Sudden Brake Failure - Crashed Into Building

[Rcrew]

The previously mentioned Option 1) driver error or Option 2) brake failure seems to ignore the OP describing a 2nd identical failure on the drive home attempting to slow for a left turn. Fortunately there weren’t any buildings in the intersection.

Definitely leaning towards option 2, mysterious or not.

Sponsored

 

[sprubs]

guessing is kind of fun but where the heck did the OP go????

 

[710-oil-614]

Wonder if the electronic booster fails do you lose hydraulic completely? Vacuum brake boosters did not just had to push harder. If you do as soon as interest drops or i find a lower mileage pentastar ram 14-19 the maverick is going. That would he the last straw, if ford did something like that they shouldnt be allowed to build cars at that point. Had no trouble in three yrs with the ram truck had to go because of oops baby at 46 years old and it was a regular cab.

Stellantis is garbage.

 

[mspmms]

guessing is kind of fun but where the heck did the OP go????

Shopping for a Tuba?

 

[710-oil-614]

I sure hope he doesn’t just up and leave this forum, I would miss OldSarg’s contributions here! ( although, wouldn’t blame him if he does).

Why? Because people are offering an extremely likely cause of the accident? Driver error.

He may not want to hear it but I am generally in the camp that it was accelerator misapplication.

With the information provided (and zero follow up from OP) - mainly the pictures of the scene - that is roughly an 8 inch curb that the Maverick "jumped". That is about 3 inches higher than your standard parking block that is also angled and would allow the wheel to roll up it.

Put your Maverick in drive and let your foot off the brake and your Maverick will not jump the parking block, let alone a square 8" curb.

The other piece for me is that you see a SAFD pumper truck parked perpendicular to the Maverick which indicates that OP was not parked in front of the building but crossed a two-way lane in the parking lot he was in.

I was not going very fast but when I stepped on the brake the pedal went to the floor and suddenly the truck jumped the curb.

This is the description that really reinforces the accelerator being pressed.

Pushing the brake pedal all the way to the floor would not cause the Maverick to "suddenly jump" the curb.

But pressing the accelerator sure would.

This was probably also compounded by the fact he was likely in Electric only mode and the engine did not make an immediate sound when receiving throttle input. The MG1 provided enough torque to pop the truck up over the curb and into the building.

The same thing happened to my MIL about 2 years ago in an empty parking lot. She (EDIT: Age is irrelevant) is 73 and hit the accelerator and not the brake. She jumped a curb, ran through some bushes, and came to a stop against the brick siding of the building - totaling her 12 year (31k mile) Toyota Sienna. Mistakes happen.

 

[JetFixxxer]

This past Friday my wife and I were going to dinner and when I was parking the truck in front of the bistro where we planned on having dinner with friends the brakes suddenly failed as I was parking. I was not going very fast but when I stepped on the brake the pedal went to the floor and suddenly the truck jumped the curb. I was pumping the brakes as fast as I could and I think on the 3rd pump the brakes engaged but it was too late we had run into the store front damaging the truck and the store front of two businesses.

After the police and half of the FD showed up we determined the truck was drivable and since I only live about 5 miles from the bistro we decided to just drive home slowly. About half way home I had to make a left turn and when I was slowing down the brakes did the same thing again and again on the 3d or 4th pump the truck stopped with what I would call a hard stop and a grabbing sound in the brakes.

Has anyone else experienced something similar?

So glad it was as you were going slow and not 70mph.

 

[colinl]

Mistakes happen.

panic is a key factor in these situations. if a person hits the gas by mistake and doesn't panic, they immediately realize it and get onto the brake which minimizes the incident.

but when you panic, it seems so real that the brakes failed, because that's what your rational brain wanted to happen.

 

[bobbyd454]

WOW!!!

Thank goodness nobody was injured-

Please tell me you checked the brake fluid before you started driving it again... @OldSarg

Good thing it didn't happen as you were leaving the Bistro...

An accident like that would've morphed into big damn deal if you'd have had an adult beverage with dinner-

He was arriving, not leaving.

 

[HeyBales]

panic is a key factor in these situations. if a person hits the gas by mistake and doesn't panic, they immediately realize it and get onto the brake which minimizes the incident.

but when you panic, it seems so real that the brakes failed, because that's what your rational brain wanted to happen.

