Today I sent the following email to subaru of america concerning the investigation of ABS defect in wrx vehicles. I have experienced the problem on numerous occasions, and on no occasion was I driving in an "aggressive" manner or "hard' braking. Nor was my previous complaint to the federal safety agency a "parroting" of someone else's problem from the impreza website, as subaru has accused. The ABS is overly sensitive to bumpy surfaces and is a safety risk, period. My email to subaru of america: I have just reviewed soa's letter dated 9/10/04 to the federal safety agency re your investigation of alleged ABS problems in wrx's. I am dismayed by soa's inability to document, and refusal to acknowledge, the ABS problem. I am insulted that subaru blames the problem on "aggressive driving patterns." the problem regularly occurs at one point in my daily urban commute when I brake for a traffic light over a bumpy surface. I am using only 15% of the braking capability at 20 MPH when the ABS fault occurs-- hardly "aggressive" or "hard" braking, and hardly a situation that only aggressive performance drivers would encounter. When it occurs, there is a sudden, dramatic reduction in deceleration whichis no longer proportional to pedal pressure, and increased pressure is ineffective while the ABS is "confused" by the bumpy surface. Several times I have had scary moments when the drop in deceleration has resulted in nearly rear-ending the vehicle in front of me. I am very puzzled why an event, that for me is so predictable and repeatable, has escaped your analysis. *ak I further take offense to the claim in your letter that many of the complaints to the federal safety agency were dishonest repetitions of problems a few had described on an owners website. Nice try, but I can attest to the validity of the problem in my car, having experienced it dozens of times. Discussion on the website has informed owners of the problem and may have prevented some accidents, something I cannot say for subaru! Charles f. Visser.
2002 Subaru WRX brakes complaints
Page 2 of 4: complaints 11 to 40 of 80, newest first, as owners wrote them.
While applying the brakes, something is banging in the front end. Only happens the first time I back up and apply brakes. Move forward and it bangs again but only the first time I move in that direction. Dealer tells me the brake shoes are moving but nothing can be done, they claim it is not a problem.
This complaint is in regards to a continuing problem with my 2002 subaru impreza wrx wagon. While braking on uneven roads, especially when encountering potholes or other conditions where one or more tires momentarily lose traction, the ABS will engage and remain engaged for a significant amount of time (after the momentary or instantaneous loss of traction). This causes the car to brake ineffectively or sometimes not at all. This has put me in uncomfortable and/or dangerous situations on numerous occasions when the car does not brake as expected. It is my understanding that this issue is currently under investigation by the federal safety agency and subaru, so I am awaiting the outcome of this investigation.
I was recently riding with what suburban subaru in vernon/manchester, ct say was 50% life left on my break pads in my 2002 wrx sedan. When stopping for a fast yellow to red light change from about 50 miles an hour their was no response on the break pedal. I quickly took my foot off and pressed again, even harder this time, which engaged the ABS and left me coming to a banging ABS stop in the middle of the intersection of route 5. Luckily all the cars at the intersection noticed what had happened and there was no accident. I just want to make sure this problem with the brakes not responding at all gets recognized and looked into further. However, I can plainly say that after that incident, I do not trust the breaks on my 02 wrx. I plan on keeping this car, but I demand reliable braking like all other drivers.
Antilock braking system engages on dry pavement when it encounters bumps, pedal goes almost to the floor and braking force is severely reduced. I have driven many cars with ABS and nothing like this has ever happened to me. I have sort of learned to "drive around" the problem, but on a couple of occasions where emergency braking was called for it has nearly caused me to get into an accident - once forcing me to drive up onto and over a curb and into a ditch. Destroying one of my wheels in the process. Someone ran a red light and I couldnt stop from 30 MPH in what would have been plenty of room with a normal braking system. Problem has been there since car was new, when I inquired about it with my dealer I was informed that "all wrxs do that, its normal" but after talking with several other owners of the same car I can tell you that although we all might experience it, its not normal at all and quite scary. As an experiment I found a parking lot with some bumps on it that would cause the ABS to go nutty, I then pulled the ABS fuse and went over the same part of the parking lot at the same speed and I could get tons more braking force without locking up the wheels than I could with the ABS on, something is definitely screwy here.
