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01-29-2009, 10:13 PM | #1 |
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SCHWEET I GOTZ NO BRAKES! Oh NOESSS!
LoL... yea so today Im driving to work and my 135 decides brakes are no longer necessary on a vehicle... As i continue to press the brake pedal it feels completely locked out in its normal position and the brakes barely apply as i move over through traffic to pull over. I then use my ebrake to slow down the rest of the way so I didn't hit any parked cars. After I called BMW Roadside and a my car gets its first ambulance ride to the dealership it now sits there awaiting its diagnosis.
I read on e90post that there is a vacuum leak that causes this and a hose needs to be replaced... It just worries me that something can break so easily and cause such a horrible problem with the car. Im quite unsettled now since i typically drive my car quite spirited and now i have to worry about not having brakes randomly on my trip. I just wanted to share this as this is most likely the first time this has happened with a 1 series and i wanted everyone to be aware of this if your car experiences winter weather... |
01-29-2009, 10:32 PM | #2 |
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jeeezuss that's scary! Glad you and everyone around at the time are okay. I assume your car made it thru unscathed?
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01-29-2009, 11:03 PM | #3 |
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yea car made it out just fine. luckily there wasn't too many other cars on the car, but only having 1/2" on pedal push on the brakes def gets you wide eyed trying to figure something out...
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01-29-2009, 11:17 PM | #4 |
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OMG !!!! Thank goodness you got out of this situation with no harm !!
This is a very very very serious issue ! NO car, no matter what make it is, should ever fail in such a way. This could have resulted in serious loss to life and property of both the driver and others on the road. And to make things worse, the driver would almost definitely be held responsible for the accident. (I'm not sure how they'll i.e. investigators figure out if the brakes failed before the accident, or if the accident caused the brake system failure) I think this problem should be reported to the appropriate authorities (NHTSA)
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01-30-2009, 12:03 AM | #5 |
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how's there a vacuum hose be in the brake system? I thought brake system is quite simple, you press the pedal, it pushes the brake cylinder, which pump brake fluid to your brakes, and it'll then push the pistons hence pad to grab the rotor. Where does a vacuum come into play here?
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01-30-2009, 12:21 AM | #6 |
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Vacuum assisted brakes (aka power brakes) are a feature of all cars to assist with the pressure required to push the pistons against the disc.
Without it, the car brakes would require a massive effort from the driver to apply the brakes. I have two classic cars 1965 and 1972 and even those have power assisted brakes, so it's nothing new. |
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01-30-2009, 12:49 AM | #7 |
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Yes, but at speed without vacuum assist, this would be like pulling up a freight train. It's a bit like some of those plane crash TV shows where they loose hydraulic pressure and the pilot is busting his guts pulling on the controls to get the nose up.
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01-31-2009, 02:44 PM | #9 |
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This should never happen...ever. A brake failure is just about the worst thing that could ever happen on a car. Is this a somewhat common issue, seeing as the OP has heard about it before?
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01-31-2009, 07:06 PM | #11 |
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Like a few others have indicated, this isn't brake failure, but rather brake assistance failure.
The brakes are fully functioning, just more pedal pressure is required from the driver. Of course on first application is seems as though there is no brakes.
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01-31-2009, 07:36 PM | #12 |
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Are you sure you didn't confuse the pedals? Right is go, left is stop.
Just kidding..
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01-31-2009, 08:28 PM | #13 | |
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Quote:
Exactly. Anyone who wants to see what this feels like for themselves can duplicate the exact same thing. All you have to do is park the car on a hill and turn the engine off. After it's sat for a while, the vacuum will bleed down and you won't have any assist. Just release the parking brake and let the car roll down the hill, then try to stop it. The pedal is stiff, but a normal person can certainly stop the car quickly enough for most situations. |
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01-31-2009, 09:11 PM | #14 |
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I drove a ford winstar minivan for about a year, and twice when I was driving it completely turned off... electrics, engine, etc.
This meant no power brakes and no power steering on the FWD beast. Fortunately I was going like 25 mph at the time, but it certainly was difficult to stop and to turn. New cars really aren't designed to not have power steering or brakes.
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02-02-2009, 10:38 AM | #15 |
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yea i could def slow the car down, but if i had to brake fast right when it happened and i was still trying to figure the situtation out it would have went bad. i got the car back from BMW and they said there was nothing wrong with the car... So now we shall see if this happens again, hopefullly next time im not driving faster.
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02-02-2009, 12:57 PM | #16 |
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"nothing wrong with the car"!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm not sure I'd accept that answer. This doesn't go for all service centers or techs, but sometimes this is the general response if the car doesn't log a fault and they can't reproduce. IMO...This safety issues requires a fine-toothed comb before it's back on the road. I've received multiple CELs, brought it in, and a dealer reported NO faults were logged. I also had issues with my passenger airbag sensor deactivating with my 125lb wife sitting upright in the seat. No fault codes, so they couldn't do anything. It STILL happens about 35% of the time. I have to shut down and restart the engine to get the airbag light to go out!!!! These cars are chock full of CPUs, and BMWNA has these service centers on short leashes. Good luck, but don't hesitate to pressure them to be more diligent. |
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