AvramD

It would be nice if it gave you a moment to deal with it yourself. However, there are still two things you can do:

1) when it does activate, you just have to back off *a lot* to get it to stop pumping
2) Just be more proactive about knowing when it's going to slip, and not getting there.

It's not the perfect solution, but it gets you pretty close.

CoOlSlY

It's bizarre because I decided to make some testings and when the ABS detects a snow patch as you said, the ABS kicks right away and for a verrrry long time either if you are no more on this snow patch if compared to let's say the Dodge Caravan we are using at the office. Anyway, my opinion is that they might be very useful in some conditions but in heavy snow, two words: they suck. Almost every people who drove a lot in snow so far don't like the way the ABS works on the S4. You get used to it and can avoid those conditions almost always but sometimes, they just "assist" you too much!

Sylvain

BillK

When wheel slip is detected, the braking system is supposed to kick into pulse mode <b>immediately</b> to eliminate it.

You're thinking of stability control if you believe a certain amount of wheel lock is "allowable.:"

If your car's ABS system does allow <i>some</i> wheel lock, it's a poorly designed system.

As far as heavy snow is concerned, as I said, ABS is not designed to stop you faster, it's designed to allow you to <b>steer around</b> obstacles while holding the brake to the floor even under slick conditions; if the wheels are locked up and sliding you're not going to be able to steer <i>anywhere</i>.

AvramD

The bit about immediate response was secondary to my point. It just happens that with older systems, "immediate" was like 1/4 sec, and that was enough time for a good driver to beat the system to the punch &amp; feather the brakes himself.

The real point was that once the system decides there is a crisis, it is <i><b>WAY</b></i> to aggressive in it's efforts to avoid wheel lock. It gives up far more stopping power than is necessary to give you the amount of control it gives you. See above for case study.

CoOlSlY

I decided once again to go make some testing this afternoon (hey, it's sunday!)...

50-0 with flooring the brake pedal is 16.5 seconds today and when feathering the brakes, 5.2 seconds. Do the math, never seen a ABS system that was taking 3 times more to stop.

I think you are missing the point too. I don't mean ABS are bad and I know the purpose of ABS is to let you "drive" the car either when paniquing and flooring the brake pedal, but let's face it, the ABS on the S4 behaves bizarrely. It's non-sense that you still hear the ABS and feel that it's still "acting" when you are no more on the snow for at least 3-4 car length.

Sylvain

GeoS4V8

Holy Smokes! That's more than just significant!

BillK

This is the way all modern ABS systems work.

Don't like it? Perhaps you could write a nasty letter to Bosch. :-)

CoOlSlY

I tried only one in my test but when flooring the pedal it's less than twice the time to stop when flooring the brake pedal instead of feathering the brake. How come the S4 takes 3 times more when flooring the brake pedal compared to when you feather the brake pedal?

No nasty Bosch letter, just a bit disappointed that it took 3 times the time to stop when the ABS kicks in compared to when you manage it yourself...

Sylvain

rreinoso

On my old 2003 Audi S4 there was a button for disengaging the ABS. And I used this option on snow very successfully. On my 2005 A6, according to the manual, if you disengage EPS and ASR the ABS should also disengage. But this does not work. The ABS continue engaged.

We had some snow yesterday. I drove the car in reverse and step on the brakes and the car stopped almost immediately (no ABS). I drove the car forward and step on the brakes, and I went on and on and on and on while the ABS was "stopping" the car. In all honesty, it is scary because the simply just keep going.

So my solution for now is to drive in reverse until I get to a clean road

That's until someone figures out how to disengage the ABS.