Well i am so bummed that i am writing the following. I own a 05 base 2.2 2dr and love it. I was under the impression it had ABS, as most cars do. Well i am still not sure but i could have sworn it did. Anyway i digress, the reason i am bringing this up is because i was on my way home from work and was traveling at about 17mph when i see a car cut off the car 5 in front of me which sets of the chain of brakes lights.

I see this and already start to break and remember thinking "Man someone is gonna have a bad day. LOL" Well that someone was me. The guy infront of me took a big nose dive and i hit my breaks harder which was immediatley followed by my internal reaction of "WHAT THE **** KIND OF STOP IS THIS?!!!" because my car, ABS or not, acted just like it had none. instant wheel lock and it is so light that i just slid and maintained speed right into the guy.

DAMN! well im bummed , and no i wasnt speeding,following to close or anything like that so no flames, the car just didnt seem to do its job. But it was rainin pretty good so i know that didnt help but man i expected better. Well thats all, rant over

 

Easiest way to tell is when you start your car an ABS light will flash for about 5 seconds.

My car does not have ABS, only locked them up twice for a brief period of time

Just think of your car as a racecar, lol. Racecars dont have ABS

 

I know mine doesn't have ABS, i could of swore they told me it did, but i had to slam the brakes on the other day and they locked up.

 

damn thats ******* cheap! even my old 98 base cavalier has abs...

 

I locked em up twice last week. It was funny the first time, second time I want around anyone. Just remember to be careful!

 

I have abs....Only problem i have is in the snow they lock up

 

Its still your fault and driver error that you hit him. If its raining then a good driver will allow more room between him and the vehicle in front incase of an emergency stop situation.

Know your vehicle and its limits and dont abuse it.

 

dude read the damn quote...its only my fault for being the last car...all accidents are situational....1.5 car length is plenty...IF YOU THINK YOU HAVE ABS AND DONT...well that is kinda my fault but still...i asked you not to flame thanks anyway though.

a simple "that sucks" would have worked

 

my ABS worked amazing...i have to absolutely jam the brakes in traffic at 1 AM on the highway cause some idiot in a truck...i could feel the abs pulse the brakes so they wouldnt lokc up. i stopped so fast that the car behind me THANKFULLY went into the emergency lane and passed me doing about 45. the guy in the truck got pulled over and a cop was about 20 feet ahead of me so he pulled him over. as i walked by i just rolled down my window and screamed WHAT THE ****! then i praised the guy who went into the emergency lane for being smart and not rearending me. point of the story, the brakes work amazing and so does the abs, DOOD.

 

oi oi oi. The problem with all car companies announcing ABS here and there, no one knows how to stop a car in case they don't have it. You have to learn to pulse the brakes on your own, because if you have control of the situation, you can usually beat it.

 

but abs doesnt shorten ur stopping distance, its purpose is to keep you in control.

btw if you have the stock 15" tires, i would suggest upgrading that coz i heard a lot of bad things about those tires

 

Man that sucks!
But only 1.5 car lengths at 17mph? The law here ses 2 cars at 10mph or less and at 17 you should have had atleast 3.

I almost got creamed buy a car that was folowing me at about 5 cars at 60mph when a car infront of me hit a car that ran a stop sign and I stoped realy fast as to not hit that back of the car infront of my. They had to use the brake down lane to avoid hiting me.

ABS is there to help but you are suposed to know the limits of your car and how to control it if your ABS fails or in your cass, you dont have ABS.

Later

 

I think GM wwas in the Ghetto when they came up with ABS and Traction Control in our cars.

I have yet to feel a big difference with the ABS in my car, and the Traction Control is useless, whats the point of traction control if all it does is cut your throttle?? If I feel my tires spin, I can let off on the gas myself instead of being stuck in the middle of a busy highway whole corssing becuase my throttle has been completely cut off for a few seconds.

 

it significantly shortens your stopping distance...

 

the salesman lied then!

i did a quick research and it says it does reduce ur distance for most conditions, however skilled drivers with non ABS cars can match or further reduce the distance than a typical driver with an ABS car

 

This is my first car with abs and let me tell you!!! The abs system is a great device and should be mandatory on all vehicles no extra charge, I mean **** its about safety!!! I recently was doing 140kmph here in town and my stupidity got the best of me and sure enough some guy jumps out in front, well if it wasnt for abs it would have been pancake time,lol.. I fish tailed for a split second but the car kept me in control...

Thankgod your alright though, at least you kept your distance and thankfully noone got your back end eh!

Oh and one more thing, you know you have abs when you feel a shudder in the front end but don't worry thats the abs working!! It scared the **** outta me when it did that in the winter

 

hmm i wonder if mine has it?

 

only base models were optional i think...so ur SS should have it

 

Its standerd on the SS.

I dont particulerly like the ABS in almost every car that I have driven.

I usualy pull the fuse for it on my cars. I good driver will always out perform an ABS systom!
Allthough I do like the ABS on the cobalt and did not disable it on this car. But on my cavy it was a POS!

Later

 

That's exactly how I got rear ended... streets were wet... person behind me couldn't get stopped in time...

Thus is why I never speed when driving in the rain... and always give extra room for stopping.

As far as your cars lack of ABS... that totally blows... I wouldn't buy a new car with drum brakes, or without ABS... there's much better stuff out there, and to Chevy for not giving the base Cobalts the simplest of safety features.

 

i will never ever buy a car without abs, it has saved me countless times.

 

Sorry to hear about your wreck & no ABS

I've had two times ABS has worked great for me & my Brother !

One was we were driving to Maryland to pick up a rare 1967 muncie & as we were crusing about 75mph & had been drinking mountain dew all day, we saw a rest area & at the last second decided we both need to use it, so we were in the left lane & my brother sped up to make the lane change & then exit & dam this rest area is like the first one in Ohio & the dam ramp as like 50 feet & then a quick 90 right turn & then another 90 left turn man we were still doing close to 70 mph when my brother hit the brakes & turned at the same time as we made the corners and stopped in front of the building with people looking at us like WTF & man we were both white as a ghost & had to almost change our shorts.
That was in a 1993 Lincon Town car & it was 4 days old ?


The second time was in my Cobalt a guy had fualty breaks & stopped 6 feet out in the right lane that I was traveling in & it was hit him or push the car next to me over & dam i hit the brakes & stopped with a foot to spare & dam I look in my rearview mirror & blam the guy behind me didn't have ABS & took out my rear bumper & lower lip & since has been fixed but the guy ran on me so i had to pay my dedutable of $500.
I learned not to pull off the road even if it is rush hour as he pointed to pull in & I did & he bolted & by the time I was able to blend back into trafic he was already 5 blocks away

ABS can be a pain at times like with bumps it tends to lose stopping power due to the wheels bouncing & causing different speed readings while braking which emplyees the ABS but on wet & dry flat roads it alows you to maintain traction & steering to maybe avoid a situation but all in all the best way to avoid colisions is to maintain distance & always watch for the idiots as my first story was all to blame on drivers stupidity as my brother was driving way to fast to exit

 

well with all that said....i know to pulse the brakes and i know how to drive. its just i unfortunately took the word of another as to what my car was equiped with and didnt check for myself....that is my fault but if it does have ABS that **** did not work at all....well its over and done and im waiting to hear from the insurance company as to the condition of the car...maybe it is repairable and that would be ok too but if it is totalled i wont mind too much cuz i can then i can get the 2.4 and a 5 speed...but i miss my car already....=(

 

I've had one guy rear end me then run since I've had my license.

I swear, I'm goin after the next ass that tries that.