hokiemax

This happened TWICE so far. Coming to a regular stop at a stop light, or a stop sign, I felt a "tack tack tack" in my brakes (also heard the sound too. like tick tick tick) and I lost braking power by about 75%. I kept my foot on the brake as usual, bu the car would not stop. I never had ABS equipped cars before, so I dont know what ABS feels like. However, ABS doesn't DECREASE the braking power noticeably, does it? Coming to a rolling stop from about 25mph and feeling the decrease in braking power noticeably, whatever the heck it was, I dont think it was ABS. or was it ?

Is there a brake TSB I missed ? Do I need to be concerned ?

ruexp67

I would be concerned. Does not sound like ABS at all. Have it checked out soon.

cdelena

[QUOTE]Originally posted by hokiemax
[B]

Fongu

When you hit ABS you do feel quick pulsations through the brake pedal and there is a an audible tick. This is normal. I feel every once in a while doing hard braking in autocrosses.

You shouldn't really feel a loss of braking performance on dry pavement. It is not normal to activate the ABS during normal casual braking in traffic on dry good pavement. If this is the case, there is something weird going on.

There is an ABS sensor that detects wheel rotation and it should only trigger when the wheel stops rotating. This happens normally on hard stops or on low traction surfaces (ice, snow gravel). Maybe the sensor is screwy.

mas

You should find an empty parking lot with some sand or loose gravel and get a feel for the ABS. Once it kicks in you should let it work till the car comes to a complete stop.

twohoos

How old are your pads? If they're completely worn, the ABS will be kicking in often but have little effect (since it's still the pads/rotors that stop the car).

hokiemax

the pads are only 4000 miles old. and the loss of braking power was significant.. hmmmmm.. and it doesnt happen often.. only happened twice so far and not sure if it can be replicated at a dealer. maybe at least the technician will spot the obvious, if there IS a problem..

payneinthe

I was told that the tick-tick sound often indicates a cracked (or cracking) rotor.

Tedow

You should not be hearing anything from the brakes. When ABS triggers you'll feel it pulse in the pedal, and your tires will be making little chirping sounds as the ABS keeps them right at impending lockup. I would be concerned if I were you, but if it's not repeatable it may be tough to find. Just to be sure, I'd go down to the commuter lot at night or on a weekend or something and really hammer the brakes and get the ABS to trigger. Don't go out to the Home Place or Mountain View Cafe til you get it figured out .

Someone mentioned a faulty ABS sensor. This sounds like a possibility to me. I've had one go bad on me in my old Pontiac Grand Am, and the symptoms were much like you described. I was even sitting still one time (right behind a cop, no less ) when the thing randomly went faulty and caused the brakes to release momentarily. Almost rear-ended the guy...right after he graciously declined to give me a ticket! That coulda been ugly... . Anyway, if it is a bad sensor, I would think a tech could find that pretty quickly.

Saab9-3

I think I know what you are talking about. Sometimes when I am coming to a fairly hard stop and I hit some uneven pavement or bumps, it will unsettle the car and the ABS will kick in because it thinks you are in trouble. My solution to this is just never to brake hard if there is crappy pavement ahead, unless I have to.