Abs/traction On 97 Es

HubJunky1 · December 5, 2003

Hey everybody,

This is my first winter with my 97 ES, and I've never had a car before with ABS and Traction control, so its all pretty new to me. We're having a nasty snow storm today and I was curious to see what was normal behavior for these things. When i press hard on the breaks, they sort of push back on you and make a really horrendous noise. If you only go lightly on them however they act normally. And the traction control, when its applying breaking you can very clearly hear the sound in the cabin. Are these things supposed to make so much noise, or should I have my breaks examined?

Thanks!

SW03ES · December 5, 2003

They're probably operating normally. You should feel a pulsation in the brake pedal and hear a grinding pulsating noise, this is because the computer is automatically pumping the brakes. You'll feel some roughness with the TRAC also as the system syphons power from one wheel to the other.

doiturself · December 5, 2003

When the Traction control is ON, you lose some power of acceleration. The ride should be rough.

SpeedRacer959 · December 6, 2003

Yeah, the brakes sound normal...the antilock is doing quite a bit, so a noise is to be expected. My friend's Porsche Boxster has louder ABS brakes than my Lexus, so don't worrry.

W/ Traction control on, I believe the compluter adjusts the fuel going into the engine. That's why when you accelerate around a corner on take-off and it kicks in 1/2 through the corner, you about put your face through the steering wheel.

You'll hear the engine sound very restricted because it wants to go, but it's only getting about 1/2 the fuel it needs to take off so it sounds very bogged down.

Cheers.

:cheers: