ABS is tied into the traction control system. You could bleed the abs system to see if that will help improve it, but will need a scan tool.

Physically inspect the ABS wire at the knuckle on the front wheels. Just make sure it’s not loose. I doubt the issue is here, but odd things have happened.

 

Leave more room to stop when the road is icy. Put on chains if you have them.

 

All weather tires are not snow tires. Not even close. If the other car has snow tires, it's not an even comparison at all. Also, brake pads/rotors may not be comparable. So many variables to consider before blaming the ABS system.

 

The car brakes great when the ABS does not engage. It is the ABS. My daughter’s tires are similar all-weather but might have slightly better tread. A year ago I had no such problems.

 

ABS kicks in and pulsates on and off when your wheels lock up trying to avoid skidding. With less grip on A/S tires you're not going to get much benefit from it. That's why when you go easy on the pedal and the ABS system doesn't kick in it stops better. Because you're not locking the wheels.

 

Cheap tires are often miserable on wet and snowy surfaces due to very low quality rubber and rubber additives used. You're trading cost for safety with cheap tires. ABS can only stop as well as the tires can grab the road. You can do another test if you wish, pull the ABS power fuse on both cars and compare how the tires perform with no ABS.

Are Budget Tyres Finally Good Enough? 8 Cheap Tyres VS 1 Premium Tyre - Tyre Reviews And Ratings

Are Budget Tyres Finally Good Enough? 8 Cheap Tyres VS 1 Premium Tyre

www.tyrereviews.com

 

Cheap tires are often miserable on wet and snowy surfaces due to very low quality rubber and rubber additives used. You're trading cost for safety with cheap tires. ABS can only stop as well as the tires can grab the road. You can do another test if you wish, pull the ABS power fuse on both cars and compare how the tires perform with no ABS.

Are Budget Tyres Finally Good Enough? 8 Cheap Tyres VS 1 Premium Tyre - Tyre Reviews And Ratings

Are Budget Tyres Finally Good Enough? 8 Cheap Tyres VS 1 Premium Tyre

www.tyrereviews.com

This seems to be the most probable cause. Spoke to the owner of a local shop and he said the same. Also, looked at reviews of my cheap Fullway PC369 tires and they all say “not for heavy snow or ice”. So they are ”All Weather except Winter” tires.

 

One thing I noticed is that with my daughter’s matrix, the ABS pulsated with a higher frequency. Just seemed like my ABS in my 09 was not pulsating correctly.

Driving down the big hill of Duluth, Mn earlier this winter, I had quite a time just keeping from crashing into a car ahead as the ABS could not slow the car enough so I could use regular non-ABS braking. This was definitely not normal as we have driven these hills many times.

Is there any way the ABS control module can be tested with some sort of scanning tool?

If nothing else, I will get some new better tires next fall. For this year, the roads are clearing up and we have our old reliable 99 Camry that I swear handles better than our AWD cars on snow.

 

The ABS is probably good at disabling itself if its not working properly.

I don't think it activates/deactivates at a slower speed

 

That’s what majority of the comments were. Need chains or winter tires. All season is for very light snow that melts within a day.

 

Good all season tires are leaps and bounds better than the cheap 'round and black' tires that they have on their vehicle. Conti DWS, General Altimax RT45, Goodyear Assurance WeatherReady, Michelin Cross Climate, Toyo Celcius, Bridgestone WeatherPeak, etc etc are all 'all season' tires that do much better than expected in snow, some even carry the Mountain Peak Snow Flake symbol to denote their winter prowess.

 

ABS doesn't override the laws a physics. If the tires don't have any grip there is nothing ABS can do to make up for it. As my Dad drilled into my head, the only thing between you and the road are the tires so always buy good tires.

Your ABS is working perfectly fine, the system runs self tests on every start up and is constantly monitoring the system. If there is any problem the computer will disable the system and turn on the warning light. The problem is the cheap tires that are not finding any grip on the road.

 

I have not had problems with inexpensive tires before. The previous tires were inexpensive tires put on by the dealer and I did not have problems. Frankly, I hate ABS! I learned to drive 50 years ago and mastered “pumping the brakes” long before ABS was even invented. My 99 Camery does not have ABS and I have no problems, and it has cheap tires as well.

But if the Chinese came up with some new crap rubber that turns to stone on icy roads, I suppose that could be the problem. I will either get new cheap rims and snow tires, or quality all-weathers to run year round. Don’t want to be having tires changed out on rims.

 

Well if you want to see how it drives without ABS then pull fuses ABS1 and ABS3 in the underhood fuse box, a 50A and 30A fuse. That will depower the ABS system and give you non ABS brakes. Take a trip down that slippery road and hit the brakes.

 

Good idea Bitter! I will find those fuses and try this.

 

Those fuses are in a protected case. Can the ABS module be de powered?

 

Huh might be part of a multi fuse there, you can just unplug the whole ABS pump too.

 

How would I do that?

 

The gray part slides up and pushes the connector out as it does.

 

Thanks, I will try that!

 

I'm starting to feel like this is not going to end well....

 

Was able to easily disconnect (and reconnect) the module - Thanks Bitter!

One problem though - all the recent warm temps have cleared all the roads so I will have to wait on the test, but no doubt doing this test is the way to go. I will also test against my 99 Camry that has no ABS and very inexpensive tires but brakes well on ice.

Another thing I am considering is purchasing the Annova 5160 scanner recommended by the famous Scotty Kilmer.

 

You can still try it on wet or dry to see how it goes.

 

Back in the days, the wet road test was how to check the abs. Obviously it can’t be done on the public road.

 

The ABS only kicks in on ice and perhaps heavy rain but I have only noticed problems on ice and snow. We have a little traveled town road to do this test.

 

Gravel can be a great stand in for ice and snow.