Possibly the end of the grand am

[Cormaster]

So the wreck's been playing over and over again in my head, and a couple things I realized:

#1. it was rainey and the ground was wet so I couldn't acclerate fast, so I oviously was going only maybe 15mph.

#2. I slammed the breaks on but I do not remember feeling a pulsating sensation.

#3. Immediatly after the wreck 3 warning lights came on: Service Vehicle soon, ABS, and Trac Off

What does this mean? my abs failed me! Now that I'm thinking about it, My car should of slowed down enough to do minimal damage or possible let the other car pass by before I hit it, but my breaks locked up and my car slid into the other car! When I think about it even if I hadn't hit the breaks hitting the car dead on wouldn't of done 40mph damage to the front end! I've done tests with the ABS before on wet pavement, it slows the car down and stops it almost quicker than it does on dry pavement. Problem is the ABS periodically goes out on my car and it takes a quick engine restart to get it back on. My previous car, '98 sunfire, did it periodically too, so I'm assuming GM has a defect in their ABS systems.

I wonder why they haven't issued a recall for this since its obviously a saftey issue!

[tenspeed]

Originally Posted by Cormaster

my abs failed me! Now that I'm thinking about it, My car should of slowed down enough to do minimal damage or possible let the other car pass by before I hit it, but my breaks locked up and my car slid into the other car!

The ABS allows you to steer when hard on the brakes. It allows the wheels to turn instead of locking up. It increases braking distance.

Your wheels locked was a better deal in your case where you didn't have to steer out of the way.

I live in snow country and have the ABS go off many times when braking. Once on ice, they were buzzing away as I drive through a stop sign onto a major route.

Some thing you can't avoid.

[Cormaster]

well snow's a little different than rain. I've slammed my brakes on just to test them out on rainey surfaces before and they've stopped the car almost quicker than stopping on dry pavement. I didn't hear any buzzing, and my car didn't slow down at all.

Anyway it was a once in a million type of thing, so Its not going to keep me from buying another grand am. In fact right now, looking at the prices, I can get a GT with the same mileage as mine for half of what I paid for it in 2004. So right now it seems to be the best option: Same car, half the payment.

I got my 97 GT for 4 grand with 85 thousand miles. Pretty high mileage but I sure dont mind. I would go for a little older and pay less.

[bryanw0087]

man that sucks! also theres probably alot more wrong with it than you think, probably steering is all messed up also everything is probably shifted on the front end and it will probably cost alot more to fix than you could imagine, just by looking at the 2 pics id def say its totaled for sure, good luck on finding another car

[Bouchie11982]

dyam that sucks.....too bad you couldnt buy it back from the junkyard and repair it yano? ebay is a wonderful place for parts (you probably already got a new car since this being a couple months old now)

[Snowboardr18]

yeah, there is goin to be a lot more to be fixed than the things you listed. anyway, it sucks man. good luck gettin a new car