The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) required all new cars to be installed with an antilock brake system in conjunction with an Electronic Stability Control system as of September 2013. Your antilock brake system (ABS) is designed to help you control your vehicle during panic-driven stops and adverse road conditions. Your ABS pulses your brakes, preventing your wheels from locking in places, allowing tires to retain traction, and preventing a vehicle from entering a skid.
An ABS takes the place of manually pumping your brakes. It senses a depression in your brake pedal and detects skid conditions. The result is pulsing your brakes hundreds of times per second, which is infinitely faster than any human can do. This pulsing is said, in some studies, to decrease the risk of accidents by 35 percent.
Here’s what you need to know. How should you use your brakes when you have ABS in place? In a non-emergency situation, apply your brakes the same way you would, regardless of whether you had them; your vehicle should respond the same way. When making a “normal stop,” you shouldn’t be pressing hard enough on the brake pedal to cause the ABS to kick into gear! In emergency situations, when it is key for you to stop in the shortest distance possible, step on the brake as hard as you can ONCE and do it as quickly as possible. You should NOT pump the brakes! In fact, you won’t be able to. Step SOLID once, hold it down, and let the electronic system work for you.
