Safe driving and emergencies
Your car has four-wheel antilock brakes (ABS) and goes into a locked wheel skid. What should you do with the brake pedal?
- Apply firm pressure to it. Correct answer
- Pump it quickly.
- Take your foot off it completely.
Why
A locked wheel skid usually comes from braking too hard at too high a speed, and while it lasts the car slides whichever way you turn the wheel. The way out depends on the brakes. With four-wheel ABS, press the pedal firmly. Pumping quickly is the method for a car without ABS. Taking your foot off the pedal is the instruction for front-wheel ABS, after which you steer where you want to go. Rear-wheel ABS, common on light trucks, has its own steps, starting with easing up just enough for the front wheels to roll so you can steer. If you are not sure which system you have, the owner's manual will tell you.
Where this comes from
California Driver's Handbook, June 2025 edition. The correct answer is Apply firm pressure to it.
The rule behind this one
Safe driving and emergencies in California goes through the whole topic, with the page of the California Driver's Handbook behind every rule.
More on safe driving and emergencies
- You have just driven through water and your brakes are wet. How does the handbook tell you to dry them?
- On a cold, wet day, which part of the road tends to freeze before the rest?
- A patrol car ahead turns on its emergency lights and starts weaving slowly across all the lanes. What should you do?
- Your 6-year-old normally rides in a child passenger restraint system in the back seat. In which situation may the child ride in front, still in that restraint system?