What does ABS mean?

What does ABS mean? Welcome to Merce J where compassion and craftsmanship come together, I'm Rick Smith.

People also typically ask, "Can I drive with my ABS light is on?" So first of all let me say if you choose to drive with it on, I'm not going to give you my advice because it's going to be whether you feel comfortable or not. I want to first address, most of our dashboard warning lights are color coded. If they are blue or green, they're some sort of information and it's okay to keep driving the car. If they're yellow, it means drive with caution and get it in for service as soon as you can. If they're red, it means stop the car and get out. So if the light is yellow, then drive with caution and get it looked at.

ABS stands for anti-lock brake system. Now back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and that's when I started as a mechanic, we didn't really have abs and so if you hit the brakes and there was some sand on the road or maybe it was an icy or snowy condition or whatever the car would would then lock up one of the wheels and start to skid. For example if both of you front wheels are locked up and you try to turn you're just going to keep skidding forward, so if we release those brakes a little bit then we actually turn in that emergency situation.

So when the ABS lights on, it means the ABS system is disabled. You're non ABS, normal brakes should function normally unless you feel something else and unless a red brake lights on, but if it's just the ABS light then it means that there's something in the ABS system and the other brakes are okay.

So especially if you're going to be in snow or rain or sandy scenarios or emergency situations, you need to use extra caution because the car is not going to help you pulse the brakes and stop you from skidding. I hope this been informational to you and until next time, safe travels and blessings to you.