THURENfab.

Anyone know how to fool the dash abs/brake lights to thinking the ABS is still plugged in?

ptgarcia

The ABS can be a bit annoying offroad.

Festus

Pull the dash cluster, take out the lighted diode, and replace with a non-lighted diode.

JohnInNH

Where does it say disabling your ABS is against the law?

In a big rig maybe but in a "small" non commercial truck or car???? I don't think so.

Re insurance.. Just tell them you disconnected it.... loose your discount and you are fine. Not telling them may lead to problems if you were in an accident.

Unfortunately you/we get no recognition for all the accidents you/we DO avoid due to the ABS being shut off, and the one accident you may get into where ABS may have actually made it worse you/we will get taken to task since you did disconnect it. EVEN if it help to minimize the impact speed.

ABS off road or on winter roads should be an option so you can stop when you want to! (instead of floating on top of the gravel or snow)

THURENfab.

I'd do that no problem with the ABS light, but the "brake" light I'd like to keep active in case I(or my wife) leaves the E-brake on..

I'll start checking wiring diagrams to see where it gets it's signal from..

1sttruck

An interesting ABS study below, where cars with manual trannys, common in Europe, were used. I've noticed that downshifting and engine braking with my manual tranny seems to allow the truck to plow when needed, offsetting the primary drawback of ABS. I also run studded winter tires when allowed, and still carry chains for soft ice where there is not enough traction even for studs.

Last winter when taking the kids out practice driving in the Taurus with the studded snow tires, we watched pickups and Jeeps with mud tires and SUVs with trendy performace street tires on fancy wheels slide sideways and sometimes backwards in parking lots and on streets. The ABS didn't seem to be a problem on the Taurus.

http://www.stop.se/test/abstests.pdf

Winter braking tests with 66 drivers, different tyres and disconnectable ABS

Location: The test site was located in the northern mountain area of the Swedish province Dalarna (Dalecarlia), where many people go for winter vacation and downhill skiing.

Test lanes: Three straight and parallel but slightly inclined test lanes were prepared.
A) varying snow/ice surface (snow removed only when layer was considerably thick);
B) ice surface being polished, since no studded tyres were allowed (snow removed promptly);
C) ice surface made harsh by studded tyres (snow removed promptly)

Vehicles: Free of charge, Volvo Car Corporation contributed six Volvo 850 cars with fourwheel antilock (ABS) brakes. The cars were equipped with an optional switch on the dashboard, where the antilock function could be switched on or off by the driver and the instructor passenger. The cars were of the four-door sedan type, 1992 year model, and front wheel driven with 5-shifted manual gear-box.

Free of charge, two European tyre manufacturers contributed sets of 4 wheels with various types of tyre. Nine types were used and distributed between the stages abc as follows. All makes are European except one type (a2) from Asia. Two different sets of New Studded M+S tyres (a4 & b4=c4)are distinguished by their ID no, as well as the New Friction tyres (a2 & c2).

In the 22 evaluated sessions, 66 drivers (24 women and 42 men) participated voluntarily without salary after having responded to announcements at hotels, shops and places of work in the Saelen winter tourism area. Their age varied between 19 and 70 years with average 35 and median 31 years.

instructions: Drivers were instructed to stop the car from suburban cruising speed on a distance as short as possible without hitting the marks or leaving the lane.

The average deceleration was greater with ABS than without for all 24 tyre-road surface combinations.

ABS gave greater average values [deceleration] for all conditions. However, many individual test pairs (ABS-switch on/off) had the opposite outcome, particularly on loose snow, which sometimes covered lane A (Fig.8)

On the polished ice surface (lane B, Fig.9) and on the harsh ice (lane C, Fig.10) ABS was superior in most tests and the scatter was less than on lane A.

In about 700 braking tests each with or without ABS, lane mark collisions have been recorded. The resulting sums are presented in Fig.15. Cars left the lane completely in 13% of the tests without ABS, but in only one (1) of the 700 ABS-tests.

The distinctive superiority of ABS brakes both in deceleration performance and in directional stability put serious doubts on the claims from believers of risk homeostasis (RH)9,10. They consider ABS and other technical improvements useless, and believe that drivers adapt their behaviour to keep risks constant.

Smooshy

yep, and just look at the fun that followed

I kinda thought some of you government study quotin girly men would more upset by me calling you a girly man...guess not

Anyway my ABS is all srewin up so I was searching through these old threads

1sttruck

"I kinda thought some of you government study quotin girly men would more upset by me calling you a girly man...guess not"

Often it seems that complaints about ABS, the limited slip on the AAM, the 4wd, etc., are primarily problems with tire traction, and secondarily the item being complained about. My 'dig' was pointing out that my kids and I were practicing driving on the ice and snow in an ABS equipped Taurus, watching the pickups and Jeeps and SUVs sliding sideways in the parking lots and on the streets. In this case isn't the 'girly man' the one who insists on fashionable but inadequate tires :^)

brelje85

First post and thanks for this weekends experiment on my 07 Dodge. I live on snow and ice five months a year and hate the ABS especially while towing a large toy hauler trying to stop.

j-fox

First post and you found a 4 year old thread!!
Welcome.

The best test for ABS--anti-braking-system, is this.
Go out and find a safe place to do some panic stops.
Now, place some sand on the pavement for one side of your vehicle to drive on. Now go do a quick stop and mark the distance it took to get stopped.
Go back to the starting point and pull the ABS fuse and do it again. Mark that point. You will be surprised! Without it working you stopped much quicker, possibly with some steering corrections required.
most of the time the road surface has some issue, whether it is oil. sand snow etc.
Best way to over ride it is to find the 3 input wire sets, disconnect 2 and run one set into all 3 inputs. This way the computer thinks all tires are alway turning the same speed and never wears out the ABS pump!
I have had accidents because of abs where it would of been really easy to stop without it.