Complete failure of anti brake system on my 1990 buick reatta also-- as specifically reported from other reatta owners. Dealer states there are problems --- reatta internet sites states there are major problems --- the federal safety agency website list several complaints / personal accounts of ABS failure. How many incidents / deaths will it take for buick or the federal safety agency to correct this factory / part defect? What a disgrace of public safety shown by buick and the federal safety agency. Dealer states oem replacement parts are available -- $1500.00-$2000.00. Same part manufacture, same continuous defect.
Buick Reatta abs comes on
13 of the 32 owner complaints about the Buick Reatta describe aBS light or ABS activating, most of them for the 1990 model year.
- owner complaints
- 13
- worst model year
- 1990
Is there a fix? There is 1 recall for this area of the car. See below
By model year
- 19931
- 199012
Often reported together
What owners say
Failure of hydralic/ABS brake system on my 1990 buick reatta convertible requiring replacement of entire brake master cylinder and ABS system.
The ABS system on this vehicle has had many problems since new. Many times the braking system would pull to one side and this is documented in repair orders at the dealer. Dealer never was able to find a problem at the time of the ro.in 1996 dealer replaced ABS relays to correct concerns of ABS system inopperable. The ABS warning light has come on many times. Dealer not able to determine any problem. Then during july and august of 2000 more consistant problems began to occur. Very bad pull to one side upon braking on one occasion and a stiff pedal with greatly reduced braking effectiveness. Took to dealer for these problems , ro states red brake light and yellow ABS warrning lights come on and stay on. Replaced accumulator. Left dealer and with in blocks warning light comes back on. Return to dealer and discuss replacement of entire braking system. Begin to do some research on web and find reatta owners group forum with many other complaints that are of the same nature involving the braking system. Buick, dealer and owner (me) split the 3291.91 bill 3 ways after sevice manager and factory service rep. Review information gathered from the reatta owners forum. My feeling is that the teves braking system used by buick/general motors on many vehicles during the late 80.
Both times we experienced total brake failure. The brake pedal was "hard" (would not move). Both times there was no warning ie. No ABS light on dash and no brake light on dash. Both time the failure occured while driving at a low rate of speed so there was no damage to the car or diver.
Intermitant failures where ABS would either engage or wheels would lock and/or the car would lunge left or right. In 10 months numerous dealerships were never able to diagnose the problems, always said there were no problems with brake system on car.
In bumper/bumper traffic, 97 degrees, stop and go, ABS brakes failed without warning. No lights on dash. At time was just barely moving. Checked fluid levels, okay, no leaks. Abs brakes just stopped working with no warning lights or other hints. Glad I was behind the wheel and not my wife.
Abs system completly failed with no warning, had to pump brakes and finaly came to a stop without hitting anything. Buick offered to pay one third of the repair cost then they backed out of that agreement. I have since found out through the buick owners of america that this is not a insolated problem.
Abs warning light came on then vehicle lost all braking ability.
I'm writing a second time about this problem because I read the complaints section of your website and found two more incidents suspiciously similar to my own. I also wrote about it on the buick reatta discussion page on the internet and one other person wrote in to say he experienced this problem. Since this is a catastropic failure of the brake system with no warning, I figure you guys would want to know about it. I think that this is not specific to reattas but would affect every buick/gm vehicle with the same electronically controlled ABS system. My mechanic said that the failure was due to a bad switch that controls the electric pump. The pump burned out. There should've been a dashboard warning about the problem when only the switch was burned out, but the sensor reading the switch had also failed!!! That left me with no brakes and no warning. There was no physical change in how the brakes felt until the total failure of the system!!! Since there were only about 4,000 reattas produced in 1990, it seems to me that the incidence of this problem is way too high to be ignored. If other buicks and gm vehicles have the same system, you are looking at a potentially huge problem out there. Please do something.
Abs brake failure.
Related recalls
Service brakes, hydraulic: brake fluid low warning: lamp
- What is wrong
- Brake indicator light may not light when ignition is in the "on" position, the parking brake is applied, and the shift selector is in the park or neutral gear range.
- Risk
- Vehicles would not meet the requirements of fmvss 101and 105.
- Remedy
- Replace the prom in the body computer module to prevent this condition from occurring.
Recall number 91V158000 · Recall details
Questions about the Buick Reatta abs
Why does the abs come on in the Buick Reatta?
Owners who report it most often also describe brake failure and pulls to one side.
Which Buick Reatta years have aBS light or ABS activating problems?
The model years with the most reports are 1990 (12 complaints) and 1993 (1 complaints).
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