What to do if you run out of brakes? Here we present the key steps to stay calm and make safe decisions in an emergency situation on the road, city or track.
Running out of brakes is a situation no driver wants to be in. However, we will tell you what you can do if you are in this type of emergency, always trying to reduce the damage.
Juan Pablo Clopatofskymotorsports expert, driver, journalist, has been in charge of explaining, to both drivers and pilots, what they should do if they run out of brakes while driving.
Remember that if this happens to you, the first thing you should do is stay calm, so you can make the best decisions and avoid serious accidents.
How do you know that you are running out of brakes?
As Clopatofsky explains, you can see that something is happening with your vehicle's brakes depending on how the pedal behaves: “It can become chewy or spongy.”. That is, it has no consistency. That when you press it it goes to the floor, normally it happens due to temperature (…) Or, in short, that it stays stuck to the floor, in which case there is nothing more to do,” he explains.
And above all, don't let your nerves get the best of you and always remember to let off the accelerator.
You can tell that something is happening with your vehicle's brakes by how the pedal behaves.
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What to do if you run out of brakes?
“There are not many alternatives but you have to think calmly and look at where the entire environment is,” he continues.
It is important that you observe very well what is in your environment, in order to be able to think Against what objects could you slow down? or stop, trying to cause as little damage as possible. For example, you can use obstacles such as guardrails or climb a mountain.
“If there is a slope in the road or a ditch where I can put the car without compromising safety much; You have to have all the alternatives on the radar,” she says.
As a second piece of advice, you can use the gearbox, whether you are in an automatic or manual car: “You can begin to reduce the gears to force the engine to help us slow down a little,” he indicates.
If the vehicle has a handbrake, you can also use it, but be very careful. You should pull it out gradually.“Not suddenly, because what blocking the rear axle will do and put you in a more risky situation, but rather pulling it gradually, little by little, as much as you can so that the car slows down,” explained the expert.
Finally, there is also the option of electronic handbrakes, which are nothing more than the button that the most recent cars have. What it can do, according to Clopatofsky, is hold it for 3 to 5 seconds, depending on the manufacturer. With this, “the car would act with the handbrake but with a risk that has to be taken into account and that is that it immediately blocks the tires, so in that case it would not be such a valid tool in an emergency situation,” he points out.
Remember that, to avoid being immersed in one of these situations, you must check the condition of your vehicle's brakes, according to the parameters established by the manufacturer.
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