No warning. Brakes locked up fully on interstate 44 going 70 MPH. Abs light came on and I tapped the brakes and they locked up and came to a complete stop on the highway when I was not using the brake.
When driving in pavement irregularities the car seems like it doesn't want to stop. (almost rear ended another car) so far I haven't had any accident, just trying to prevent one. I own a 2002 subaru wrx. This has happen in several occasions but I can't remember a specific date.
The ABS activates prematurely during threshold braking on rough or uneven dry paved surfaces (washboards especially), causing extended braking distance, loss of brake pedal pressure. Abs operates as expected on wet smooth surfaces without being noticed.
I experience dbrake failure with my 2002 subaru wrx during a moderate speed (about 35 MPH) emergency panic stop, resulting in my sliding into a truck that cut me off and caused damage to my car and his truck.*ak the date listed below may be incorrect because I don't have the date with me right now, but it is within a few months of the incident. The road surface was fairly dry and slightly bumpy and after stomping on the brakes they went all the way down with no pulsing and very little stopping. I felt like I was on ice with no ABS. I commented to my insurance company during my initial call reporting the accident that I felt I had plenty of time to stop and that the brakes just "slid". I also reported it to my local subaru dealership who checked it out after the accident after the body work was done and found no problems. I have experienced no other incidents like this since I don't drive that hard and avoid hard stops. I would really like this to be addressed to avoid potential future accidents. Thanks, craig hoffman
Complete transient brake failure - subaru 2002 wrx wagon.just experienced this failure, thankfully not "driving" at the time. I was backing the car down off service ramps last night in my driveway. Not sure exactly what happened at the wheels, I may have run over a block of wood with a rear wheel at the same time, but anyhow just as I came down off the ramps under very light braking, the brake pedal literally sank to the floor under my foot, - it felt like it deflated.the pedal just remained limply where it was. Application / variation of pressure had no effect whatsoever, don't recall hearing the ABS mech either after the initial sink.*ak I was left rolling slowly backwards down my driveway with my foot firmly planted on the brake - there was not even enough braking force to stop the car from a walking pace roll. I used the e-brake to stop. Tried the brake pedal again afterwards, and pressure was back, like nothing happened. Very scary. Even though I'd read about this, still took me a few seconds to realize what was happening. This clearly could be fatal "on the road". See http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=487735&perpage=25&pagenumber=1 for more detail and reports.
Abs goes off for no reason on slightly rough roads.
I was pulling in to a gas stations parking lot at about 15 MPH and hit a pot hole with my passanger side front tire at the same time I applyed the brake heavly to slow down for the late seen hole when the brakes go completely hard. It felt as if I wasn't applying the brakes at all, it took a good 10 to 15 ft to come to a complete stop luckly I had enough room to stop. This isn't the first time I have had this happen I also try to slow down to fast once and ran over a parking cirb. The anti lock brakes don't feel like all other cars I have drove (pontiac saturn ford), they never pulse on like the other cars they are just hard.
Gas periodic gas smell in car. Cold cluch jitter.oor braking preessure, over active ABS.
Abs failure on multiple occasions. While driving down a steep hill in 6 inches of snow at less than 5 MPH the ABS kicked in and I could not stop the car. I had no brakes. The car was in deep snow and was not sliding. As I was approaching a multi car accident at 5 MPH I had to stop. I turned off the ignition on the car and it stopped instantly. I have found that in deep show going down hill I have zero brakes. I'm forced to use the emergency brakes or to turn off the car. This is at sub 5 MPH speeds. This is an all wheel drive car designed for travel on snowy roads. In another incident I was traveling at 55 MPH on a windy road when the car in front of me stopped quickly for a right turn. I hit my brakes and had nothing. The ABS activated and I was forced to turn into oncoming traffic to avoid a rear end collision. This was on dry pavement. I was following with plenty of room to stop. The dealer refused to look at the car and told me I needed to learn to drive.
Over rough surfaces (including potholes, railroad tracks, and ripples in the road ) my ABS seems to kick in when it is not needed and causes the break pedal to go to the floor on occasions.
