my girl's VW Toureg sometimes and am VERY impressed with the braking power and control. Rear disc brakes make a HUGE difference. I wish that was an option for the Tacos. From what I've read people that added rear discs to their Taco's have had bad results.

 

Janster and other people who do not have this problem with the ABS brakes. I am thankful you do not have this problem. Thank you for all the people that tell me how to drive and how the ABS works. I am sorry but that is not the issue.

I know my truck has a problem. The same day as my accedent (2/17) with my truck last week, I drove my wifes Honda CRV in the same driving conditions (snow and icy). No, it did not have a problem stopping as my truck did. With the 06 Honda CRV I did not feel the ABS kick in at all. The Honda CRV stopped fine even in the snow and ice.

I have seen on other forums that there are some people out there that are experiencing the same problem that I have and others are not.

I understand the different driving conditions. I first bought this truck in Phoenix AZ and never had a problem with this truck on dry pavement. Once I moved to Northern CA and had conditions especially when the right front tire looses traction that the ABS kicks in and doesn't slow the vehicle down.

Jasper do you know when and where your Toyota Truck was manufactured. I know my 07 Truck was manufactured in 10/06 in CA. I would be interested to know when and where the trucks that have this problem were made and the ones that don't have this problem when and where they were made.

 

ok guys here is an interesting thought. a few years back here in cali, two chp's got into accidents because their abs did not kick in. the evaluation was that the cops were taught to pump their brakes in hard braking situations, this in effect disabled the abs. with abs if you keep your foot pressed hard it will remain active but if you pump your brakes it may not activate.

 

OZT
I joined this site last year to find other people that were having the same problem with their Toyota Tacoma's. This problem with the ABS Brakes scares the heck out of me. It has been by luck that no one has been seriously injured due to this problem.

I had the truck checked out by the Toyota Dealer last year for this issue. I paid the diagnostic fee but they could not find any problem with my truck.

I posted last year that the truck would not stop on uneven or slippery surfaces when the ABS kicks on. The ABS kicked in way too early and did not slow the vehicle down. At that time Toyota was recalling the Prius for a very similar problem. I wanted to find out if other Tacoma owners were having the same issue.

I thought maybe the Toyota Engineer that designed the Prius carried over the design to the Tacoma or the Software Engineer (Cut and paste the code) or carried over some of his code and put into the Tacoma. Why re-invent the wheel if you already invented a wheel that works? or does it work?

From my posting last year I have seen that some people are experinencing this problem and others are not. The people that are having this problem have a real problem and a dangerous one. I happen to be one of those people. It is not only dangerous for myself and my passengers but others on the road I share.

Last year I had written to the TSB and to Toyota about this issue. No response.

 

The problem is that when one wheel has a loss of traction, instead of cycling the slipping wheel while trying to stop the truck, the damn abs cycles ALL the wheels( including the ones that have adequate traction) stealing all your ability to stop. The 06-07 trucks are downright dangerous, ( I sold my 07 for this reason) My 08 models was mildly better, and the 09 I currently have is better still, but it still sometimes cycles all the wheels when I know damn well the right front is the only one on a patch of ice...

Toyota needs to address this issue before someone gets killed...Maybe we could start a petition on the forums and that might get some attention...

 

Thank you for the fuse tip.

ABS on cars during winter is bad. This system is designed for dry pavements. Previous cars didn't have ABS and I never went through stop sign while braking, even on ice, it will slide a little but came to a stop before stop sign.

I almost killed myself two times on snow because of ABS, and I wasn't driving that fast, maybe around 5 mph. I applied brakes and then, no brakes. I live in a area where there are always snow on roads 5 months each year (mountains area) so roads are always slippery.

I have one of the best winter tires, Bridgestone Blizzack DM-V1.

ABS even kicks-in each time I hit a pothole and we have so many potholes around here.

