Never Say, “Never Be Without Your Anti-Lock Brakes”:

Never Say, “Never Be Without Your Anti-Lock Brakes”:

You never know when a beautiful woman, in an evening gown, is going to be tied up in the middle of the road, forcing you to slam on your brakes.

It was a long night. I had been so busy gambling in the Casino
Royale, with an evil banker, fighting off two men armed with machetes, getting poisoned and going into cardiac arrest, to give much notice to the ABS light on the dash that was flashing at me as I chased down the abductors of my beautiful companion.

My name is Bond, James Bond. Also known as 007. Licensed to thrill! It’s almost an everyday occurrence for me to be involved in a high speed chase. But an odd thing happened this time when I slammed on my brakes. Instead of stopping, I skidded out of control. I missed hitting the woman but crashed and rolled over in my Aston Martin. This crash left me in a rather painful situation and in the hands of the evil banker.
Upon my recovery, I wanted to learn what caused the anti-lock brakes to fail and what could I do to prevent this happening in the future.
I turned to Q for insight into how anti-lock braking works on modern cars.
I am going to sit back and drink a martini. Shaken, not stirred, and let Q explain it to you.
“Well, for starters James, the agency is not happy with you totaling out a 300k Aston Martin DBR, but never-the-less, I will explain to you the workings of anti-lock brakes and why it is one of the best automotive gadgets that has been invented in a long time. You see James, each wheel has a sensor that is connected to a computer. When a wheel starts to lock up, in a fraction of a second, the computer will release the brake on that wheel until it stops locking up and then reapply the brake. This release-reapply of the brakes might happen 15 times per second. When the anti-lock brake warning light is on the system is not operational. You should have known, James, that without the anti-lock brakes working you would only have the conventional brakes. When you were racing down the highway and you slammed on your brakes to avoid running over your friend, who was lying prostrate in the middle of the highway, it caused the wheels to stop spinning and lock up. The tires skidded along the pavement, resulting in a loss of steering control and you wrecking the car. It could have resulted in serious injury or death. Now, if the anti-lock system had been working correctly when you slammed on the brakes, the car would not have locked up the wheels and you would have remained in control of the steering able to steer the car around the young lady.
Something to think about James, when making a high speed panic stop. The brake pedal and the vehicle may shake violently when the pedal is held down. DON’T PANIC! This is how the system is designed to work. There you have it James, the basics of anti-lock brakes.

Do you want to be able to stay calm and cool like our favorite agent when you have to panic stop?
Find an open deserted parking lot and slam on the brakes. Get a feel for how the anti-lock brakes feel in a panic stop, so you remain in control of your vehicle.

Next week Mr.T will tell us why changing the oil and filter is so important to the life of your car’s motor.

I hope this article helps you. I am Ken Levine the owner of Kens Quality Auto Repair in Thousand Oaks were we specialize in Lexus and Toyota vehicles. If you have any car questions please e-mail me at kq@verizon.net, visit http://www.kensqualityauto.com/ or call 805-494-4344