Abs brake performance - the ABS over reacts to uneven or slick surfaces and fully engages reducing braking effectiveness. This can be caused by rippled or uneven pavement or a manhole cover and can happen under any braking condition from moderate to heavy braking. The only way to regain braking is to let off and then reapply the brakes, the exact opposite of what I've been taught about ABS. This condition eventually resulted in a crash and $7000 damage to my vehicle in a braking situation where I don't feel ABS action was warranted.
This has happened several times over the last two years (date is the first incident I recall). On surfaces that are wet, snowy or icy, I cannot brake into a turn. The car does not turn or stop, but merely slides in a straight line and eventually stops after it goes 3 feet or more, depending on my speed when I attempted to take the turn. This happens at all speeds, even when I am going very slowly (less than 5 MPH, for example, as to make a 90-degree turn into a parking lot). In order to take two turns on my daily commute, I must come to a complete stop, turn the wheel, and then accelerate into the turn. Amazingly, I have not had an accident due to this problem, though I have had some very close calls. One thing Ive found that helps is turning the steering wheel sharply so the front tires are perpendicular to the cars path. I couldnt think of anything else to try, and this seems to make the car stop more quickly while in a slide. The mechanics at my local dealership ran diagnostics and pronounced my brakes fine. I tried to suggest something else to check during a 20-minute phone call with the mechanic, but his only suggestion was that it could be my tires (which are standard and just 2 years old). I have driven other makes of cars with anti-lock brakes and have not had this problem, even on icy, snowy, rain-drenched roads.
I have had instances where my ABS would not work when I hit a irregularity in the road surface, or when I go over a speedbump.
The vehicle failed to slow down and subsequent hard braking LED to loss of control. The rear end swayed to the right and hit the right barrier, then turned around, front right hit the left barrier. The vehicle had history of not being able to stop on surfaces with the slightest bumps, as found on exit ramps and intersections. The vehicle was checked prior to the accident for the brakes by the dealer and had found no problem. Subaru declined to look at the vehicle after the accident for possible manufacturing defect regarding the ABS. It is still in my garage for possible inspection.
I was traveling on a street with some construction activities approaching an intersection. There was a small road irregularity on the road. This road irregularity spans across both of the front wheels. When I applied the brake (before I can feel the road irregularity), the car continued to leap forward for a moment and the braking distance was much greater then I anticipated and not the normal behavior of the car. Have there been a car I strongly believe that my car's ABS braking system has a problem.
I own a 2002 subaru impreza wrx wagon, which comes standard with ABS brakes. I'd heard through a variety of channels that there was an ABS issue with the car, in that under specific circumstances the driver could momentarily lose all braking ability. I had my doubts, having owned the car for 2 years before my incident occurred, but it did finally happen to me. I was coming to a stop at a light that had turned red. There were no cars in front of me. I was traveling about 35-40 MPH and began braking with a light-moderate pedal pressure. About 200 feet before the intersection, there is a seam in the pavement and the latter piece of roadway is about 1-2 inches below the part before it. In other words, it's a very small drop off. Upon hitting this drop off and maintaining pedal pressure, the ABS briefly cycled (felt as a vibration in the brake pedal) and then the car stopped decelerating for about 2 seconds. It was as if I'd lifted completely off the brake pedal, yet I had not. Once I realized I wasn't going to stop, I released the pedal and reapplied it very quickly. Braking force was returned, as if there were no problem. This is the only time I've experienced the incident. I've driven many ABS-equipped cars in the past, and am very familiar with what ABS braking feels like. I'm ase certified in braking systems, and have raced both ABS and non-ABS equipped cars at an amateur level. What I felt was not normal ABS operation, and had there been a car stopped at the intersection ahead of me I may well have run into it. I enjoy my car quite thoroughly, and like everything else about it. I'm not 'out to get' subaru. But there is decidedly a flaw in the ABS system that many others and now myself have experienced. I just don't want to be caught off guard again.
