Total brake failure - 2015 SMAX
Discussion
Car is a 2015 SMAX 2.0 petrol, bought from a Ford dealer with 9k on the clock. Now has 25k on the clock with full Ford service history. Last serviced at Ford on 2nd Sept this year.
My wife was driving the car when she experienced almost total brake failure. The brake pedal travelled to the stop, and there was virtually no braking effect. There were no warnings on the dash to indicate a problem – either a low brake fluid warning light or a message displayed on the screen.
The car was recovered to an independent garage near home who quickly diagnosed the issue – a split brake hose on the near side front wheel. The split hose caused total brake fluid loss and the consequent brake problems. The brake hose to the off side front wheel was perished and bulging.
The garage told me they had never before seen brake hoses is such a condition, and given the age of the vehicle (just 4 years old), suspect a manufacturing fault with the hoses.
I've written to Ford and await their response.
Has anyone seen anything like this?
My wife was driving the car when she experienced almost total brake failure. The brake pedal travelled to the stop, and there was virtually no braking effect. There were no warnings on the dash to indicate a problem – either a low brake fluid warning light or a message displayed on the screen.
The car was recovered to an independent garage near home who quickly diagnosed the issue – a split brake hose on the near side front wheel. The split hose caused total brake fluid loss and the consequent brake problems. The brake hose to the off side front wheel was perished and bulging.
The garage told me they had never before seen brake hoses is such a condition, and given the age of the vehicle (just 4 years old), suspect a manufacturing fault with the hoses.
I've written to Ford and await their response.
Has anyone seen anything like this?
Thanks guys. To respond to a couple of points:
1) Car has never had any damage under my tenure. It may have had a heavy frontal before my ownership, but it was a Ford management vehicle and I would have hoped that they would have repaired it properly for that reason. Still, that may be the case
2) The car was recovered to the garage by the AA. The AA guy said the circuit was split front / rear (ie both front on one circuit, both rear on the other) so the rear brakes were probably operating and providing 30ish % service. I thought the split was diagonal F/R but whatever - I drove the car around the garage compound and up and down a side road - I sh*t myself at 15mph. You could bring the car to a halt but anything pulling or running out in front of you and it would be game over
Ford customer services have replied saying take it to the dealer to be inspected.
Watch this space.....
1) Car has never had any damage under my tenure. It may have had a heavy frontal before my ownership, but it was a Ford management vehicle and I would have hoped that they would have repaired it properly for that reason. Still, that may be the case
2) The car was recovered to the garage by the AA. The AA guy said the circuit was split front / rear (ie both front on one circuit, both rear on the other) so the rear brakes were probably operating and providing 30ish % service. I thought the split was diagonal F/R but whatever - I drove the car around the garage compound and up and down a side road - I sh*t myself at 15mph. You could bring the car to a halt but anything pulling or running out in front of you and it would be game over
Ford customer services have replied saying take it to the dealer to be inspected.
Watch this space.....
Well, I've heard back from Ford UK. They've told me to p*ss off. I called the UK Customer Service centre who have said that as I had the car fixed at an independent rather than a non Ford dealer, they have no policy to compensate me for the cost of repair, despite the fact that the failure of the component was within any reasonable expectation of useful life. They also have no interest in pursuing a possibility of a manufacturing fault in the brake pipe. If I'm inclined to do so, I can call their technical team at £1 a minute and tell them, but if I can't be bothered, it will go no further.
Off to think of the next steps.
Off to think of the next steps.
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