Would you know what to do if your brakes failed?

[JFSinIL]

Once on vacation with all the kids our van had a nervous breakdown - the computer part died, and all of a sudden no matter how much hubby tried to give it gas, we went slower and slower on a freeway - luckily an off-ramp was right there and I just about grabbed the wheel to make sure we got off the road (hubby was still trying to just go faster - wasn't happening. And the van was still on). Lucky, too, there was a McD there, middle of nowhere three hours south of Norfolk, VA.  AAA sent a tow truck to drag van and hubby up to Norfolk, hubby came back with a rental van to get us hours later.   Earlier on vacation the van had been acting odd - alarms going off in the middle of the night, or lights flashing on and off suddenly when just parked at Williamsburg, VA (we were lucky the battery didn't die), etc.  Seriously the van had a nervous breakdown ;-)

Later, at home, dealer had to fight the maker to get the computer part of the van replaced.  It was under warranty, though. 

[regentrude]

A student at my daughters college died after being in a car where the driver thought the brakes failed. She told everyone to jump out of the car and they did.

 

 

Were they heading towards a tall cliff and in danger of going down? This would be the only scenario where jumping out of the moving car would create less damage on impact than remaining buckled in the vehicle. 

I cannot even fathom what she was thinking. This is not just an argument for better driver's education, but for teaching physics.

Edited July 6, 2016 by regentrude

[hornblower]

I couldn't find anything about the OPs story but found this one from 2013 

http://www.nbc29.com/story/21922801/car-brakes-fail-teens-eject-themselves-on-i-81-in-augusta

I don't think it made sense to jump. The car had airbags, big steel cage around you. It would have been better to stay in the car & be rammed by the police or drive it into a pole etc. 

I think it's people panicking. 

Edited July 6, 2016 by hornblower

[frogger]

It wouldn't have been obvious to me either Sparkly. Whenever I get into a different vehicle, especially newer models of non-Fords I feel like I'm in a foreign land and don't know what to do.

[BigMamaBird]

My Driver's Ed teacher taught us to shift into neutral to disengage the engine, slowly pull the parking break and/or steer one set of tires into the median to cause drag and slow down your car.  Beyond that he hammered us with "Regualr Maintenance!"   

[regentrude]

My Driver's Ed teacher taught us to shift into neutral to disengage the engine, slowly pull the parking break and/or steer one set of tires into the median to cause drag and slow down your car.  Beyond that he hammered us with "Regualr Maintenance!"   

 

why would putting the car in neutral slow it down more than keeping the engine engaged? If you don't press the accelerator, there will be no gasoline flowing into the engine, the engine will beforced to compress the air in the cylinders, thus do work, and that should reduce kinetic energy.

Edited July 6, 2016 by regentrude

[SparklyUnicorn]

Unless going fast downhill...wouldn't eventually that thing slow down pretty well?

 

Next to my junior high there was a steep hill and some guy in a truck had brake failure and it gained a lot of speed going down and he crashed into railings in front of a small river.  He did not make it unfortunately. 

[regentrude]

Unless going fast downhill...wouldn't eventually that thing slow down pretty well?

 

Eventually it will slow down of course, but that may not be fast enough to avoid a collision, especially if it was fast to begin with. Cars are engineered to reduce air resistance, which is a much bigger factor than the friction bewteen tires and road in normal driving.

As soon as there is a slight incline downwards, car would probably pick up speed. Uphill of course, it stops fairly quickly.

Edited July 6, 2016 by regentrude

[Beebug123]

I've had loss of power many times in many vehicles and been able to stop but I have lost brakes before and it is a completely different situation. In my case I was driving a large dodge ram truck and the line with brake fluid snapped to my front left tire. It is a very disconcerting feeling to press on your brakes and feel the snap and then loose braking. I was able to make a U-turn and nurse the truck back to my house by downshifting, pumping the brakes, and pressing on the parking brake. We pulled out off of our road onto a main road but were only a few blocks from home. When we pulled into the driveway the brake fluid continued to leak out and make a huge stinky mess.

 

eta. I was also in an off-road accident in a dune buggy with one of my best friends. In that the brake is a true cable and the tube around it had become pinched somehow and it disabled the line from moving. Because the loss was so sudden and we were already in a low gear we ended up hitting a small dune and were launched into an end-over-end rollover. Thankfully there is a roll cage and we and her children, who were riding in the back, walked away with only a few minor scratches and bruises.

Edited July 6, 2016 by Beebug123

[imagine.more]

This happened to me when my friend was driving and we were 18 or so? She was coming off the interstate exit, went to slow, and the brakes were out completely. It was terrifying. This was coming into downtown ATL, the exit near Georgia Tech....very busy. She basically swerved to avoid the stopped cars, jumped the curb and turned sharp to land going right on the cross street. Then she pulled the emergency brake and thankfully that worked. The curb had slowed us down considerably though. That was an awful moment and we were both sure we were going to die. Never once would we have thought to jump out of a moving vehicle though, that's crazy! I mean, seatbelt + airbag + metal car seems safer than bare skin on the pavement and metal of the car at 45+ miles an hour, sheesh!