esb97targa

I was in a parking lot (luckily) and I made a sharp left turn at about 15 MPH. The ABS engaged, and I experienced terrible understeer, almost sending me into a curb. The craziest part of this, is the fact that I did'nt even have my foot on the brake pedal. Has anyone ever encountered anything like this? TIA
Evan

tom_993

I don’t understand how ABS could engage without having your foot on the brake. Perhaps your ABD engaged? Please tell us the exact symptoms you felt when you believe your ABS had engaged. Were you on the gas?

esb97targa

The exact symptoms were:
Foot off gas.
Foot off brake.
Car went straight instead of turning left, followed by a vibration that felt and sounded like the ABS.
Pavement was dry.
hope that helps.

tom_993

Since I wasn’t there, I have to guess. My best guess is that your front tires hit a slick or wet patch, lost traction, and slid. This sliding could have easily produced a vibration that could have been mistaken for your ABS.

Remember, ABS is meant to prevent your wheels from locking up. If your front tires locked up and slid toward the curb, it wasn’t caused by ABS. Also, the vibration from ABS is usually felt on the brake pedal, and your foot was not on the brake.

esb97targa

I can tell you I did not hit a slick patch, as I went and carefully inspected the pavement, and it was consistant and dry. I have experienced this feeling before, and the other times I did have my foot on the brake. So I am quite certain that it was the ABS.

esb97targa

I can tell you I did not hit a slick patch, as I went and carefully inspected the pavement, and it was consistant and dry. I have experienced this feeling before, and the other times I did have my foot on the brake. The vibration from the ABS is audible, and I have felt it in not only the pedal. So I am quite certain that it was the ABS.

DonC

I've had the same thing happen in a parking lot with the wheels cranked hard over. It feels exactly as if ABS was kicking in on a slick surface.

Don

SundayDriver

I would have the car checked ASAP. Whether is was ABS or ABD (Both operate on the brakes so they could feel the same) under the conditions you described, there is a big problem. I would guess that a sensor is going bad, shorting, etc. Get it checked before it becomes a major failure.

esb97targa

sounds like I'm off to the shop

E. J. - 993 Alumni

Thought ABD was only tied into the rear wheels?

E. J.

B-Line home

I am no wrench turner...nor expert...
but the first thing that came to my mind..
Maybe a bad C/V joint or something..
Also, you didn't mention the brakes engaging, just the ABS...
so did the brakes engage on there own..
sounds weird to me though...
I would definately have a shop look at it.

btw, if you turn the wheel all the way to the left or right and drive in a circle do you hear any noises coming from the wheel wells?

and, if you had the wheel turned, and the abs kicked in, wouldn't that mean the brakes engaged.. I would assume that would cause the car to oversteer and bring the *** out..not push.
Did you have steering lock?
Also,
Carelessly lifting off the throttle when a car is cornering fast can cause some of these symptoms. The behavior of a car depends on keeping a nice balance between the grip of the front and rear tires.
An abrut snap off the gas upsets this balance and can steal traction from the rear tires. But this normally causes a spin, not understeer. If you were going faster, you might have spun the car.
Just some other possibilities that came to mind..
Read this btw: It is a quote.....
"How throttle influences understeer or oversteer....
Different cars, owing to their particular design and setup, have built in tendencies to either oversteer or understeer at cornering limit. In most cases, however, the car isn't grossly biased toward one extreme and you can use the controls of the car to dial up.
Whatever cornering balance is needed. To do this you have to have some effect on the traction on the front or rear pair tires. It would be nice if you had a dial on the dash to do this, but you don't. The next best thing is to use the control you have down in the footwell of the car, the throttle.
You can load or unload the front or rear tires (changing their traction) by applying or backing off the throttle. You can also steal cornering grip from the rear tires (from a rear wheel drive car) by applying the throttle and demanding accleration, or by backing off the throttle and demanding engine-braking traction.
in a rear wheel drive car, applying the throttle creates two opposing tendencies: first, it transfers load onto the rear tires, which helps them grip, but at the same time it uses up part of the traction, which hurts cornering grip. whichever of the two has the greater effect will determine the result.
For example, if your driving an underpowered car with sticky rear tires, those tires don't have to surrender much grip to deal with the level of acceleration the motor creates. The increase in grip from the transfer of load, combined with the loss of grip at the front is likely to produce understeer."
hope this helps...

RAPID 95 993/4

I had a similar experience twice, while turning at lwo speed, the ABD sets in so fast, with only the slightest hint of wheel spin, producing a massive understeer. This seem to happen when applying full lock at low speed.I was told that an oil or diesel patch on the road would be sufficient to provoke this type of response?, it does not make me feel safer...