What is abs and why do I need it?

Your car has a lot of safety features that keep you safe that you’ll (hopefully) never use. Things like airbags, seatbelts, crumple zones and even fire extinguishers, all of these are great for when you’re having a crash. What about to avoid a crash though. These things can save your life, let alone your car.

When you need to suddenly stop, your braking pressure can make your brake pads clamp so hard onto your rotors that your wheels lock up. To prevent wheels from locking up and skidding, you have anti lock braking systems when you have a car with abs.

What is ABS?

Anti lock braking system. It is a valve set up, inside of your braking system. It prevents the locking of the brake rotor and as the brake rotor is fitted to the wheels, stops them locking too.

You’ll encounter your abs when stopping suddenly on slippery surfaces. Slippery roads mean that it’s more likely that your tyres will be unable to grip and slow the car down. This makes it easier for the brakes to lock the wheels up because there is less resistance from the tyres rolling forward.

When your braking causes your wheels to lock up some dangerous things happen. It increases your stopping distance dramatically. If the front wheels lock up, you will find turning nearly impossible. This is because your tyres’ grip is what allows them to move the car in the direction of their travel. When they aren’t turning the car will travel in the direction the momentum is moving.

How does Anti Lock Braking work?

It’s an interesting system to solve a serious problem. You need to be able to apply the maximum braking pressure you can, but you don’t need abs every time.

In an ingenious solution, the system uses a valve to relieve brake fluid pressure to allow the wheel to stutter around. Allowing it to continue rotating without skidding.

Imagine that you’re braking hard and your wheel locks when it needs to keep rotating. A sensor detects that the wheel has locked.

The valve in the anti lock braking system flutters to allow brake pressure and then stop it. It does this incredibly quickly. Like you’re pumping the brakes at speeds your ankles could never achieve.

This allows for maximum stopping force but not compromising on grip.

This is why when braking very heavily, you feel like the car is jerking or stuttering to a stop. The wheels are stuttering around due to abs controlling the force.

My ABS light is on, what do I do?

If you have any problems with your anti lock braking system, we can help fix it!

Stopping your car is as important as starting it. One of our excellent partner garages can help make sure that you can do both.