And depending on what school of driving you are in, and experience you have with it - left foot brake pedal, right foot go pedal, as I see so many driving now a days (or they all have malfunctioning brake lights as they increase speed on the streets), a panic has you pressing on both at the same time, if already on the go pedal coming in for a park an equal slam accelerates first.

Not sure if the younger generation I see doing that learned it that way from mom/pops, or assumed they had it right as teenagers never seeing a stick-shift (2 pedals, 2 legs, only 1 way this works).

 

[Maverick Man]

If your breaks went out and you crashed, I'm shocked they allowed you to drive it home! You could have been in a worse crash. Should have been towed.

 

[dhill59]

This past Friday my wife and I were going to dinner and when I was parking the truck in front of the bistro where we planned on having dinner with friends the brakes suddenly failed as I was parking. I was not going very fast but when I stepped on the brake the pedal went to the floor and suddenly the truck jumped the curb. I was pumping the brakes as fast as I could and I think on the 3rd pump the brakes engaged but it was too late we had run into the store front damaging the truck and the store front of two businesses.

After the police and half of the FD showed up we determined the truck was drivable and since I only live about 5 miles from the bistro we decided to just drive home slowly. About half way home I had to make a left turn and when I was slowing down the brakes did the same thing again and again on the 3d or 4th pump the truck stopped with what I would call a hard stop and a grabbing sound in the brakes.

Has anyone else experienced something similar?

Sad thing to read about. No matter how the incident occurred, the vehicle should not have been driven. Looks like it is missing at least the right headlight and turn signal. No telling if the airbag sensors are damaged.

 

[SLINGSHOT]

If your breaks went out and you crashed, I'm shocked they allowed you to drive it home! You could have been in a worse crash. Should have been towed.

Yup. When I break my brakes, I have the vehicle toed, er . . . toad, er . . . towed.

 

[44donald]

This past Friday my wife and I were going to dinner and when I was parking the truck in front of the bistro where we planned on having dinner with friends the brakes suddenly failed as I was parking. I was not going very fast but when I stepped on the brake the pedal went to the floor and suddenly the truck jumped the curb. I was pumping the brakes as fast as I could and I think on the 3rd pump the brakes engaged but it was too late we had run into the store front damaging the truck and the store front of two businesses.

After the police and half of the FD showed up we determined the truck was drivable and since I only live about 5 miles from the bistro we decided to just drive home slowly. About half way home I had to make a left turn and when I was slowing down the brakes did the same thing again and again on the 3d or 4th pump the truck stopped with what I would call a hard stop and a grabbing sound in the brakes.

Has anyone else experienced something similar?

Modern vehicles have dual brake master cylinders, so a loss of brake fluid in one set of brake lines doesn’t result in total loss of braking

 

[vandeda2024]

Modern vehicles have dual brake master cylinders, so a loss of brake fluid in one set of brake lines doesn’t result in total loss of braking

That reminds me of many years ago when i was young and dumb. I bought a classic Mustang off a co-worker's brother who owned a mechanic/body shop. Flew from NY to Kansas to drive it back. Pulling into a McDonald parking spot, which took longer than expected because the car had a rather larger turning radius that I was not expecting for such a short car. By the time I was in the spot, the brake pedal was on the floor and I was still moving. However, since I was barely moving, I threw it into park.

Called up the co-worker's brother and his response was nonchalantly "oh yeah, it does that sometimes, just lift the pedal and re-stab it and it'll brake fine". Add that to the fact that it had a warped drum and would shake violently when breaking at highway speeds made for a terrifying drive. Probably fortunately the transmission died only about a third of the way through, so I towed it home with a U-haul & trailer. Fortunately, the transmission was just some dried out internal seals and was easy to rebuild .... and the car go a new master cylinder too!

Sorry to derail the discussion. It made me think of my Mustang because initially the car was braking, and then wasn't. Was he initially braking and then they failed, or was it the wrong pedal from the get-go? Only he can answer that. If it was a brake failure though, I wouldn't drive it any further though.

 

[MakinDoForNow]

Yup. When I break my brakes, I have the vehicle toed, er . . . toad, er . . . towed.

It's hard to toe go pedal while you are having your toad towed.

Sponsored