driving with faulty ABS

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Mon 23 Jun 2003 17:11
driving with faulty ABS - outkast
Does anyone know how you stand if you drive a car with faulty ABS,other than it could cause probs in an emergency.
As some cars are not fitted with it is it a legal requirment to have it working,obviously its got to work for the MOT.
Any answers?
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Mon 23 Jun 2003 18:19
driving with faulty ABS - frostbite
Depends how you define faulty - if the warning light stays on, it's an MOT fail. However, if it's like mine - light goes out, but ABS cuts in just as you come to a stop, around 5mph, that is not an MOT fail.

I should point out that apart from the 5mph oddity, braking is normal.
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Mon 23 Jun 2003 19:51
driving with faulty ABS - Aprilia
Depends on the ABS system. Some systems (e.g. the common Bosch ABS 2E) you just lose the ABS function - brakes work normally otherwise.
Other systems (e.g. the WABCO systems used on Range Rover) you must *stop at once* if the warning light comes on - you will have no front brakes and only 50% efficiency on the rear brakes.
As a crude guide, if the brake system has a hydraulic accumulator then you cannot drive with ABS light on.
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Tue 24 Jun 2003 08:07
driving with faulty ABS - outkast
Thanks for the advice,the brakes work fine,just like a none ABS car,but obviously they will have to be fixed for the MOT.
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Tue 24 Jun 2003 17:16
driving with faulty ABS - Miat
you will find there is a key difference

lots of non ABS cars have a pressure release valve on the circuit to the back wheels, designed to prevent back wheel lock up during heavy braking, a simple but effective measure

with ABS fitted they dont bother with this valve, and so with ABS non functional under heavy braking you have much higher chance of locking back wheels and loosing control than you would in an identical non ABS car from the factory
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Tue 24 Jun 2003 19:09
driving with faulty ABS - sean
Bit of a no-brainer, really, isn't it?

You know you have faulty brakes.

You know your brakes will cause you to fail your next MoT.

You know that, if you were involved in an accident and the insurance assessor found your ABS was faulty beforehand you'd struggle to get paid.

You know that you're going to have to get it fixed, sooner or later.

My advice, mate, is just get it fixed, NOW.
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Wed 25 Jun 2003 08:05
driving with faulty ABS - outkast
your right Sean,the cars booked in for friday it was just for the meantime.Cheers
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Wed 25 Jun 2003 16:07
driving with faulty ABS - sean
I might have been a bit hard on you (was, really, now I see your reply).
I didn't mean you are a no-brainer.
the car might have a dicky connection on an ABS sensor (likely) which will cost you £50 or the ABS ECU may be U/S cos you didn't change fluid every 3 years and water ingress has brought up fault codes which destroyed it.
Why wait till a wheel falls off with the heat or you run into the back of something cos all is not well?
That's why I was hard.
The system is telling you that something is wrong. I'd be out with the spanners. I sympathise with you if you can't, but for Christ's sake don't ignore this.
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