Abs - Alfa Romeo 156 GTA Owner's Manual

ABS

The car is fitted with an ABS system which
prevents wheel lock when braking, better
exploits wheel grip and keeps the vehicle
controllable within the limits of the available
grip also during emergency braking.
The driver can feel that the ABS is opera-
tional by a light pulsing of the brake ped-
al, accompanied by noise.
This should not interpreted as malfunc-
tioning of the brakes, but it is the signal to
the driver that the ABS system is working:
it is the warning that the car is travelling at
the limit of grip an that, therefore, it is nec-
essary to adapt the speed to the type of road
on which you are travelling.
The ABS system is an additional part of the
basic braking system; in the event of a fault
it is disabled, leaving the braking system
in the same conditions as a car without ABS.
152
In the event of a failure, though being un-
able to rely on the antilock effect, there is ab-
solutely no adverse effect on vehicle brak-
ing performance in terms of braking capacity.
If you have never used a car with ABS be-
fore, you are advised to learn how to use
it with a few preliminary trials on a slippery
surface, naturally under safety conditions
and fully adhering to the Highway Code of
the country concerned. You are also advised
to carefully read the following information.
The advantage of the ABS compared with
the conventional system is that it makes it
possible to maintain maximum vehicle han-
dling performance also in the case of hard
braking under grip limit conditions, avoid-
ing wheel lock.
Do not however expect the braking dis-
tance always to be reduced with the ABS
system: for example, on soft surfaces such
as gravel or fresh snow on slippery surfaces,
the distance might increase.
In order to be able to exploit as far as pos-
sible the possibility of the antilock system
in the case of need, it is wise to follow a few
pieces of advice:
WARNING
The ABS exploits the
available grip in full, but it
cannot increase it; therefore, cau-
tion is required on slippery sur-
faces, without running unnecessary
WARNING
If the ABS cuts in, it
means that the grip limit
between the tyres and the road
surface has been reached: it is nec-
essary to slow down and adapt
driving to the grip available.