Police Fleet Forum / PARTS AND EQUIPMENT / Brakes / Brake Failure / Latest Posts

RE: Brake Failure

OfficeLinebacker — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 11:06:42 GMT

[quote][b]LKWD13 (12/1/2008)[/b][hr]I realize this reply is not very timely, but let me throw this out there. A lot of claimed brake failures are not failures at all, but rather the ABS system acting exactly as it was intended. It typically plays out like this: Officer makes a somewhat aggressive and/or erratic turn/lane change, etc., upsetting the balance of the car and making one or two wheels very "heavy" and the remaining wheels very light. Picture a hard left turn where there most of the forces are on the outside tires. The ABS system determines how much brake it can apply to the tire with the LEAST amount of traction (the unweighted ones) and only applies that amount of brake at all four corners. Therefore, the officer steps on the pedal and almost nothing happens. Had he/she allowed the car to stabilize for a split second prior to brake application they would have had full braking efficiency. Hope this helps some...[/quote]

Don't all officers get thorough "defensive driving" training? I've always said that you don't want the first time you push your car to the limit to be when it's unintentional. This goes for civilians as well. I generally take whatever cars I buy or will be driving a lot and do some panic stops, hard cornering, and the like in a big, empty parking lot. Preferably I would do it twice, once in the dry and once in the wet.

Even under those controlled circumstances I was pretty surprised to learn my current car has no ABS! It's been a while since I owned a car with no ABS.

RE: Brake Failure

LKWD13 — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 11:12:55 GMT

I realize this reply is not very timely, but let me throw this out there. A lot of claimed brake failures are not failures at all, but rather the ABS system acting exactly as it was intended. It typically plays out like this: Officer makes a somewhat aggressive and/or erratic turn/lane change, etc., upsetting the balance of the car and making one or two wheels very "heavy" and the remaining wheels very light. Picture a hard left turn where there most of the forces are on the outside tires. The ABS system determines how much brake it can apply to the tire with the LEAST amount of traction (the unweighted ones) and only applies that amount of brake at all four corners. Therefore, the officer steps on the pedal and almost nothing happens. Had he/she allowed the car to stabilize for a split second prior to brake application they would have had full braking efficiency. Hope this helps some...

RE: Brake Failure

Scotmosk — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 06:54:53 GMT

Thanks for all the advise. As always any questions I post on here come back with lots of good solutions.

RE: Brake Failure

SFPD — Thu, 29 May 2008 20:35:57 GMT

We get all sorts, officers backing out of stall hits other parked police car, responding code hitting each other, driving too fast and loosing control, opening doors into traffic and we do get hit by the good citizen's and tourist population.

RE: Brake Failure

SFPD — Thu, 29 May 2008 20:30:01 GMT

Well, if you know someone that does auto accident reconstruction practice using the data from the event recorder, invite them to play with the wreck and keep the info to yourself. It will be interesting to see how fast the car was actually going prior to deceleration and impact with deployment of airbags. I did this once and had to keep this to myself - officer stated going only 5 mph prior to being t-boned and turned 360 degrees into a pole. Event recorder indicated 28 mph. If you are going to repair this go the whole route, at least you will know.

RE: Brake Failure

FireEMSPolice — Thu, 29 May 2008 19:24:19 GMT

250 fleet vehicles crashed per year? WOW!

At my old department, everytime a cruiser was wrecked/crashed, the officer wrote on the paperwork, "check brakes!"

RE: Brake Failure

Scotmosk — Thu, 29 May 2008 11:50:42 GMT

The department is not going after the Officer. We are just looking for peace of mind regarding the car. The biggest concern is if we fix the car and it was or is a brake problem.

RE: Brake Failure

SFPD — Thu, 29 May 2008 08:03:24 GMT

Is your department going after this officer? Or are you looking for a peace of mind regarding this car? What I have read from you I think it is operator error. ABS won't leave any good skid marks. Most officers forget that they can still steer while in ABS pulsation. How much meat is left on the pads? If you know of an accident reconstructor he will have the software to tap the event recorder and that will tell all. But be careful if you chose this route case if you use it against the officer it turns punitive and you will have to tap event recorder every time which is expensive. We average 250 accidents a year and I do hear "the brakes did not work" We have never found a failure.

RE: Brake Failure

Scotmosk — Thu, 29 May 2008 05:56:10 GMT

Northwest Ohio, South of Toledo.

RE: Brake Failure

FireEMSPolice — Wed, 28 May 2008 21:57:43 GMT

Scotmosk, where in Ohio are you?

RE: Brake Failure

Scotmosk — Wed, 28 May 2008 13:10:18 GMT

I forgot, the driver said " he dropped a bottle of water and leaned down to pick it up." When he looked up the road was ending. He believed that he had enough time to stop. They did not find any skid marks at the scene.

RE: Brake Failure

Scotmosk — Wed, 28 May 2008 13:08:20 GMT

It was a one vehicle crash with no injuries. The Ohio State Highway Patrol investigated it. The mat was not stuck under the pedal, the drivers air bag did deploy, the road was damp from a recent rain sprinkle and they did not check the black box.

RE: Brake Failure

SFPD — Wed, 28 May 2008 06:28:57 GMT

Too many unknowns, what was the officer doing? Speed? Road conditions? Airbags deployed? did you tap blackbox?

RE: Brake Failure

boardman — Tue, 27 May 2008 05:09:03 GMT

Check if had a aftermarket floormat jammed under the brake pedal.

RE: Brake Failure

FireEMSPolice — Sun, 25 May 2008 17:13:56 GMT

Is any one going to investigate it by looking into the braking system? Or are they going to take the officers word?

Brake Failure

Scotmosk — Sat, 24 May 2008 20:21:37 GMT

Has anyone heard of any brake failure issues in the 2008 Crown Vic? We had a 2008 with 1500 miles on it, that was totalled last week and the Officer believes there was a brake failure. The Officer said when he hit the brakes the car did not stop. I am just wondering if anyone else has had any issues with the brakes on these cars?