Theater Satu Automotive and Technology Information News
There is a myth that the problem of brake failure is more likely to occur in cars with automatic transmissions. Is that right?
Automatic cars are indeed the best choice of the community, especially those who live in big cities. Besides being easy to operate, the risk of fatigue is minimal when driving an automatic car than a manual one. However, behind the convenience, there is news that the problem of brake failure is more prone to occur in automatic cars.
Causes of failure Brakes
To find out more about brake failure, there are actually several causes, as we have below;
1. Rarely Doing Treatment
Actually there are several reasons why your car’s brakes suddenly fail and one of them is rarely doing maintenance. Please note that a disturbance in the vehicle system can cause the car’s brakes to fail.
Regularly check vehicle brake components
You can tell if there is a problem or not if you check it. It would be better if you take it to a car repair shop to have it checked if you can’t check it yourself. Or you can simply check the crucial parts before driving the car.
2. Lack of Brake Fluid
Another cause is that your car lacks brake fluid. Lack of oil will indeed cause the brakes to be difficult to control. If there is a shortage of brake fluid, the car will continue to drive and it will be difficult to stop.
Another factor that causes brake failure is the entry of air into the braking system which creates water vapor. Water vapor is produced from the oxidation process which can interfere with your car’s braking system. Over time the water vapor will make the brake fluid feel hot.
Make sure the quality and volume of the car’s brake fluid is sufficient
The hot brake fluid will cause interference with the braking system. The pressure from the brake fluid drops and the brakes don’t work properly.
3. Quality of Oil Brake
When you buy fluid brake, make sure the one you buy is of good quality. Do not just choose, because it is feared that the product has expired. Using bad quality fluid brake can affect the temperature of the brake fluid and eventually fail.
4. Frequently stepping on the pedal for a long time
Do not press the brake pedal continuously because it causes hot brake conditions
Continuously pressing the brake pedal for a long time can actually cause it to fail. This is caused by the friction between the foot and the pedal continuously and causes the calipers to heat up. This hot caliper can cause the brakes to fail.
Matic cars are more prone to brake failure, myth or fact?
The ease of operation makes automatic cars much preferred. At this point it also turns out to be a weakness of automatic cars. The absence of gears as a facility to change the speed of the vehicle and only relying on the brakes can have a bad impact on brake conditions.
When crossing derivative areas or congested areas, automatic cars only rely on the brakes to reduce speed. If in a manual car, this can be helped through the gear lever as the engine brake.
Brake failure is one of the biggest contributors to traffic accidents
And the danger, brakes that are often used or work hard can cause vapor lock. The condition in which steam enters the brakes. If this happens, the brake function can be disrupted and even fail.
If asked about the vulnerability of brake failure on automatic cars, it is a myth or fact, it can indeed happen if the condition of the engine and brakes are not properly maintained and used without reasonable limits. So, as long as you take good care of the machine, such things will not happen.
How to Overcome Brake failure
However, brake failure can occur at any time. If you experience it on the road, you can practice the following things:
1. Don’t Panic
Panic will only make the situation worse
The first thing to do is to keep your composure. Do not panic! When we panic, we can’t think clearly. Especially when you have imagined many terrible things such as accidents and others.
2. Turn on the Hazard Lights and Sound the Horn
After overcoming panic and calmer, immediately signal to other drivers on the road by turning on the hazard lights. By doing these two things, you are helping other drivers to be more careful and avoid your car so that other dangerous things don’t happen.
Turn on the hazard or sound the horn to warn other vehicles
Sounding the horn is also very necessary because usually, the hazard lights may not be clearly visible so that other drivers in front of your car don’t know it.
3. Move Transmission
The next step is to try to slow down the vehicle. Even without brakes, you can still slow down the vehicle by moving the shift lever.
Shift the shift lever to a lower gear
Move the shift lever from D to S. Shifting the position of the shift lever will help slow down the speed a little. However, this is less successful if the car is driving on a downhill road.
Another way is to move it to the L position as the lowest gear so that the vehicle can slow down even more. If it doesn’t work because the road speed is decreasing, there’s no need to worry. There is still another option, namely using the handbrake.
4. Pull the Handbrake Lever
The handbrake is not used if it is not an emergency condition. Especially if the speed of the vehicle is very fast, the use of the hand brake is not recommended because the car can bounce and be dangerous. However, in situations where the brakes fail, of course, the hand brake is the last option we can take, right?
Although not recommended, pulling the handbrake lever can be an emergency option
You have to use the handbrake very carefully and slowly so that the car doesn’t feel startled. Do it continuously until the vehicle really slows down and can be stopped.
5. Take it to the nearest workshop
When the car has been successfully controlled, you can stop first to calm down. When you feel calm, take the car to the nearest repair shop to have it checked properly. You can either re-run the car very carefully or call a tow truck to take it to a repair shop.
