[rogerc5]

My personal truck is an Atlantic blue '05 Q cab 4x4 w/ ThunderRoad pkg. One of the men that works for me drives a company truck that is an exact copy of mine minus the ThunderRoad pkg. While approaching a signalized intersection the light turns red, he went to stop, pedal goes to the floor. He was I believe 250' or so from the intersection. No traffic, 35 mph. He went thru the intersection at 35mph, all the while pumping the pedal, and hit a car broadside. He's fine and the woman was hospitalized.
This was yesterday and I checked the threads in search under "brakes" and noted that this has happened to a very limited number of forum members. Thank goodness I noted no accidents.
Has this happened to a lot of owners or is this an isolated incident. Please help.
The owners son just walked in my office and said that the dealer had called 1/2hr or so ago and said that the brakes were fine. WTF is up with this. Now I'm a little leary about mine. Oh, the company truck has 50,000 miles and mine has 23,000+-.
Thank you in advance,
Roger

 

[quietpeen]

glad to hear that nobody was seriously injured. Sorry I can't help you with your question though.

 

[OuttaCtrlHemi]

Intermitten complete failure of the brake system is not common at all. Usually when there is a complete failure there will be obvious reasons, loss of brake fluid, warning lights to come on etc. I did a search on the NHTSA website...only came up with three brake related complaints. Couldn't review the details of the complaints though. Don't really think you have any problems with your vehicle, must have just been a fluke of nature or something. Hopefully the other person will be okay. BTW did the air bags go off?

 

[bugeater]

I gave my boss that exact same story once. It worked too!

 

[OuttaCtrlHemi]

I gave my boss that exact same story once. It worked too!

Yeah...all to true. Probably 99.9% of the time that's the real story.

 

[MegaCabMan]

Sounds like he is working a little CYA. My experience with breaks is if they stop working then they stay that way until they are fixed. I have never heard of a total break failure that could not be duplicated to some extent. I guess there could be a first for anything...I just don't think that this is it.

I say you are safe in your truck...as long as your employee isn’t driving it.

This may come across harsh. But, if it were me and one of my employees gave me that line of bull I would have him in my office and ask him to tell me what happened again, stating that I won't fire him for being honest, everyone makes mistakes. If he didn't come clean then I would have no choice but to can his ass, he can't be trusted; he has lied to you, your boss and undoubtedly the police officer. If he did come clean, He would receive a formal reprimand stating that he needs to operate company vehicles more carefully and that if his honesty ever comes into question again he will be fired.

 

[kenihemi]

I have to agree with the operator error thing. Brake just don't totally fail and are 100% fine shortly after without being fixed.

That guy is trying to blame it on something else other than him.

 

[MikeyB]

I'm calling BS on this too. Total brake failure is uncommon, and then correct itself is too far fetched. Plus 250' to the intersection at 35mph he had plenty of time for using the emergency brake.
My best guess he wasn't paying attention and blew through the red light.

MikeyB

 

[Vader Ram]

Yup I agree above, with the speed he was moving and the distance covered he could have hit the e-brake or even shifted to park or reverse if he had to, to keep from hitting another vehicle; it's easier to repair a truck than to risk someones life.

Im calling BS on the brake failure as well.

 

[rogerc5]

The airbags didn't go off thank goodness. The interesting thing about this accident is that nobody in the office, including me, really couldn't believe this either. Except that when the Police got there they in fact did check his brakes and they went straight to the floor. One officer got down to look under the truck and when the other officer hit the pedal he stated he could hear "air" or something to that effect. The officer also stated that in 20 years of traffic duty this was the first one where the brakes really didn't work. Perhaps as someone said-probably a fluke. Did something reset itself while in transport to the dealer? I don't think so. The fluid in the master cylinder was and is still up to the line. Thank you all for your comments. I'm trading for a Chevy.
Roger

 

[quietpeen]

The airbags didn't go off thank goodness. The interesting thing about this accident is that nobody in the office, including me, really couldn't believe this either. Except that when the Police got there they in fact did check his brakes and they went straight to the floor. One officer got down to look under the truck and when the other officer hit the pedal he stated he could hear "air" or something to that effect. The officer also stated that in 20 years of traffic duty this was the first one where the brakes really didn't work. Perhaps as someone said-probably a fluke. Did something reset itself while in transport to the dealer? I don't think so. The fluid in the master cylinder was and is still up to the line. Thank you all for your comments. I'm trading for a Chevy.
Roger

r u serious? Because of one accident that you were not even in you are going to downgrade to a Chevy?

 

[rogerc5]

Vader Ram--Those were almost my exact words to the driver.

 

[rogerc5]

quitepeen--probably not. But it really kinda makes me wonder. This is my third ram, '02, '04 and my '05 plus a Charger.

 

[quietpeen]

quitepeen--probably not. But it really kinda makes me wonder. This is my third ram, '02, '04 and my '05 plus a Charger.

Whatever it was is weird. I know that even if you put a rear caliper back together wrong and the brake pedal goes to the floor, there is still enough braking power to stop the truck.

 

[jordanp123]

I don't know of anything in a brake system that could cause intermitten failure, Usually with hydralic systems if they fail , they don't work again until you fix em up.

 

[piper18]

I know if the air bag went off they can pull the data out of the computer, telling them when the brakes where applied and then they would see him pumping the brakes since it will record the brakes light switch. But since the air bag didn't go off, none of the info is saved.

 

[MikeHTally]

I was riding with my grandmother a couple of hundred years ago. Had my face in a book (as usual) when I heard her gasp. Looked up to see the back of a car approaching fast, looked down to see the brake pedal all the way down (both feet on it at that point). We still hit the car in front of us pretty hard. Afterwards, the pedal seemed normal.
_______________
He traveled 250' without trying anything else???? He had almost five seconds to do something besides pump the brake pedal. The parking brake and downshifting would've taken off a bunch of speed, maybe even stopping the truck. Sounds like it's time for some driver's ed.

 

[ultimate ram]

Sounds like the ABS was working and driver over-drove the intersection. Panic stops aren't the same with ABS. jm.02

 

[MikeHTally]

r u serious? Because of one accident that you were not even in you are going to downgrade to a Chevy?

Makes sense to me. Good luck even getting a Chevy to start. If it won't start, you can't drive it through a red light.

 

[plombo]

I just started to have issues with my brakes today. Brakes pedal is sluggish, seems to take more push to get it to work. Dealer cannot fit me in until monday, any suggestions?