Views on ABS on M3?

[Doudeau]

Unfortunately I had an accident in my pride and joy yesterday - so much for my smugness at not kerbing my alloys yet .

When it happened I felt that when I slammed on my brakes I just skidded straight to the scene of the accident. Camera footage seems to confirm my thinking.

From the video I can see the point when under braking the car points slightly to the right (could be me steering) and then just skids straight into the back of the truck.

I can’t believe I will ever be able to prove the electronics didn’t kick in properly but wondered if anyone else has experience of the car skidding under emergency braking rather than ABS taking over.

I spend too much time on this forum and don’t recall or could find any threads on this. Apologies if I missed them.

I’ll share a picture as I know I’d want to see one out of curiosity.

 

[GRiLLA]

Were there skidmarks left, or flat points on the tyres?

I haven't felt the sort of thumping abs my previous BMW did, but I've also not skidded at all in 20K miles.

 

[Doudeau]

Were there skidmarks left, or flat points on the tyres?

Good question. Thanks for raising. I didn’t look at the road tbh and car was taken away on low loader.

I’ll ask body shop to check the tyres.

 

[Irata]

Sorry to hear about the accident, hopefully everyone is ok. I never like hearing about any accident.

As to the question, also what was the road conditions? It's autumn, so the roads can be damp or have fallen leaves, etc.

I have felt the ABS kick in, when a van pulled out in front of me and I stomped the brake and steered away from them while fortunately no collision. It all felt very confident, controlled and predictable to me. Likewise, I didn't feel the peddle violently vibrate like I have on previous cars, but I knew ABS was triggered.

 

[rotor2k]

I've had two or three emergency brake situations and there is no doubt in my mind that ABS was working *extremely* well at the time.

 

[pgkevet]

Ditto to road conditions. It's common to have to slam brakes on, on the single track roads here, when some yahoo comes round a blind corner too fast. A little loose gravel, mud or wet leaves and my S will slide whereas on proper roads its braking performance is brilliant.

 

[Doudeau]

It was on the M4, middle of the day on a dry clear day so pretty much perfect conditions I’d have thought.

Only anomaly, as can be seen in pic, is that the passenger side was on newer tarmac (maybe relates to why I seem to skid slightly sideways).

 

[Fursty Ferret]

I think you're right that the newer tarmac provided slightly better braking. Is your observation that it pulled a little to the left under heavy braking, or were you actively steering to avoid the truck and it ploughed straight on?

 

[Sparkeur]

Sorry about your prang. I've had my M3 18 months and yesterday was the first time I had to use emergency braking because of a deer running out in front of me. It seemed to be ABS just like that in my Discovery. I was probably only doing 30mph but as I recall, three 'judders' and I was stopped. Certainly no skidding.

 

[Yachtsman]

Good question. Thanks for raising. I didn’t look at the road tbh and car was taken away on low loader.

I’ll ask body shop to check the tyres.

There is a skid mark visible in the photo!

 

[Doudeau]

There is a skid mark visible in the photo!

Can you see my car seat thru the window ?

Assuming you mean on the road - then you have better eyesight than me. The image is actually before I’d braked anyways. On the left are the two cars that had just crashed so any skid marks could be from their accident. Within 2 mins there was another crash about 80m further up the road.

 

[GeorgeSymonds]

The automatic emergency braking should have kicked in and max'd out the braking for you (it's not able to stop the accident, but can reduce the hit). It is only overridden according to the manual if you steer sharply (ie swerve), brake and then stop braking, accelerate hard or the obstacle disappears. That may have given rise to an unusual sensation?

 

[Tony Hoyle]

If that's the result of a collision at 70 I think the safety systems did everything they can. The driver area (and fleshy insides) seems untouched.. that's the best you can hope for.