Call it a positive sign or a negative one, driving has become a too casual activity for most of us! We have become so much used to moving around in a vehicle with wheels and tonnes of metal, that we don’t even consider the fact that it is a machine in the bottom line. But this is a dangerous trend! A car can be either packed with convenience or a moving piece of danger — depends totally upon the way you handle the car and maintain the same.

But sometimes, even an experienced driver gets ditched by fate and faces some unfortunate situation during driving that has nothing to do with his driving skills or the car’s maintenance. One of such ill fated, dangerous situations is the horror of finding that your brake doesn’t work amidst a drive. You can actually find yourself numbed and unable to react in such situation whereas, all you need at this point of time is a quick, wise reaction! 

What should you do and not do when your car brakes fail suddenly?

Whether you are an expert in driving since decades or a fresher just out from one of the best driving schools in Birmingham like Just Pass academy, where they teach you to tackle all such crises pretty efficiently, facing a failed brake can be devastating! There’s a high chance of severe injuries, and often your life is endangered too. But, if you follow the below mentioned steps, most probably you can tackle the situation better, and even your car can be saved from severe damages during this time:

  • No- never panic!!— We know this is easier said than done, but you gain absolutely nothing by getting scared. Then why to stress out and send away your reasoning capability out of the window! Try to act wisely and keep calm and keep driving in a straight direction. If you panic, and start driving weirdly, there are greater chances of you causing accidents or being prone to one!
  • Don’t hurry to downshift — Due to sudden panic and the sheer urge to stop the car at any cost, you may want to downshift the gears directly and immediately. But this can become more dangerous. Instead, keep calm and do the same, but gradually. This way, the car gets some time to ease off and then it wouldn’t at least skid when you stop it.
  •  Keep pumping the brake pedal faster —  Even when the brakes would give out on you, keep pumping them vigorously to start any action that could at least slow down the car. Most of the modern vehicles are equipped with dual brakes. This makes the other one to slow down when the first is being pumped constantly. But in some severe cases, both of them stop working altogether. Hard and constant pumping in order to try to stop the car is all you can do.
  • Never turn off the car —If you think after failed brakes, turning off the car directly in the middle of the drive would stop it, you couldn’t be more wrong! This would further worsen the situation wherein there’s a chance of the steering wheel to get locked and the power steering to stop working too. Which means even if you want to, you can’t control the situation anymore. This would further make the car stop, skid or even cause a huge accident in the struggle to stop it.
  • Turn on the hazard lights — If you can think sane fully, try and turn on the hazard lights as soon as you smell danger. This could warn the vehicles around or behind you to take necessary precautions and maintain a distance. And if you blow the horn to make yourself heard, they may even call the road ride emergency along with giving the right of way to you.
  • Never hurry to apply the emergency brakes — We understand your problem-solving alarm dictating you to stop the car with an emergency brake instantly. You should do it of course, but before doing that, downshift the car and keep pumping the brake for the while. A sudden emergency brake stops the car with a sudden bolt, or makes it skate. Both of these can cause more dangerous situations than you can imagine.

A failed brake is an extremely dangerous and tricky situation you can face when you are in a car. Though, there are ways to control the situation before the danger intensifies, but for that, you need to keep a clear head and act tactfully and follow the above mentioned steps.