HOW DO YOU KNOW IF YOUR CAR HAS ANTI-LOCK BRAKES?
When my insurance company puts my VIN # in it comes out that my car has anti-lock brakes. But it has no dashboard indication and does seem to stop as if it has them. No chatter on hard stops or on slippery roads.
I don’t believe mine has any dashboard indicator (other than to indicate a malfunction), but it does have antilock brakes.
What model and year is it? If it was winter and you had some nice snow or ice, it would be easy to tell by trying it out.
When anti-lock brakes work as they should, there ahould be no jitter and shaking. The top line Elantra has ABS, some of the cheaper ones, like the Accent, do not.
Just drive and forget you have them. Just don’t pump the brakes in an emergency!
Your owners manual will tell you…otherwise, you’ll know if you can change direction when the brakes are applied on slippery roads. Somewhere in the engine compartment they’ll be a brake pump and valves with accompanying electronics. http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/anti-lock-brake2.jpg It’s really hard to imagine that on ice, you can’t hear it working or feel it’s effects. You will feel a shudder if it works correctly…that is the intent.
The next time it rains, go to an empty parking lot and nail the brakes at a decent speed. The next time you’re in for an oil change, ask the mechanic if you have anti-lock brakes; it’ll take him about ten seconds to check. If you have anti-lock brakes and they didn’t kick in during your test, then apparently they’re malfunctioning, so have the mechanic look at that.
Or you could open your hood and look for one of these
http://www.autotekelectronics.com/newautotek/UK/public/abs.php
What you’re looking for is the cube shaped thing. It’ll be clearly visable under the hood and have hydraulic lines (brake lines - tubes) coming from the threaded holes in the photo, as well as a wiring harness coming from the electronics connection area.
Cars without ABS do not have these cubes.
The next time you start the car look at the lights on your instrument panel. If you have ABS you should see an ABS light. (If you just turn the key to the start position without cranking it should also come on).
Just out of curiosity, I have to ask - having these should save you money on insurance. Shouldn’t you just assume that the VIN check is right and go on with it. Or would you like to “correct” the insurance co so that they can charge you more?