Anti-lock brakes help ensure that you can brake quickly without having your brakes “lock” around your wheels. If this happens when your car is traveling with too much forward momentum, it could cause your car to skid and you to lose control. They are a useful safety feature that comes standard on most modern cars.
In order to allow your tires to maintain traction with the road, your anti-lock brake system (ABS) monitors your wheels’ rotation in comparison to the speed of the car when you are braking. If the pressure you put on the brakes would cause them to make a wheel stops rotating while the car is at an unsafe speed, your antilock brake system releases a little bit of brake fluid pressure, which allows the wheel to begin turning again so it can come to a stop while maintain traction with the road. The system then continues to compare your wheel rotation and speed until you come to a stop or let your foot off the brakes.
What Triggers Your ABS Warning Light
Your ABS system constantly monitors itself when you are driving and also completes a check each time you turn the ignition on in your car.
If it detects that something is not functioning properly, it will turn on your ABS warning light in the dashboard console to make you aware that there may be a problem. While you should still be able to safely break, the issue could be causing the antilock functionality to not work, leaving you at risk for brake locking should you need to stop quickly.
What You Should Do
As the warning light does not tell you where in the ABS system the issue was detected, you will need to either troubleshoot the issue yourself or take your car to a mechanic to have the source located and fixed.
Save Money on Your Repair
At My Auto Solutions, we provide an alternative ABS repair solution to costly dealership service for people looking for an economical solution for their ABS repair. Our expert technicians can assist customers the Atlanta and Sandy Springs areas in our local workshop. We also offer a mail-in program for customers located nationwide. Fill out our online contact form to find out more about our local repair and mail-in services.