ABS on this truck is dangerous...

I thought I read somewhere abs is only on newer 2 generations.....do 05's have abs too? Id hate to be driving in the snow and not know about this

 

Disc sells better than Drum and easier to maintain. My point wasn't that discs are bad or not used it's that drums are viable.

Firetrucks, most ambulances, semis, heavy construction equipment all use drums.

 

Money... that is why we dont have disks.

 

I have Tacoma 4x4 V6 manual speed 2006 and it does have ABS.

 

ABS wouldn't have kicked in unless you had some lock-up in a tire.
Further proof that most drivers don't understand the limits of the vehicle or sense lockup soon enough.
ABS works.
Drivers who overestimate their vehicles ability or the friction available are the problem.

 

but we DO understand the limits of the stock dunlop tires, which in some instances, leads to the ABS kicking in (because the dunlops lock up so soon because they suck). not too soon for the tires, as that's how they respond. rather, the dunlops suck big time and lead to the ABS kicking in way early which can easily lead to rear ending someone.

 

Well I felt the pedal pulsating, isn't that the ABS kicking in? It felt like the braking was eased up when this happened.

But in response, I'm 42 and been driving since I was 15, I think I know how to drive and have a good feel of what the vehicle is doing.

 

Most likely , the only other thing in these trucks that feels similar is when VSC engages , but that is accompanied by a beeping and light on the dash .

 

you should hear the chatter quite loudly from the front end when they do kick in.

 

Today my ABS kicked on while I was stopping for a stop sign on a hard packed snow/ice mix. The second it kicked in I thought: this is ridiculous, I am not getting the full traction this surface provides. Having no conflicting traffic and lots of time, I let off the brakes and found that by pumping the brakes, without even trying I got significantly better stopping action than by just standing on the pedal. I would have sailed at least half way through the intersection had I just kept on the brakes, but I stopped before the line by pumping. FWIW, I have new A/T tires.

It's pretty clear to me this ABS system is poorly designed and results in significantly increased stopping distances on snow and ice. And not just increased compared to perfectly performed threshold braking; increased compared to unsophisticated brake pumping.

 

This

 

I agree, more surface area for friction with drum. Its just odd the tundra and other 3/4 and 1 ton pick-ups have all disc and the taco has drum, go figure

 

huh, interesting that you have new tires... here's a link to a thread i started regarding an upgrade from stock dunlaps to michelins- i was havin the same problem you were, but it was greatly improved with the new tires. have a look if you want:
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/203517-stock-dunlap-tires-suck-5.html#post4554063

 

Yeah. Another one that understood the limit of the ABS system on ice/snow. Why pumping when I can simply remove the fuse. I apply brakes and it stops.

Note that I have Blizzak DM-V1, they cost 1200$ (before tax) and I change them every two years, way before they wear out, but ABS still kicks-in on situations where it shouldn't. Sure, better tires is helping, but ABS is too sensitive. If only one of four tires is on a patch of ice or pothole or mix of ice/hard-packed snow, you lose control even if three other wheels have traction, it's guarantee.

Reason: if four tires is on a glare ice, four wheels are stopped because of no traction so ABS think that your are stopped which is false then it deactivate by itself which means that 4 wheels stay locked while sliding on ice ... That's why ABS will activate only if at least one wheel is stopped, but not four. It explain why ABS is better on dry pavement, because there's traction you'll always have at least one wheel that will roll.

True winter tires will stop on ice, on a longer distance than dry pavement yes, but much more shorter than ABS, simply because of the rubber. It's like shredding, especially if you have true winter tires.

Subaru ABS testing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSDC6pO26ZY

After vieweing the video (yes, they are moving fast, but is to see how ABS reacts) I don't think they lose control? Sliding on snow/ice is much easier to control than sliding on pavement. Here, it's normal to slide a little, it's slippery! Even at low speed, you'll slide. There's always at least one tire that have low traction, but not four together, because on ice/snowy roads, traction is uneven. Remember that we don't see pavement 5 months each year. ABS was created to steer during panic situations on a dry pavement, not to unexpectedly activate during normal situation where it should stop even if it's slippery.

 

Put the #2-30amp ABS fuse back in and pull the #42-50amp ABS fuse. Your BRAKE on light will go off. Your ABS will be the only light on.

 

So, if the ABS in these trucks is as truly as dangerous as everyone is frothing at the mouth about, who has actually done anything about it? If it's truly life-threatening as described, there are two solutions that EVERYONE should be doing, with no delay.

1. Call Toyota and file a complaint.
2. Notify the NHTSA. They need to investigate this, as it is a major safety issue. It does NO good to bitch and whine for 150 pages (as this isn't the only thread that's gone for days on it).

With enough complaints, Toyota might do something. If the NHTSA gets involved, they will do something.

ETA: It's likely that Toyota uses a derivative of the Taco's ABS logic on all their vehicles, so this could possibly span across several car lines. If that's the case, it could affect millions of cars (although there are probably millions of Tacos out there with this current logic).

Has anyone had an accident directly caused by ABS that didn't involve the driver operating inappropriately for the conditions?

 

Really? Ouch! My DMV-1's for my Taco only cost me like $6-700 out the door with tax.

 

People are pulling the ABS fuses in winter , or doing the ABS bypass mod .

I'm not sure that driving about 30 kph on snow is inappropriate for conditions , but the small amount of tire slip kicks in the ABS causing you to have zero stopping power instead of some stopping power .

That's been my experience , I've driven for 27 years , every one of them containing some snow driving , I'm no noob .

 

We get jacked on tires in Canada .

 

Yep