Took my T reg fiesta to a garage 3 weeks ago to just have it checked out. Needed a new drivers side gator, anti roll bar link and rubber bush. Got everything fixed and was told the car was fine and safe to drive on roads.
Whilst driving today my brakes were fine, no extra pressure needed, worked perfectly, the car stopped when I wanted it to. After a mile and perfect braking I attempted to brake to slow down. The brakes suddenly felt slack and went straight to the floor with no change in speed at all. My car did not slow down and did not stop which caused an accident.
I have now had the car towed and looked at by a professional who says the brake cylinder pump on the back right wheel of the car is leaking and needs to be replaced.
I am wondering if it is normal for this to suddenly happen or if the problem could have been spotted 3 weeks ago when the car was in the garage.
Thankfully no one was hurt, it was under 10mph and no damage - just a few scratches.|||The relative unreliability of older cars is mainly caused by lack of skilled, comprehensive servicing. is not impossible to get multiple failures on a car that age if the brake fluid has not been regularly changed as laid down. To neglect this and engine oil and filter changes is asking for very big, unnecessary bills and in the case of brakes dangerous. Ever tried to stop quickly from speed on only one circuit or by frantically pumping the brake pedal, which does not always help?
Old mechanic.|||That wouldn't cause the problem you describe.
A failed wheel cylinder will still allow the car to stop by using the part of the system which has not failed. (its a split system)
OK, so the wheel cylinder needs replacing, but you have other problems too which are affecting the other part of the system.
Did you pump the brakes when the pedal went to the floor? This may have saved you from the bump, also at 10mph, the handbrake can be effective.|||If an inspection of brakes was done properly you may have not run into this problem.
Most shops just pull of drums %26amp; look at lining %26amp; you are good to go unless you can
see a leak...
Most cautious brake shops will also peel back dust cover to look for internal leaks.
Its the dust cover that fooled your tech...but you should have felt brake pedal height
change gradually as fluid was leaking...
Bright side no one was injured|||Unfortunately no part is 100% foolproof. Brake Cylinder pumps,usualy start to leak slowly and are spotted on an m.o.t. test.But yours seems to have had a sudden catastrophic burst causing you to lose brake pressure.Its not really anyones fault.|||if you did not ask to have the brakes looked at then the leak even if it was present WOULD not be seen -----------and as you say the car has been ok for 3 weeks .|||your brakes have been fine for 3 weeks , so you can not blame the garage for not seeing them.............|||glad nobody hurt. did you use handbrake etc? anyway. in a way they were asked to check car out, so as a professional enterprise they should have checked the brakes and found a leak , having said that however this will be a grey area as many garages including main dealers simply check wear on linings as recommended by car manufacturers.
the reason it is a grey area is due to fact that unless a garage strip a wheel hub down and visually inspects the cylinders a leak may not be noticed ! ergo a get out of jail free card.
most likely they assumed you wanted it checked out as for say an MOT and did so. unless you had specifically asked for brakes to be checked 100% ( in writing) it would be hard to get a prosecution. you can still point out the relevant crash and brake failure and insist you were relying on their Professional services to ensure a safe vehicle as requested.
as it is minor damage any good garage would not try and waive liability and should offer to pay to fix the damage willingly. you can always phone trading standards and ask for advise on this case.|||The answer is that of course it isn't normal for it to suddenly happen.
I think you need to contact the insurance company and ask if they want to send an expert to examine exactly what failed, because it could be down to a worn pipe or seal or many other things.
It can even have been caused by hitting an object or something.
They would then have to decide whether it was reasonable for a garage to have spotted the defect.
When you say "to just have it checked out", it's unclear what exactly you asked the garage to check out. It would be very difficult to prove negligence by the garage unless it is clear (on paper) what you wanted the garage to check, and even then they would probably say that there was nothing wrong when they checked it.
The only thing I would suggest in the future is to always check the ground where your car was parked to see if there are any spots of fluid on the ground.
You just have to be very very glad that nobody was hurt.|||That can happen when an air bubble in the brake lines lines up perfectly when you step on the brake. Or if the brake fluid is low. I would check the fluid level and bleed the brakes first. Thats a $10 repair.
You dont say how old the car is or how many miles on the car. The cylinder on a specific wheel would only stop that particular wheel. Even if it were leaking, the other 3 wheels should have pressure to stop the car.
The pedal going all the way to the floor shows loss of pressure in the entire system. Get a second opinion. If it ever happens to you again, pump the brakes rapidly to force fluid rotation. Pull over and check your brake fluid.
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