Unless maybe if you have some awesomely studded tires
Pull the fuse or breaker.
My guess is you have cruddy tires in the winter and that is reason for activating. I have it on my Subaru’s equipped with winter tires and it rarely goes off even on sheer ice. With all-seasons all the time.
It rarely activates. Only when i misjudge which isnt often. There are a few variables involved. Jeep is lifted (center of gravity). They are 2 very different vehicles. My tires are ok. Subaru is lower to ground n probably a better vehicle all around as far as operator friendly. Ive 5 speed 4.0 H.O. The thing drives like a race truck. Seems like its geared a little high. I can easily get 60mph in 3rd
Bypassing all of the rant, but wanting to respond to it…
- Yes, you can disable the ABS. it’s just a matter of removing a fuse. I’ve done this when my alternater went out so I could make it home on battery power. The ABS is a big juice hog, at least on my car. If I were hypermileage obsessive I’d probably disable it all summer.
- Do you want to? Well, all ABS systems are not created equally. I love the ABS on my '91 Saab 900. I find it incredibly helpful in all conditions from dry summer roads to black ice, and think it has prevented accidents in both scenarios. But, my brother drove a Passat for many years and complained bitterly about its ABS. If you really hate it and think it is doing more harm than good, then disable it already!
- It is highly probable that your insurer would try to deny a payout if they found the ABS fuse missing on the wrecked car. So simply remove the fuse and short it across the battery terminals and replace it. The fuse must have blown during the accident?!
Still, do some objective brake tests in various conditions in a remote area somewhere with and without your ABS activated before you write it off. I believe that there are poor implementations of the technology, but also that there are curmudgeons out there who would diss ABS no matter how well it worked.
Will the car pass inspection in your state if you do? I can’t get away with a blown fuse on my rear defroster in my state. The law here is that every existing safety feature must function.
I agree with you on the value of this safety feature. It increases stopping distances and provides a false sense of security to the driver. Drivers should have a feel of the road and drive accordingly rather than rely on gadgets to compensate for skill and attention.
But if you ever have an accident and someone is harmed and the system was disabled by you, you’d be very hard pressed to prove your case. I’d leave it alone and learn to just drive to avoid the system from being activated.
- I have a tendency to rant
- ABS a juice hog? Thats news to me and im trying figure just how.
- Believe abs 2 b a gd thng 4 aggressive or inattentive drivers. Im almost overly cautious and almost see no reason for it.
- I hear ya on the disable. That can be fixed
5.curmudgeons? I’ll have to look that up. - Your talking with an ol country boy that has driven vehicles with 1 brake bias on the front radial on the back…yes im serious. Not good but i was older then…im younger then that now. (that was intentional) I have no accidents… well thats not true when i have run off the road.
I will pass inspection. However it doesnt need to anymore. They quit doing it. The only inspection im aware of is IM.
The only other thing I would add is that it seems a bit of a paradox that we are having all of this discussion on safety issues when you are driving a Jeep! Is there a production car out there which is less safe to operate on public roadways?
Im unaware of jeep being at the bottom of the list of safety. I like the capabilities. Drive right through the big city…get out of town and disappear in the trees. Its a Jeep Thing
- Do I rant? Sorry!
- I don’t know if this is true across all ABS equipped cars, but I have owned several Saabs of this vintage and can attest that their ABS is truly an ampere vampire!
- Just to save you the trouble: cur?mudg?eon [ker-muhj-uhn]?noun - a bad-tempered, difficult, cantankerous person.
- My only effective experience with ABS has been with my Saabs, so I cannot compare varieties. I’m with you, though, in that I learned to drive on comparatively primitive vehicles, whose most effective accident prevention strategy was driving slowly!
All good until you need to turn quickly at speed!
Its not a mustang but i do love blowing them off the line (stop light)on ice and staying ahead…
You’d certainly be way ahead of me right now in the snow in Cologne! My only 4wd experience was a Subaru, which I drove through NYC in the snowstorm of '96. 4WD really made a difference!
Call it what you like. Im accident free and racing on ice. No Body Gets Hurt
Further more…i will NEVER now everything and yes im a legend in my own mind
The subaru may have left me in the "dust?
Thats Skilled driver included
Kindly explain why you think Jeeps are unsafe… The rollover issues were resolved years ago and they are more stable than most other similar SUVs at this point.
ABS is useless on ice
And I was under the mistaken impression that was one of the elements abs was expressly designed to help with.
NO traction aid, whether it be abs, traction or stability control etc, increases traction. Only the relationship between tires and surface do that. They are suppose to help you manage that traction.
When wheels lock on ice, a water layer is built up (as in ice skating) that decreases traction even more. The frequent pulsation to allow slight wheel spin is designed to prevent that build up and INCREASE control and decrease stopping distance. Any wheel that isn’t free wheeling gives up control traction. It is only on some sandy and gravel surfaces that abs has shown some increase in stopping distance. It’s just the illusion that it takes longer to stop on ice.
Do the test your self. I live next to a lake that freezes and we drive on it to ice fish. I also did ice racing years ago.
Ice does not cause poor handling characteristics and driving techniques, it reveals it.
It is unforgiving as speed increases and humans DO NOT have the physical capabilities to manage what little traction there is…don’t believe me, test it out your self as has been suggested !
35 years…and HOW MANY MILES??
First off…it really depends on where you live and how much snow experience you have…Since I grew up and learned how to drive in one of the snowiest towns in America (average over 250"/yr) I seriously doubt you have any where near the experience I have. My father-in-law hasn’t had an accident in the past 20 years…but he only drives about 2k miles a year…so it’s really meaningless. I drive more in one year then he’s driven in the past 20 years.
You sound like the people who say smoking isn’t bad for you because they’ve been smoking for 30 years and don’t have cancer…See the error in your logic.