So as some of you may know I have use of my dads 2001 Monte Carlo SS Pace Car for this week while mine is getting some overdue maintenance done. Anyway driving this car is slightly different than mine. In my car I have no TCS or ABS because the wire to one of the hubs is bad. It has been this way for 2 winters now. I have been able to drive and never have had an issue with locking up the wheels and crashing believe it or not. To be honest I am not a fan of ABS because I hate the feeling when the car takes control. Makes me feel useless. Plus I started driving in a 1978 Cutlass Cruiser wagon that of course didn't have ABS so I know about pumping the brakes and whatnot and have learned how to deal without it so I prefer it that way.

So this morning as I headed to the college for class I was following a good distance behind a Grand Am. The driver of the Grand Am signaled left to get onto a side road. I let off the gas to coast because there wasn't anybody in the oncoming traffic so I figured they would turn right away. However the Grand Am came to a complete stop in the middle of the lane. At first I wasn't too worried about it because I could see the blacktop and thought that I had good grip. Turns out it was super slick as when I applied the brakes slowly the ABS kicked on (which surprised me because its been at least 2 years since I felt ABS). The Grand Am was still sitting there and I thought for sure that I was going to hit it. Somehow my dads Monte started to slow and the Grand Am finally started to go which allowed for me to ever so slightly move to the right and squeze in between that car and the snowbank to my right. I was so relieved when I pulled into the school parking lot and shut the car off. I would have felt so stupid to give my dad his car back with front end damage. Very greatful that someone above was looking out for me!

 

It sounds to me like the ABS system did its job. The car probably wouldn't slow as quickly pumping a non-ABS system and the outcome could have been much diferent. Glad to hear there was an 'out' for you to take advantage of.

 

Yeah I think on this the ABS definitely helped but on my car it doesn't seem to work that great at all from my past experience with it. I ended up having to yank the ABS fuse because when the ABS system first comes on it does a self test and with the broken wire on mine it would sometimes touch and the abs system would self test. One time as I was coming up to a stop sign it started doing its self test and I ended up running the stop sign because the car didn't stop. Pulled into the next parking lot and yanked the fuse. Never had that problem again. lol. That was in the middle of the summer too.