The Sunday News
Lovert, Mafukure
Continued from last week
Stopping Power
We always talk about how fast our cars can go, rarely do we ever think how quick they stop because no-matter how fast you fast you will need to stop. I thought I would share some tips with you on how you could also possibly avoid such from happening and what you could possibly do in the event that it does happen to you. Brakes are like a kitchen tap. You open it when thirsty and ideally, you just expect water to ooze out when you open. Likewise, you expect the car to slow down every time you step on that pedal but what if you depress the pedal and it sinks to the floor and the car keeps ploughing ahead? What causes brakes to fail and how does one possibly handle a car when the brakes fail?
Common causes of brake failure
Since the brakes use a hydraulic system, any leak in the system may reduce fluid pressure and consequently brake failure. Brake hoses sometimes wear out and break, leaking all the fluid out. Flexible hoses need to be far from the wheel or drive shafts because the movement and friction will wear them out. There are some “clever” mechanics that tend to remove some things from cars and not put them back thinking “it’s not necessary to put back”. Those are the type of people who take out ten bolts and put back eight because they believe themselves to be cleverer than the manufacturer who put ten bolts. Eventually when the flexible hoses rub against the wheel or driveshaft because of those missing bolts they leak and pose a serious hazard to you and other road users.
Apart from hoses, callipers and wheel cylinders may also leak and eventually you may not have sufficient fluid to operate the brakes. Cars that usually stay for a while stationery may develop problems such as sticking pistons. This happens when the piston inside the brake calliper gets stuck in one position or has some kind of delayed action and keep brakes from operating normally. Over time these parts wear out, there are rubber boots that keep dust and all kinds if debris from building up. These need replacing from time to time when they wear out so that components don’t wear out prematurely. It’s fairly easy to inspect the brakes and it’s wise to replace any hose at the first sign of wear.
ABS Assisted brake systems
Most modern cars come equipped with ABS-Anti-lock braking system. It’s some kind of braking system that allows the driver to maintain steering control and avoid skidding under hard breaking. Essentially its useful when you need to brake very hard and still maintain control of the car. When a car loses traction and starts skidding it becomes uncontrollable, ABS gives you back that control. ABS failure does not necessarily mean brake failure though, you will still have brakes but you will not have the control under heavy braking.
The last thing we will look at is how you can possibly try to stop a car when you have lost brakes. First of all, you have to remain calm. Panicking in such a situation just worsens the problem you already have at hand. You may want to alert other drivers that you are in trouble by switching on your hazards and trying to pull to the far left of the road as you try to bring the car to a stop. Sometimes pumping the brake pedal may help build enough pressure and bring the car to a stop. So if you feel the pedal sinking right to the bottom and not stopping the car try pumping the pedal to build some pressure, it may help. In the event that you have no braking power whatsoever try the following.
Automatic transmission
With an automatic car, depending on how open the road ahead is, switch off overdrive then car will change down and slow down, shift down to 2nd gear or 3rd or whichever comes after, it depends how many gears the car has. Then after shift to 1st gear the car will use engine power to slow down the car. This process has to be followed through one gear at a time, you cannot downshift right from drive to low or first gear, you will possibly lose control of the car or damage the car in so doing. Remember you will eventually need to shift to neutral when you have reached a safe speed because when the car is in gear it will keep wanting to move forward. At safe speed shift to neutral then possibly use the handbrake to stop the car. In the worst case scenario, push the car right into Park Mode. If it doesn’t break your transmission, the car will screech to a halt. It’s wiser to perform this manoeuvre when the car is not going too fast or disaster can ensue.
Manual transmission
With a manual transmission the process is basically the same, you need to downshift gradually and use engine speed to slow down the car. Downshift one gear at a time or you can skip gears but at a likely expense of your car parts.
When you reach a safe speed you may then use the hand brake to stop. In case of emergency, if you switch off the engine while the car is in gear it will lock the wheels so you have to be careful how you use this technique.
The handbrake
The handbrake or the footbrake depending on the type of car should be used with caution because it has the potential to make you lose control of the car. Do not pull the handbrake too hard and abruptly. Usually the handbrake locks the rear wheels and there is no ABS at work there so it has to be used with extra caution.
Remember that the use of the handbrake or Park mode in automatic cars can flip your car and needs to be used with caution. First of all try by all means to slow down the car using the engine power by shifting down then applying these at a safe and slow speed. Shifting to park should really be a last resort technique to stop the car. Till next time — Happy Motoring.
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