Hopefully you are never put in this scary situation, but it is important to know what to do when your brakes fail. Brakes are, for the most part, reliable, but there are a number of rare instances that will render your vehicle’s brakes useless. In this event, it is important not to panic or do anything hasty, like purposely drive into something. Making the wrong decision in this scenario can cause harm to your vehicle, and more importantly, you and your passengers.
Here is some information on what do when your brakes fail.
Pump the brakes: Your brakes might not be out completely — your brake fluid just might be dangerously low. Try pumping the brakes first in order to determine whether you truly have lost all ability to use the brakes.
Downshift: If you are driving a vehicle with a manual transmission, begin downshifting the vehicle immediately. Changing gears will naturally slow the speed of the vehicle down. This will not be much help for those driving automatic vehicles. However, in both situations, make sure not to apply any more pressure to the gas pedal so the vehicle can decelerate.
Pull the emergency brake: While it might not allow you to stop entirely, using the emergency brake can slow you down significantly. Slowly pull the emergency brake up instead of yanking it up quickly.
Stay attentive and warn other drivers: Keep your eyes on traffic and respond accordingly. It helps to turn on your hazard lights or constantly honk the horn to alert other drivers that your vehicle is not operating in a proper fashion. Often, fellow motorists can take the hint and get over to the side of the road, out of your way.
Merge to the right: Get over to the far right of the road so that if you can come to a safe stop, you will be over on the shoulder where responders can assist you.
Make a judgment call: If you must crash into something to come to a complete stop, assess the dangers of your surroundings. Do everything you can to slow the vehicle down before you collide with anything. You can slow up immensely by hitting a curb, but it isn’t wise to do that if there are numerous pedestrians in the area. You must account for your safety and the safety of others.
Get A Tow
Once you learn the hard way what to do when your brakes fail, you will likely need your car towed somewhere to be repaired. TalkLocal is perfect for situations where you need to get ahold of a professional in a hurry. Our service requires a mere 90 seconds before a qualified professional calls you, instead of the other way around.