Even Transport Canada acknowledge this issue:

[...]
You should allow for a longer stopping distance with ABS than for conventional brakes when driving on gravel, slush, and snow. This is because the rotating tire will stay on top of this low traction road surface covering, and effectively "float" on this boundary layer.

A non ABS braked vehicle can lock its tires and create a snow plow effect in front of the tires which helps slow the vehicle. These locked tires can often find more traction below this boundary layer.
[...]

Ref: http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/roadsafety/tp-tp13082-abs2_e-215.htm

It's enough, I want to live, and I don't want to start stopping my truck 2 miles before stop sign, it's ridiculous. Why not pushing my car by myself because I'm not able to stop ????? [I'm being sarcastic]

We should have a switch so we can activate/deactivate ABS when needed, like we have one for traction control.

 

I don't have ice/snow to drive in where I live but damn sure have gravel and uneven pavement that have caused this same issue where 1 wheel might be having a problem and then the pedal falls out from under your foot and the stupid buzzing sound and no brakes at all feeling for a few seconds. As has been stated, the ABS on these trucks are just BS without the A compared to actual beneficial working ABS systems on other vehicles. It should never be trying to compensate with all wheels when only 1 has an issue.

 

I haven't driven on ice/snow yet, but I don't think the ABS deals well with very low braking pressures either.

A few times I've had braking distances increase slightly in an unexpected manner, at very low speed, because the brakes didn't have quite as much "grab" as normal.

 

Would be even nicer if we had a option to purchase car with out ABS. Those electronic gizmos are crap. ABS - makes braking worst. ATRAC makes traction worst.
However, electronic systems are pure gold to car manufacturer. People will spend money over and over again to fix yet another sensor.

 

Do the abs disable switch. Search under ABS disable. There when you want it and gone when you dont want it.

 

I had the same prob in my 2012. Exactly the same feelings as you described. I got rid of the stock tires at 5000 miles because the ABS was kicking in CONSTANTLY with the littlest bit of snow or ice. I put michelins on and the problem was gone. ABS hasn't kicked in once since I put the new tires on. Night and day difference. So much difference that in my opinion Toyota shouldn't even be selling these trucks with the stock dunlaps. Ive driven my whole life in SD winters and it felt like the most dangerous vehicle I had ever driven. Was really regretting my Tacoma purchase. After putting on the michelins its like a different vehicle. Now it drives like a Tacoma should.

 

I learned long ago to lift and repress the brakes to get ABS to kick off and get back to threshhold braking. A single pump will fix your problem if the road actually has traction.

 

i missed my drive way the first snow we had. it was snowing kinda hard. and they had not got salt down on my road yet. their was no ice or anything road was nice under it. and it was dry powdery snow not wet slushy snow. i was only going like 10MPH and did not press hard. in fact their has been times on rain slick roads that i have pressed harder and not had it kick in.

 

ABS does not come on unless one wheel is turning a lot slower then the rest a sliding tire has no traction. Until I had an older Audi I never had driven a car with ABS so I had to learn not to lock the brakes on the old breaking systems to this day unless I mat the brakes my ABS does not come on a light foot no ABS. There must be some thing worthwhile to ABS all big air craft have it. What you gain is being able to steer. Yes in light snow and sand it does take a bit longer to stop IF the ABS is applied but not enough to rip all the wires out.

 

There must be some adjustment or glitch... My 2001 was great, no ABS issues. My 2005 was terrible... wouldn't stop on wet or gravel roads, and I complained only to have the service dept. say that was 'normal'! My 2010 is great... same type of truck as my '05, but the ABS brakes do not give me any problems on wet or dirt roads like the '05 did. WHY is this... and why does a 2012 have a bad brake system (again) like we see above from harpolith?

 

At slow speeds on ice i dont even use the bakes... i slam that mother in reverse and pray to god

 

Except being money maker for car companies and Bosch I dont see any. People who drive cars are now stupider and when push comes to shove they simply slam into the car in front of them. Atleast before they would have spinned out the road into the ditch. Now they can control and place the car into the back of other.