Brake Electric Antilock problems of the 1999 Toyota 4Runner

I have a 1999 Toyota 4runner that has the same problem with the abs as is being reported for the 2010 prius, only worse. When the abs kicks in on slick or uneven surfaces, the vehicle goes into a freely-floating mode for 5+ seconds. There is no braking capacity at all during that time and steering is difficult. The vehicle is completely out of control during that time. I have had multiple near-misses which would have resulted in serious harm to myself and others and a few incidences where I ended up running off the road (once into a ravine) or hitting median strips w/o involving other vehicles. I took my vehicle to the Toyota dealer twice about this issue. Once I was told I was nuts, that the abs couldn't possibly behave that way; and the other time I was told that, "OH yeah, that's how abs works. " no examination or correction was offered. My strategy has been to always touch the brakes so gently that abs doesn't kick in, but this winters snowy weather has defeated this plan. Whenever I brake on a slick, snowy surface the abs kicks in no matter how gently I touch the brakes. Last week, I had an extremely harrowing close call when my vehicle went careening out of control into an intersection when another vehicle was passing through it. This was on a side street when I was moving very slowly and had begun the gentle braking at least 30' before the intersection. . . But the abs kicked in, and I could not stop before sliding into the intersection. (for the required field asking for the incident date, I'll give the date of this most recent near-miss, but there have been many incidents over the years. ).

While pulling our 1999 4-runner with 39,000 miles into a parking stall, the brake peddle went all the way to the floor without stopping, resulting in a minor accident with no injuries. A service technician (not from Toyota) examined the vehicle and nothing unusual was observed. However, during a road test, the peddle went all the way down again when he attempted to stop. He pumped the brakes and they "caught" and stopped the vehicle. A Toyota dealer has not been able to duplicate the problem. A field service representative from Toyota examined the vehicle today after which, we were called to pick up the vehicle. Other than a visual inspection and road test, Toyota hasn't done anything. I don't believe that I should drive this vehicle on the road but that's exactly what Toyota is telling me to do.

As I was driving down a 4 lane highway, the steering wheel suddenly jerked out of my hands to the right. I was unable to turn the steering wheel back to the left to correct. The roads were wet from an earlier rain; there was no standing water, no pot holes, or other visible defects in the road. I was in the left lane, traveling about 60mph. The car spun out of control - doing 2 complete spins on the highway, then into the ditch on the right; hitting trees, flipping, hitting more trees, and finally coming to a halt straddling the ditch perpendicular to the highway. Since there was no visible defects in the road that would have caused the steering to act like that, I'd like to know if there is any mechanical problem which would have caused the steering wheel to jerk so hard to the right and keep me from being able to correct it. I've been told that perhaps the front right brake locked up, the tie rod broke, or some kind of steering defect. Please let me know what I should look for.

While driving at highway speeds it became necessary to take evasive maneuvers. When I slammed on the brakes I did not feel the abs engage. I lost control of the vehicle and hit a guardrail. When this occurred the vehicle rolled front over back and the airbags never deployed. This concerned me. How can a vehicle roll over and the airbags never deploy?.

Front wheels would lock up when brakes are applied in a sudden stop on wet condition road. Appointment has been made for the dealer. Feel free to provide any further information.

The truck is equipped with abs brakes that when being driven in snowy conditions, the brake system performs erratic. The owner states that he would hear some sort of humming sound but the truck continues forward. The Toyota dealership did evaluate the brakes but no cause of performance was acknowledged. Please describe details ts.

Brakes vibrate badly but only once in a while. After coming to a complete stop the rear axle or rear end clunks badly when releasing the brakes, tire have cupped prematurely even though balanced and aligned, gas gauge works most of the time but sometimes is incorrect by as much as 50%. Abs kicks in even when on dry pavement. ( dot number: w@hh tire size: p225/75r15 ).