Yes, it can be damaged & difficult to notice. The wire may have been pinched or impacted in a way that pulls a break in the wire, but the insulation may only appear to be scuffed. That happening with multi-strand wire would be freakish though...
You can do that pretty easy with telephone wires, just bend them back & forth till the copper wire breaks, but the insulation looks fine.
I really don't know what else to tell you. I don't know much about ABS systems...