I drive a 2002 subaru impreza wrx sedan. The ABS system is terrible on this vehicle and has numerous times failed to apply pressure to the brake system, regardless of pedal position. One time specifically this caused me to not be able to avoid hitting a deer, and doing 4000 dollars of damage to my vehicle. The dealership denies any problems, but I way more than enough stopping distance where any vehicle should have been able to stop. The surface was rough asphalt. I was going approximated 55 MPH (speed limit), and was 200 ft away from the deer when I first applied pressure to the brake pedal.
Overwhelming fuel smell inside vehicle to the point of my eye's tearing due to the strong smell of fuel and pull the car over to get out and breathe fresh air. Strong even with the hood closed you can smell the fuel standing by the car. Cannot drive vehicle or have children in car. Anti-lock braking system engages prematurely when not needed, causing vehicle to travel over a longer distance than needed.
When braking over uneven surfaces or bumps on dry pavement, the ABS kicked in and the brake pedal went to the floor leaving me with absolutely no brakes for a second until I lifted my foot off the pedal and reapplied pressure. This caused me to almost crash into the car in front of me which was stopped at the stoplight. I had to change into the right turn lane to avoid an accident.
Complete failure of the braking system. During snowy conditions at approximately 15mph, I pressed the brake pedal very softly. The pedal was very stiff and didn't depress at all (no travel at all). The ABS didn't activate and no braking occured, I pressed harder and still nothing. The car didn't slide at all, didn't slow and no braking occured at all. I let all pressure off the pedal and again gently pressed the pedal again. The car slowed to a stop like normal. It was -5 deg f. Outside at the time of the incident. It has never happened before or since this incident but in 17 years of driving I've never had a car do this. I would have gone right into the intersection if I hadn't been breaking very early due to the conditions. I stress that the initial application of the brake pedal was very gentle and no matter how hard I subsequently pushed the pedal didn't depress at all at any time untill I let up pressure and tried again.
Abs over sensitive - will often cause failure of braking power when going over bumps/potholes/road seams during normal braking. Will cause extended braking distances despite good road conditions and slow travel speed. Brake pedal goes to floor and car fails to stop.
My 2002 subaru wrx sedan has displayed unreliable ABS behavior. This has resulted in my first accident in 10 years of driving. The car appears to loose virtually all breaking power when encountering any road imperfections. While the ABS system should engage in such an even, it should disengage as soon as it clears the problem. However, while driving, I have noticed the wrx continues to loose breaking power. While driving down a 35-MPH road, I encountered a minor collision caused by a car being obstructed or cut off. Normally at this speed I would assume 5-6 car lengths to be sufficient to stop the car, but while breaking I encountered a small dip in the road surface. When the car passed over the dip, the ABS engaged, after that point the car continued to loose breaking power until I collided with the car ahead of me. During the year I have owned the car, I have encountered this problem a number of times non of which caused an accident. I initially attributed it to the brake and rotor wear, but after replacing the whole breaking system about a month before this accident, the problem re-occurred. It appears to be systemic to the ABS design/programming.
Abs activates in unnecessary situations. When approaching a stop sign on my street, on clean dry asphalt, the ABS activated when going over a small pothole. The brake pedal went to the floor and there was no braking power until I released and reapplied the brake. This exact situation has occurred at least 10-15 times at the same location. I have also experienced the unnecessary ABS activation and brake failure in other locations where I have driven over bumps or pavement irregularities. The result is usually the activation of ABS, then the loss of braking power, and the requirement that the brakes be released and reapplied. To the best of my knowledge, this is not the porper operation of an anti-lock braking system. This behavior has not yet caused an accident or any damage, but it is easy to see that if I were in closer proximity to other vehicles or objects, the result could be catastrophic.
The ABS on my 2002 subaru wrx wagon engages in situations when it seems that it should not engage. It feels like there are no brakes sometimes.
Abs system will engage over rough roads, bumps, railroad tracks, manhole covers or any uneven road situation even when ABS is not needed. The system then takes several seconds to recover and allow normal braking. This results in greatly increased stopping distances and driver uneasiness. Generally, happens at low speeds (less than 40 MPH) when approaching a stop sign, traffic signal, or stopped traffic.
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