I was driving this evening and someone pulled right into the lane in front of me. I had to slam on the brakes to keep from getting hit. The tires locked up and I could feel the car skidding (and the burnt rubber smell afterwards). Shouldn't ABS and/or PSM keep this from happening (isn't that what ABS does?)?

 

Hi,

ABS does not 'prevent' a skid, it only provides a controlled skid. The brakes pulse at a high rate and hence, the tires rotate/skid(lockup) in a fast sequence.

Threshold braking is different and requires the tires to rotate at exactly the correct rate that they slow the car without any lockup.

Hence, with ABS you will have a squeal and feeling of skidding and some burnt rubber, but you will still slow faster than lockup and will not flat spot the tire. Also, most important, you will be able to STEER the car. In case of no abs if you lockup the tires, you cannot steer the car. In theory, and in case of an expert driver in practice, threshold braking will lead to a shorter stopping distance but it is difficult to achieve in an emergency situation for the average driver.

Don't worry about it on the road or track you can brake as hard as you need to without losing steering control and/or damaging your car and tires. If you need to stop as fast as possible, brake as hard as you can, DO NOT LET UP WHEN THE ABS STARTS PULSATING AND PUSHING BACK.

Hope this helps.

 

It all depends on how long the lock-up was... When on the track and I wander past Threshold into ABS, it locks up for say a millisecond, then not, then again... But by then I've turned in or adjusted. If you are saying they locked up for say a second, then yes, there's a problem. I remember reading some posts over at RL about some issues with ABS - just can't remember for sure.