Close call on ice today

I'm guessing OP means "original poster?"...if so that'd be me lol. Yeah to be honest my memory of the slide is kinda hazy cuz i was definitely in the zone lol... I am pretty sure I kept the brake planted. I just remember feeling the pedal vibrating a lot... I'm guessing that was the tires trying to gain traction but I'm not sure.

 

That is probably the ABS. Mine pulses or vibrates when I put it on in a bad or no traction situation.

 

We have a lot of black ice where I live. Each situation is different. Although 4 wheel drive isn't going to help you much, it CAN sometimes give you better directional stability, at least in my experience. You can't stop any faster, but sometimed it will enable you to get the truck going in a predictable direction at least. Anything is better than an uncontrolled slide. I found myself sliding sideways once on the slight banking of a freeway curve. Traffic had been moving at a walking pace and I simply slid to the inside shoulder. Black ice can be THAT slick.

 

Not an option for everyone but studded snow tires make a world of difference in these situations. I don't beleve they are allowed in all states and dry traction sufferes but they do work great on ice and packed snow.

Keep safe,
DaveInVT

 

theres not alot you can do but try and keep your tires tolling and steer for traction and away from things you could crash in to

 

dude, only thing I could recommend would be to stay in your truck and GTF over to the side out of the way cause OP could still slide into you. Been there done that...Glad your ok.

 

We are hearing a lot about accidents this week, glad yours turned out OK. Black Ice is a killer up our way. Damn salt water moderates the air temperatures, but the ground stays frozen. Makes for some 360's sometimes!

 

I do not think ABS or anything electronic helps in any way on true black ice as Tisher49 described. You hope for the best in those conditions which are killer conditions, you pick up speed and cannot literally steer unless you hit some rough patch like dirt or vegatation on the road shoulder that hopefully will not make the truck do some non predictable manuever like flip, the physics of it all.

No doubt the development of traction control etc. has helped prevent accidents in certain situations. But on black ice, no way, one of the main reasons I run a set of dedicated studded tires now but still can get crashed into just as easy. It happens so fast!

 

Studded snow tires!!

Glad you are safe dude.

 

I'm getting revo2s put on my truck Friday so hopefully that will help in the future. Doubt it makes much of a difference on ice like that unless you have the studded snow tires but having the crappy OE dunlops on certainly doesn't help at all

 

It's like everyone has said, stopping is not an option. ABS lets you have full braking, while still allowing directional control. As opposed to no ABS, which is an uncontrolled skid waiting to happen. (And once the skid starts, there is not enough grip to stop it.) I'm surprised anyone would suggest that in this scenario, one would be better off without ABS. FWIW - I live in Manitoba, we have 5 months of the most extreme driving conditions see short of Alaska. What many of you see once or twice a year, we live with on a weekly basis.

 

Also EBD porportions the braking so that on black ice, the rears can do more, because there is almost no weight transfer front to rear in this scenario. As well, when you try to steer, the EBD system re-porportions side to side, (similar to VSC), to assist changing the direction of travel of the vehicle. In a truck of a few years ago, there was little rear brake bias, and it made for terrible ice braking.

 

yeah its pretty bad up there right now cold wise..coming our way.
I guess I'm old school Vermont driver who likes to downshift to control my speed and run studs. We do a lot of winter driving, through the White Mountains of New Hamsphire, northern Maine and into Canada. same months timeframe. I find the ABS on the tacoma very touchy & seems to make the truck skid more than any other toyota truck I've owned. Maybe the newer models years its improved?

 

I don't recommend this on a down hill with black ice... everyone ends up at the side in the snowbank... whoever is stopped farther up the hill gets hit more often.

Middle of the road, maintain same speed and drive past all of the stopped cars is the safest.

 

Interesting you would mention that. I had an '09 SR5, with the vacuum type brake booster (non-atrac), and it was alright. Now my 2010 with the hydraulic type booster, is the quietest, smoothest, & easily the best ABS system I've driven with..... The cheesy Dunlops that came with the '09 didn't help matters.