The paper describes localization of deformation in a bar under tensile loading. The material of the bar is considered as non-linear viscous elastic and the bar consists of two symmetric halves. It is assumed that the model represents behavior of the quasi-brittle viscous material under uniaxial tension with different loading rates. Besides that, the bar could represent uniaxial stress-strain law on a single plane of a microplane material model. Non-linear material property is taken from the microplane material model and it is coupled with the viscous damper producing non-linear Maxwell material model. Mathematically, the problem is described with a system of two partial differential equations with a non-linear algebraic constraint. In order to obtain solution, the system of differential algebraic equations is transformed into a system of three partial differential equations. System is subjected to loadings of different rate and it is shown that localization occurs only for high loading rates. Mathematically, in such a case two solutions are possible: one without the localization (unstable) and one with the localization (stable one). Furthermore, mass is added to the bar and in that case the problem is described with a system of four differential equations. It is demonstrated that for high enough loading rates, it is the added mass that dominates the response, in contrast to the viscous and elastic material parameters that dominated in the case without mass. This is demonstrated by several numerical examples.