Cars brakes are failed then what we do?

[The Mad Monk]

Zod said:

That would have sudden, possibly explosive consequences. If I had space, I'd try to go down the box, block-shifting two gears at a time.

Do you think he knows about block-shifting two gears at a time?

Perhaps you should explain it?

[RizzoTheRat]

HustleRussell said:

That's bull too though. Some cars are really hard to steer without power assistance. My old BMW has a steering box instead of rack and pinion and that is very heavy. Also some people are smaller and less strong than others, they might have no chance of maintaining control of the car without power steering. A lot of cars have electric steering now and I don't know what happens there when you turn the engine off, presumably you still have assistance.

Anyway killing the engine you also lose power assisted brakes- this is a very bad thing even if you think your brakes have failed- one circuit will be working and it will help you stop the car.

In fact the only reason I can think of for turning off the engine would be for marginally better engine braking but I'd much rather have the engine running.

Surely unless you put in to neutral the engine is still turning over so the ancillaries will all be running and you'll still have hydraulic brakes, power steering, air con, etc? If you're in a modern diesel switching off shouldn't make any difference to engine braking as I believe they don't put any fuel in when engine braking, I'd assume petrols are similar as it's the inlet vacuum that gives them the engine braking.

[corozin]

Surely the answer is to ensure that your car isn't out of control and has working brakes in the first place. In road driving keeping a car in control is pretty much a matter which is in your own control, isn't it?

[dudleybloke]

99dndd said:

Change into 1st and grab handbrake.

I'm not sure that the best thing to do but that's what I'd do.

I've driven a car that had a sudden total brake failure and that was how I stopped it.
Was a slightly brown trouser moment as I hadn't been driving that long and its not something I wish to repeat.

[WhatamIgettingmyselfinto]

Strudul said:

I can and sometimes do. Makes no difference.

Don't think you're doing it right then.

[Strudul]

WhatamIgettingmyselfinto said:

Strudul said:

I can and sometimes do. Makes no difference.

Don't think you're doing it right then.

Let's go through an example then:

- 2nd gear
- Idling along at 6 mph
- Clutch in
- Neutral
- Clutch up
- Blip (hardly necessary at this speed and rpm, but I've tried with and without a blip)
- Clutch in
- Try push gear stick into first
- It doesn't go
-

[WhatamIgettingmyselfinto]

Strudul said:

Let's go through an example then:

- 2nd gear
- Idling along at 6 mph
- Clutch in
- Neutral
- Clutch up
- Blip (hardly necessary at this speed and rpm, but I've tried with and without a blip)
- Clutch in
- Try push gear stick into first
- It doesn't go
-

Hmm, not too clued up super modern gearboxes, but in my mini for example it's doable. Seems unlikely, but perhaps there is a mechanism preventing you from engaging 1st at speed. When you blip the throttle the engine revs do need to match that of the other 'half' of the gearbox otherwise the gear will not engage. Obviously the synchro will do its best to match the shaft speeds but you have to give it a chance.

[DocJock]

Clutch in
Gentle pressure on the gear lever towards first
Blip throttle.

It will slip in when revs match.

[Sheepshanks]

Strudul said:

- Try push gear stick into first
- It doesn't go
-

A lot of gearboxes are obstructive when trying to select 1st if the car is moving at all - drove me mad when daughters were learning as they would try and select 1st when rolling through give-ways etc at anything under about 15MPH.

I don't think there's a specific reason for this other than crappy gearbox selector design. We had a Honda Jazz for a while and it was no problem in that.

[HustleRussell]

It would not surprise me at all if gearboxes were designed not to allow 1st to be engaged on downshift. 1st gear is generally so short as to be of no use other than to get the car moving, and an accidental downshift into 1st gear of all gears could cause the worst consequences (loss of control and engine borkage)

[shouldbworking]

TvrJohn said:

car brakes are dual circuit, even if hydraulics burst, two wheels will still brake

Speaking from experience, if the front circuit fails and you're heading downhill, rear drums will be wholly inadequate to stop the car, dual circuit or not!

I opted for downshift to control the speed as much as possible, rear brakes as much as possible, keep it straight and threw the car into a turning off the hill at a fair old clip.. once on the flat it stopped eventually.

