What Should You Do If Your Brakes Fail?

You're driving along as usual when you come to a red light, you press the brake, but nothing happens. 
What do you do? It's a scary situation and completely unexpected. Usually, brake failure occurs when you've worn out your brake pads or lost the right amount of brake fluid. If you want to know what to do if your brakes fail, adhere to these suggestions to be safe. 

Downshift (What to Do if Your Brakes Fail)

First off, remain calm. The situation is manageable. You must put your vehicle into a low gear smoothly as you can. This task applies to both manual and automatic cars. There are a few things you should never do, such as:

• Turning the car off 
• Downshifting too fast
• Put the vehicle in neutral

If you have standard brakes, create brake fluid pressure by pumping the brakes rapidly. If, after a couple of pumps, your brakes still aren't functioning correctly, try the next tip below with the emergency brake. 

Emergency Brake

Then, you can try your emergency brake. Please don't depend on it to make your vehicle entirely stop. Your emergency brake, though, will assist you in slowing down. When you first purchase your car, you should locate the emergency brake. Some are a little pedal to the left of the gas, and some emergency brakes are a hand-activated lever. 

It's an excellent idea to test your emergency brake when traveling at a slow speed to see how effective it is.

Pull Over

Pull over to the side of the street, turning on your hazard lights. Be careful if you have to change lanes. Use your mirrors to have eyes on any traffic, signaling other motorists that you're moving to the roadside. 

Auto Towing 

Even if you can get your brakes functioning once more after a meltdown, you should pull over and get in touch with a towing company like Buffalo Roadside Assistance. You need to have your car professionally inspected. It's too hazardous to keep driving.

Routine brake care should stop a situation like this. So, make sure you're up to date on your auto maintenance.

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