Why cars easily lose brakes at the end of a steep pass

Brake failure is one of the extremely dangerous technical problems that can easily occur when a car has to continuously go downhill for dozens of kilometers with a heavy load.

Brake failure occurs most often with vehicles traveling long distances, on mountainous roads, and on difficult terrain. Because when traveling on these roads, drivers often use the brakes too much, while the brake system of most vehicles is transmitted by oil, so when continuously applying the brakes, it is easy to generate heat.

Car brake pads often use hydraulic oil to transmit braking force to the wheels.

The heat generated makes the brake pads inert, causing the brake fluid in the cylinder to boil, causing the cupel in the brake cylinder to flip and each time the brake is applied, the brake fluid will leak out, leading to brake failure.

Another reason is that going downhill in 3rd gear or higher is also dangerous because at that time the engine speed combined with inertia will push the vehicle speed up at least 40% more than normal.

When the brakes fail, calmly pull the handbrake, then try to shift the gear lever back to position 1 to slow down the car to the slowest speed. Note, do not shift to 0 (N) for too long, because when the car is going downhill and you press the clutch to shift to 0, the car will go faster and it will be very difficult to get back into gear because the engine speed and the wheel rotation speed are no longer in sync.

When overheated, the brake fluid boils, causing the piston pushing the brake pads to lose its effectiveness.

For example, the car is going downhill in 3rd or 4th gear and suddenly loses its brakes. To shift to 1st gear, you must depress the clutch, shift to 0; release the clutch and accelerate so that the engine speed is in sync with the wheel speed; then depress the clutch, shift to 2nd gear.

At this time, the car will suddenly stop and jerk, you should move the gear lever to 1st gear, the car speed is very slow, you can stop the car completely by releasing the handbrake lever and then quickly pull the brake again to stop the car completely.

When the brakes fail, you should continuously pump the brake pedal several times to temporarily restore hydraulic pressure in the leaking pipe. Then, stop the car completely by leaning against guardrails, steel railings, walls, curbs, cliffs, etc.

To minimize the impact of brake failure, drivers should practice the habit of driving in low gear (1st, 2nd) when going downhill, steep slopes, or on difficult terrain so that low engine rpm will slow down the vehicle's drift, reducing the burden on the brakes. Remember, for vehicles that are properly cared for, repaired, and maintained on a regular basis, the rate of brake failure is only 1%.

According to VTC.new