How to Manage a Brake Failure

You might have come across movie scenes where a car with failed brakes dodges city traffic at high speeds or perhaps maneuvers narrow bends on a hillside with screeching tires. These scenes are a dramatic portrayal of something that does happen in real life and is surely very dangerous as well but definitely not so common.

Facts and figures suggest that out of all the road accidents that take place in USA, only a mere 3 percent are attributed to brake failures. This should give you an idea that clearly brake failure is not a common occurrence and it does not result in tragedies every time.

Again, it is not necessary that your vehicle will gather extremely high speed once the brakes fail but such a vehicle can certainly leave death and destruction in its path if the driver does not know how to handle the situation. If you drive a vehicle, it is advisable that you should be aware of all the rules and practices that apply in order to operate, maintain and troubleshoot your vehicle. This way you can avoid being involved in most dangerous situations associated with driving a vehicle.

Brake failures can commonly be attributed to worn-out brake parts, lack of maintenance, damage to brake system or perhaps even a manufacturing defect. Apart from that, unless someone deliberately fiddles with your car's brake system, brake failure is an unlikely scenario. Earlier there might have been a case of old vehicles experiencing jammed brakes due to various reasons like cold, dirt or other factors but with latest advancements in automobile technologies, even those conditions have been thrown out of the picture now.

A desperate situation like brake failure can be avoided in the first place by maintaining your vehicle properly. In case you still find yourself in such a situation, there is no need to panic as that can make the situation worse. Although it is a life threatening situation, you can manage it successfully by following some basic rules mentioned below.

So what can you do if the brakes in your vehicle are not responding?

First things first, don't panic. Such a situation can be confusing but if you keep your cool, you can surely handle it without causing any harm either to yourself, or to others.

If you notice a brake failure, have a quick check of the traffic around you and select a route with least number of immediate obstacles and steer towards it. Try to take the straight road and avoid turns.

Slip the vehicle in its lowest gear and pump the brakes repeatedly.

Apply handbrakes or parking brakes. This may cause the vehicle to swerve but you should steer the vehicle to avoid that.

The last option is to apply the reverse gear. This should decrease the speed drastically even though it may destroy the transmission of your vehicle.

I hope you never get in a situation where you need to employ such measures but in case you unfortunately do, I am sure now you can manage it successfully.

James Rodham