Topic Title

Hi, I’m a newbie, I’ve owned a PHEV now for 6 months, I love it.
I live in very rural Cornwall, I recently fell foul of the snow. Gently heading down a country lane what I believed to be not too fast 10 mph ish on the snow I managed to brake and lock up.
The wheels stayed locked until I hit the hedge row, must have been about 10 yards.
I would have expected the ABS to cut in, I’m use to on other vehicles to getting that “juddering” effect as the ABS worked, I had none of that.
I have no warning lights on, the tyres are the ones that came with the vehicle with about 7mm of tread.
Do I have an ABS problem or am I expecting too much from it in the snowy conditions?
Any guidance would be gratefully appreciated.

Hi, I’m a newbie, I’ve owned a PHEV now for 6 months, I love it.
I live in very rural Cornwall, I recently fell foul of the snow. Gently heading down a country lane what I believed to be not too fast 10 mph ish on the snow I managed to brake and lock up.
The wheels stayed locked until I hit the hedge row, must have been about 10 yards.
I would have expected the ABS to cut in, I’m use to on other vehicles to getting that “juddering” effect as the ABS worked, I had none of that.
I have no warning lights on, the tyres are the ones that came with the vehicle with about 7mm of tread.
Do I have an ABS problem or am I expecting too much from it in the snowy conditions?
Any guidance would be gratefully appreciated.

The ABS works well on my Phev and the car generally drives well in the snow. So that’s my experience.


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ABS judders on my new Phev and my previous one when breaking in snow/ice, so it sounds like you do have an ABS issue. Best get it checked.

Does anyone know how the ABS works? As the vehicle has the complexities of running on electric and the regenerative options. It would be good to know the condition ABS does not work.

ie if all 4 wheels lock at such a slow speed does the vehicle think it is stationary therefore no judder? Does it think it is regenerating. If you search for this there is mention of the engine speed being involved in the vehicles decision if the ABS should cut in and as the car at 10mph would logically be on the electric could this be the issue?

Please let us know if you have a fault and sorry to hear of the bump.

Hi

This became an issue for me during the snow. I was using my Outlander to transport people to hospital.

I had fabulous traction except in one circumstance. I think I hit black ice at just below 10mph. Applied the brakes gently but they still locked all 4 wheels and skidded for 100 meters. Luckily a curb stopped me. From then on I put on full regenerative braking and let it slow the car down.

I am guessing the ABS had deactivated and the slightest brake pressure was enough to lock the wheels. Glad I got away with it!

Garnett

That sounds absolutely awful. You would expect a £40k car to know it was sliding if the wheels are locked and was still moving.

You mention slowing with regen, I can think of a couple of issues with this, such as what if you are fully charged and the regen does not engage, you would have no option than to break. Maybe there is mention in the manual of the good old manual break dabbing to unlock the breaks like before ABS came in.

How does any car know its sliding if all four wheels lock?

Mine was superb in the snow, but I've had a similar problem in my old Vauxhall. The solution is take your foot off the brake!

If all four wheels are locked you need to release and try again gently so as not to lock them all. Once one or more wheels is turning the abs system stands a chance of working.

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I know that older systems on other vehicles don't operate until you REACH a certain speed, and also "most" abs wont work below a certain speed, as the car would never stop, because the ECU would constantly be trying release the brakes while you were coming to a standstill. You'll need to check with the dealers / Mitsi Technical to see if this is still the case.