What to Do If the Brakes Become Wet and Fail?
It may have happened to you. You drive through a flooded intersection or perhaps only an axle-high puddle. Moments later, when you brake, nothing happens. The car hardly slows. The pedal feels normal, but you have no brakes. The brake linings are wet. In a moment of panic, you realize you can’t stop.
Today’s cars and trucks have a dual braking system or sometimes a “split” braking system designed to prevent brake failure. It is improbable, in fact, all but impossible, for both or all of a modern vehicle’s brakes to fail at the same time.
What has probably happened is that a line carrying hydraulic braking fluid to one of the brakes has ruptured or the brake-fluid reservoir, the master cylinder, has lost much of its fluid due to leaking. By pumping the pedal, you prime the dual hydraulic system, maximizing any remaining hydraulic fluid. Thus, you usually have enough fluid and braking power to slow down, get to the shoulder or curb, and stop.
What to Do When the Brakes Become Wet and Fail:
1 - Take your foot off the gas.
2 - Quickly downshift to a lower, engine-braking gear.
3 - “Pump” the brakes. Because there’s plenty of brake fluid, pumping the pedal will apply the brakes even if they’re wet and unresponsive. Pump them gently at first, then harder (this generally restores them faster than hard braking from the start).
Since the mechanical scraping of the rotor by the pads produces friction, pumping the brakes should produce enough heat to quickly dry the brake linings. Once dried, their stopping ability will be restored.
4 - If you’re careful not to drive through any more standing water while you pump them, your brakes should return to normal and stop the car well short of any traffic ahead. Usually the car’s brakes can be dried, and fully restored, by braking on and off about a dozen times.
What To Do When the Brakes Suddenly Fail
1. “Pump” the brake pedal. Press it down, lift your foot, press it down again. Almost certainly, it will respond, as your pumping, much like priming a water pump, builds back some brake resistance, even though you may have lost much of your brakes’ hydraulic fluid.
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 What to Do If the Brakes Become Wet and Fail? |
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