I then phoned the garage that had refurbished the front calipers the day before... 'oh dear. drive it in to us and we'll take a look'. Worst garage ever.

[CanAm]

I thought the circuits were split either diagonally or one front/two rear.

[john2443]

Pump the brakes as hard and as fast as you can - if you've lost all fluid then it won't help but if not you might get some braking.

On a manual (that doesn't have semi auto flappy paddle/flicky tappy gearstick stuff and has a proper handbrake) change down 1 gear at a time getting into each gear at the highest revs it'll take and progressively put the hand brake on while looking for the cheapest / softest thing to crash into.

On an auto with electric handbrake you are probably fked but see if it will let you change down gears and look for the cheapest / softest thing to crash into.

Scraping up against a wall/hedge/ditch/car at a shallow angle is better than hitting head on.

Observations on previous comments -
- If you're doing 70 you're unlikely to be able to get into first (unless your driving a 3 litre Capri or something else that'll do 70 in first!
- Turning the engine off won't make any difference to power brakes when the brakes have failed anyway.
- Slamming the handbrake on full is fine if you have a crappy handbrake that's only just good enough to hold it on a slight hill but it it has discs or good drums I think I'd want to gently pull it on an not go for full lock up. Take care with the handbrake if you're driving a 2CV (and maybe other Citroens), it works on the front wheels!

[Bagpussawake]

HustleRussell said:

Anyway killing the engine you also lose power assisted brakes- this is a very bad thing even if you think your brakes have failed- one circuit will be working and it will help you stop the car.

I always thought this too until about 15 years ago when one of the rear brake calipers fell off a MkII Golf GTi I was driving and left me with absolutely no braking at all! It also snapped the handbrake cable for good measure.
I'd just overtaken another car, heading east on the A96 near Boath, and when I gently touched the brakes to ease in behind the next car, instead of my car slowing slightly as I expected, there was a loud bang and the pedal went straight to the floor. No amount of pumping the brake pedal gave any pressure back (and believe me I was pumping the pedal faster than even Chris Hoy could have managed!).
I was very lucky, the road there is wide with gentle bends and I had plenty of room to slow down using the gears. The hardest bit was actually coming to a complete stop from the final 3-4mph as that was on a slight downhill and the car wouldn't stop rolling! In the end I put the clutch in and switched off the engine and then released the clutch slowly in gear to let the engine drag stop me.
The bit that scared me most was remembering two days earlier when I had been driving enthusiastically at 8 or 9/10ths along the twisty sections between Inverness and Invermoriston down the side of Loch Ness. If the brake had let go then.....

[Cliftonite]

Sheepshanks said:

A lot of gearboxes are obstructive when trying to select 1st if the car is moving at all - drove me mad when daughters were learning as they would try and select 1st when rolling through give-ways etc at anything under about 15MPH.

I don't think there's a specific reason for this other than crappy gearbox selector design. We had a Honda Jazz for a while and it was no problem in that.

Learn to double declutch!

One day you may NEED to change down into first gear on the move (e.g. hairpin bend on steep mountain road).

[justinio]

Foot down HARD on the go pedal. Keep going until you run out of fuel.

Job jobbed.

[matchmaker]

Change down through the gears, then handbrake. That's what I did when my Vitesse had total brake failure (single circuit brakes and a faulty servo which allowed the brake fluid to be sucked into the inlet manifold).

[MorganP104]

matchmaker said:

Change down through the gears, then handbrake. That's what I did when my Vitesse had total brake failure (single circuit brakes and a faulty servo which allowed the brake fluid to be sucked into the inlet manifold).

None of that sounds pleasant.

[matchmaker]

MorganP104 said:

matchmaker said:

Change down through the gears, then handbrake. That's what I did when my Vitesse had total brake failure (single circuit brakes and a faulty servo which allowed the brake fluid to be sucked into the inlet manifold).

None of that sounds pleasant.

It was not fun

[liner33]

My Land Rover Freelander had a brake failure when just a few weeks old , ie the footpedal fell off , went to put my foot on the brakes and the pedal dropped into the footwell . I used the handbrake to stop as I wasnt going fast

Was impressed by this effort (NWS)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGuzVk0HTsU