How can I stop a car when the brakes fail?

Hello Paul, is there a way you can stop a car when the brakes fail? Stella.

Hello Stella, in the event that your car brakes fail while you are driving, the last thing you want to do is switch off the engine.

Besides powering a car’s drive system to move it, a car engine performs many other important roles such as pressurising the brake system, helping to provide engine braking together with the transmission and powering the steering system to help you control the car.

There are some proven tips that you can employ to help you stop the car when your brakes fail.

Try to pump the brake pedal a few times as fast as possible before jamming it to the floor to try and build as much pressure in the system as you can. Do this as you try to down shift the transmission to the lowest gears. Quickly switch on additional power consumers such as the Air Conditioner.

While this is happening, signal other motorists with your hazzard lights and try to get out of the way of other cars if you have a wider road or an escape lane without pedestrians or cyclists. Your last option is to try and use the parking or hand brake to bring the car to a stop.

The hand brake, which stops the rear tyres should not be applied while the car is moving fast.

This could lead to the car spinning out of control. The hand brake should be applied gradually when the car has slowed down to about 20KPH.