Unreliable ABS sensor - what happens?

[ericthered]

I had a damaged ABS wheel speed sensor that I was"sure" I could have fixed.
The $150 price tag for the part from Scottsdale encourages that kind of thinking too.
But within minutes I decided to completely removed the sensor!
(I ordered a new one - replaced it today)

I felt confident that if the car did not see the ABS sensor on startup it would just fail safe to manual mode (which I am generally happy with anyways)

Question:
What would have happened if I did try to repair it, it worked fine for a while, but suddenly on the highway the connection got intermittent/funky and the cars vehicle dynamics system thought my right front wheel had suddenly stopped or seriously slowed?

I always think about the airbus accident caused by the sensor thinking the wheels were down while air speed was high, therefore the planes computer throttled back the engines.

[mexillis]

Did you have the ABS/VDC/SLIP lights on? I had a friend with a front bad ABS sensor and it just made him brake like an old car without ABS until it was replaced.