Understanding catastrophic brake failure: Who's really to blame?
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QUESTION
Hello John,
I recently took my 2019 Honda CR-V (2.0 litre) back to the dealer for its 40,000 kilometre service. This service included brake fluid replacement, which was an additional $60.
Later the same day, the car suffered a catastrophic brake failure resulting in four cars being damaged, my car being the worst. I arrived at the scene shortly after the incident, understandably my wife, who was driving the car at the time, was quite upset saying repeatedly the car would not stop, and I couldn’t turn the steering wheel.
I concluded the collision sensor shut down the engine, hence no steering, and the brake failure I attributed to the system not being properly bled after the fluid replacement. The brake failure was later confirmed at the scene of the incident by the brake pedal being able to be pushed to the floor, indicating both brake circuits had failed. A photograph was taken of the brake pedal pushed to the floor as evidence of the brakes malfunctioning. This photograph was forwarded to my insurer as evidence of my claim of brake failure.
I contacted the Honda service department from the scene to let them know what had happened, however the response I got was not what I would have expected. “Ah, look mate you’ll have to bring the car in so we can have a look at it. Can’t help you otherwise.”
I received a similar response from the Service Manager. He stated that it was not possible for the brake pedal to go all the way to the floor, to which I replied “why then do I have a photo of the brake pedal on the floor?” I sent him a copy of the photo as evidence. It staggered me to think that at no point throughout the conversation with these people neither asked if anyone was injured.
Fortunately, no one was injured, although this incident has deeply affected my wife’s confidence in getting back behind the wheel.
I suppose this sought of thing is not new, however the question I have is, why were the brakes functioning up until the incident occurred. I had driven the car from the dealer to home, a distance of approximately 17 kilometres of mostly motorway driving. A few hours later my wife went out in the car; during this time the incident occurred.
All up the car had travelled less than 30 kilometres from the time of collection from the dealer to the time of the incident. What do you make of this situation?
Miles
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