dhodory

Driving down a poorly maintained (READ: snow and ice covered) side street this afternoon at about 20 m.p.h., call me crazy, but the street was empty & I decided to apply the breaks to do a little "test" of how bad the streets were and how "good" my ABS brakes were. Suprise! While both fronts and the left rear brake modulated properly the right rear LOCKED UP and I went sliding off the road (missed a telephone pole by about 2 feet).

I've owned several ABS equipped vehicles and NEVER had this happen. The only possible thing I can come up with is that somehow the right rear caliper is frozen or has some ice frozen in some strategically negative spot.

Any thoughts . . . anyone . . . Bueller . . . .Bueller . . . Bueller?

m - silver

The problem probably lies with the tires which are not meant for snow.

steve l o

You can't expect the stock tires to stop you on the snow and ice. They were not meant for those kind of conditions. They are high performance. Not M+S rated.

Steve L O

lionsfan54

Please tell us what 'answer' your dealer comes up with on this one

lionsfan54

...even if you had racing slicks on teflon the worst thing that should happen is the ABS will just pump away and speed will not decrease much.

There has to be another explanation to this. Does the S4 have 3 or 4 channel ABS?

dhodory

the problem I'm experiencing is (most definitely) one wheel "locking up". I know ABS, I also know what life without ABS feels like. This is definitely my right rear wheel locking up -- either that, or the car has a REALLY bad alignment problem and any/every time it starts to skid, its skidding the right rear end around.

kev

I had also tested the brake on snow w/stock tires.The abs kick in immediately but the car just keep on sliding.

Mitch S

Just because you are moving doesn't mean that the car *knows* it is moving. I was having a pretty bad problem coming down some hills in the stock tires. I would put the brakes on and the ABS would go for about a second or two...and then it would just lock the wheels up. I was only going 5 mph at the time but my speedometer said 0. So, I just let the brakes go and tried to get the wheels turning so the car knew that it was going forward. Tried the brakes again and voila...ABS.

Russ Burns

Well, try this on for size. Antilock brakeing turn off at speeds less than 5 MPH. If you cannot get enough traction to turn a wheel greater than 5 MPH, the ABS turns off. if you slam on the brakes, crank the wheel, the measured speed may be less than 5MPH, although your true speed may be much greater. This will disable your ABS. The Michigan State police noticed this issue is some of their internal testing.
The s4 with stock tires has minimal traction, once the wheel is locked up is there enough traction to get the wheel turning again?

Russ Burns
I still believe ABS is marketing hype. It allows poor drivers to continue driving poorly.

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Re: Anyone having difficulty with their ABS brakes. Had a scary thing happen today . . .