Hello everyone. I did a quick search and didn't find anything on this.

For reference, I have a 2009 Sport V6.

I was out the other weekend and noticed a few issues with my ABS that I was wondering if anyone else experienced them or if something is wrong.

The first was that when I had tires spinning in snow and tried to brake them to avoid creating ice, the ABS kicked in and wouldn't let me use the brakes. So, the tires just kept spinning and created the ice anyways. I justified this one as "tires are all spinning at a different rate, so OK, I guess".

The second was actually at very low speeds in uneven terrain. I was parking behind someone and when I tried to stop (at like 2 mph) the ABS kicked in again and locked me out of my brakes. I almost hit the guy because of this and it greatly concerns me that this is an issue if I ever find myself on a hill and this system kicks in.

I have looked into just disabling it through various means, but then I lose ATRAC which is, disadvantageous, to say the least.

Does anyone know what is happening, if this is normal, and/or if there is a way to disable ABS without losing ATRAC?

Thanks,
Zak

I’m wondering about this too. A few weeks ago someone pulled a bone-headed maneuver cutting across my lane at 45 mph and slowing down. I jammed on the brakes and really needed to lock the wheels up hard. But the ABS kicked in and gently pulsed the brakes with a squishy feel to the brake pedal. I would have hit the guy but since he was traversing across my path right to left he got out of my way just in time. It really felt wrong how the ABS responded like that.

I don't get a "squishy feel", I get a complete lockout because I instinctively try to push the pedal harder when nothing changes and I know I have traction...

I don't think this behavior is normal - I sure haven't experienced anything like it. I'm wondering if your brake booster is failing. A normal stop, using steady pressure on the pedal, doesn't require a lot of capacity from the booster, and it can maintain pressure easily. On the other hand, when the ABS is pulsing, the booster has to continually build up pressure between pulses. If it is weak, you could run out of boost pressure and be left with no power assist. That would feel like your brakes were "locked out", because without power assist, disk brakes are pretty ineffective.

Thanks for the reply. I think I had a tire lifted when it locked me out stopping and the times on the snow had all 4 spinning. I've driven my car a bit without power brakes and I was pushing WAY harder on the pedal the time I almost hit the guy because, well, I almost hit someone. Also, the brakes work fine anytime the ABS isn't kicking in. I've never had a vehicle that had an ABS system I liked, since this feeling of "locked out" is common, but this has tripped me out. I love everything else about this thing, but the ABS concerns me and the panic braking "feature" pisses me off. I'm also nowhere near a dealer right now, so there's not much I can do along those lines.

I have an 05 V6 and the ABS occasionally comes on when it seems it shouldn’t. Like in a completely dry flat parking at very low speed.

I wonder if the wheel sensors are gunked up or malfunctioning.

I had an emergency braking situation the other day doing around 50 and didn’t activate ABS at all. No lock up either, but I wasn’t standing on them like I would have if they hadn’t noticed me and stopped pulling out on to road.

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That's my point. A single push of the pedal is easy for the booster to keep up with. In fact, you typically get power assist for a couple of pedal pushes even after the engine dies. But when the ABS is active, it's like pumping the pedal 5 times or so per second. Much harder for the booster to keep up with.

An experiment you could run is to find a quiet country road with no traffic, accelerate to a moderate speed, and then do a high performance stop by pumping the brakes as rapidly as you can. See if the brakes appear to "fade" or if you get any perceptible change in stopping power as you do that.

Thanks, I'll check this out once I get the struts fixed. Just destroyed my XREAS on accident over the weekend and waiting for my Dobs to show up.

The problem is that the ABS is intended to prevent skids, not stop you quickly. So if you're on loose dirt, gravel, or snow, it actually makes it more difficult to stop fast. In those conditions you want the brakes to lock and the tires to dig in, and the ABS won't let them.

It drives me nuts when I'm off-road or on a dirt/gravel road. I wish there was a way to shut it off when I'm not on pavement.

Right, I understand how ABS is intended to function. There is a way to kill it offroad, but, again, you lose ATRAC, which sucks.

I’d say just put a disable switch in.

Is ATRAC that great?

And do you use it?

Did you use it in your first situation in your first post?

If you did, did it help?

What mode were you in when you were spinning?

Sorry. Not try to be a D, just curious.



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It helped me out a lot in the winter getting in and out of the garage when the plows screwed me in the morning. I just don't have a locker yet, so any sort of traction aid that doesn't kill power helps.

As far as mode when I was spinning, I was in 4H unlocked so that I had another stage to get myself out when going in.

Are you in 4lo with the center locked when this happens?

Are you running street tires or AT's?

Have you done the ABS recall which keeps you from power braking?

2H or 4H unlocked

Defender LTXs

What recall? I have my VIN registered on Toyota's owner site, but it shows no recalls active for my VIN.

Used brakes both with the engine off and pumping rapidly. Seemed to have no issues. I did find out that whoever did the brakes last didn't install the rattle clips, so I put those in, but I can't imagine that will screw up the ABS like that.