Vehicles give off warning signs to us all the time. While you may see them, often we don't know exactly what they mean. Our owner's manual may give us the answer to these signs and alarms, however, we don't often sift through the manual to figure it out. The ABS warning light may be one that you have no idea what it's indicating to you when it appears on your dashboard.
The ABS, antilock braking system, is in place to make sure the wheels are all turning at about the same speed. If there is ever an occurrence of a slippery situation the ABS will utilize the brakes to keep the vehicle stable and under control.
Anytime the computer senses an abnormal signal from any of the four sensors (one for each tire), the ABS warning light will come on so you're alerted. Whenever you see this light you know something needs your attention.
Some things that can be happening when you see the ABS warning light other than monitoring wheel speed include a blown fuse and low brake fluid levels. Some vehicles have it where the ABS warning light will blink many times before it stays on. The amount of times it blinks is a code that is attempting to let you know what the issue is. While you may have seen the ABS light come on, what should you do when this happens?
One of the very first things that you should do is get to a place that is safe and turn off your car and start it up again. This will have the same effect as shutting down your computer and restarting it again. Your car computer will recheck all the sensors to see if there are any irregularities. This may fix the issue, but generally, it isn't quite so easy.
If your light doesn't go off, the next step is to find out what is happening. You want to take your vehicle to get checked out as soon as you possibly can. If you need ABS repair, give our auto repair shop a call today!