Problem with Anti lock brakes engaging all the time during normal braking?

I have a 2002 chevy cavalier, has some electrical problems, service light and abs light come on whenever it rains, or snows...never had an issue with the brakes. lately the abs system has been engaging whenever i tried to brake, not at a fast speed, normal braking works fine until almost stopping, then the abs kicks in, causing car to slide at least once or twice. not sure what the deal is, not an expert with vehicles!.|||You need to have someone plug into it and get the ABS code(s).

What causes the ABS to kick in for no reason just before almost stopping is either a bad wheel speed sensor or loose or cracked tone ring or rusted out tone ring or the harness to the sensor is rubbing through on something and/or shorting from water. The tone ring is what spins and the sensor is stationary and reads off the tone ring.

I think your car has sealed hub bearing's where the sensor and tone ring is. Therefore, from your description, I would almost bet that the harness/wiring to the sensor is messed up somewhere in the wheel well area. The code(s) will tell you which of the 4 wheel's has the problem.



The reason the ABS kicks in and actually Tries to stop the car is because whichever wheel sensor is compromised, it's simply lying to the computer and giving it bogus mph/kph speeds. Simple.



I had a Lincoln Continental that had a bad wheel speed sensor and the first two lite stops in the morning pulling out of my own street the ABS system would kick on and slam on the brakes nearly putting my head into the steering wheel! I pulled the ABS fuse until I could get around to finding the bad wheel speed sensor. Pulling the fuse is always an option as it will completly disable the ABS. Athough that's not my recomendation to cure the problem.



The ABS system is capable of applying and releasing the brakes. Trust me, ABS can make a car stop, and it's scary and it's always one of the 4 wheel speed sensors lying!|||the abs should shut down at any speed below 5 mph. the other guy is right though, abs is designed to eliminate the lock up condition, not create it.