What to do if your brakes fail Depending on your speed and type of road you are on, this procedure will always work; if you like to curse now is a good time, get out from behind the steering wheel, kneeling on the seat next to you, forcing your body to bend almost in half, and then kiss your ass goodbye. I just can’t imagine that with the vehicles we drive today, other then sabotage, brakes going out to be a big problem. Just for the record I’ll run a few ideas up the flag pole to see if anybody wants to salute. If you are on the freeway don’t try to slow down yet, try to get to the side and then apply the emergency brake. If you are going downhill on a twisty two lane country road hit the emergency brake then find a spot to run into the up side of the hill. You have to cross on coming traffic for this one so you now have two very dangerous conditions to deal with. Wake up. If you are approaching a toll booth throw coins as you go by as bills would just blow away. Or don’t pay them and I’m sure they will chase you down, force you to stop, and pay your three bucks. If you are on a suburban street with children an’ all, beep your horn a lot, emergency brake NOW. Prepare to ram a parked car, a tree, anything instead of a child. There are many scenarios, probably no two brake broke people have had the same experience. But there are definite things to do BEFORE you find yourself in a situation like that. First, think about it make your decisions now, before you’re in the split second moment. Consider where you normally drive and what you might do to safely stop without brake. Get your priorities strait, some people are so tuned in to not hitting another car that they hit the child instead. You must be in front of this to be able to make the right choices. There is one more tactic you can use other then dragging your feet, start to lower the transmission gear ratio. This is a valuable slowing mechanism no matter what road you are on. It is the best way to slow and stop there is, along with the emergency brake, when you have the time, if the traffic will allow, yatta yatta. Stopping with your lower gear ratios and emergency brake is also the least harmful to you vehicle. Unless your doing eighty on the freeway and have to put it in second. I have a no brake, driver an idiot story. I only had my drivers’ license for a year or so, dang, that’s forty years ago, and I had a ’59 Chevy. The last year they had those large horizontal fins. Do to family size and medical bills we kids had to fend for ourselves mostly and so I was not bad at fixing the cars of that day. My ’59 didn’t have pressure in the hydraulic system for the brakes. I knew this but drove it around a little any way, I just hadnt gotten’ round to fixing them. Mostly to work, couple miles, and back. I was cool, I can handle it. I still have emergency brakes and my transmission for stopping, it just took me longer. One foggy morning I was headed for work and there was a corner market to pass every day. That day, without any aforethought, I decided I wanted something in the store, what I don’t recall. I do recall that I yanked the wheel over to get in the tiny parking lot before thinking I don’t have brakes’. Emergency brake floored and transmission to first gear now. It wasn’t working; I sailed through the parking lot, putting my clean machine into park’. I ran over parking bumpers and fences as I grinded my tranny into reverse. Tires squealed and the stuff I was plowing over was making a big racket too. It wasn’t working; I sailed through the parking lot, ran over parking bumpers and fences, finally crashing into the side of someone’s garage. Good size dent, aluminum siding, six feet long and almost two feet deep in the middle. Lots of people where coming around to bask in the accident. I didn’t give them a show and I certainly didn’t tell them I was driving without my brakes. The home owners came out. So you the guy hit my house?’ Yes sir, looks as I owe you for repairs.’ Come on with me, kid, you need to see this.’ We went in the front door and angled of to the side to enter the garage. The garage was covered with jam and preserves. Some pickles. They had just finished up canning hundreds and hundreds of jars. I had hit the shelving dead middle. At least half the jars where on the floor, of those at least ninety percent where broken, of those at least twenty percent flew across the room making the whole garage a mess, but it smelled real nice in there. It was hard to believe how nice these people where to me. That canning had to of taken weeks and now they have maybe half left. I told them I was trying to get to work and that basically I had no money. I could work with a payment program for the preserves and to get the garage damage fixed ASAP I would sell my ’59. It was a deal and I was back a couple weeks later to pay for the garage. He showed me the contractor’s bill. I asked about the jams and jellies, pickles and such and he said to forget about it. I was astonished over my good fortune but still felt guilty about it all. He told me “Son, you can’t buy those kinds of things; there is no price on them.” He held out a jar of jelly to me. I took it. I didn’t know what to say, I didn’t know what to think. Ahhthank you.. I..uh.’ “It’s like this kid; we give those jars to people during the holidays and birthdays, people who are our friends and relatives. It’s a tradition.” he say’s. “Sir, I’m really sorry, maybe I could do something else to help you out? I ask. With a small but real smile he say’s “NO, you’ve done enough here for now. You eat some of this blackberry jam every morning and recall the mess you made, maybe that’ll wake you up.” Category:Home › Autos • Will the trend toward economy-size car models lead Americans back to buying smaller-sized cars? — part 2 • You should never use after-market auto parts when maintaining or fixing your car • Should a new car be rust-proofed? • Will the trend toward economy-size car models lead Americans back to buying smaller-sized cars? — part 1 • Five safest cars in North America • How to ensure your teen drives safely after getting a license • Pros and cons of using an hydrogen generator for your car • DIY automotive maintenance: How to change the oil