I am sorry that both drivers lost their lives, and please do NOT consider this to be a flame.
I DO feel, that when ever I hear the statement " the brakes failed", could be they did not, but it took MORE stopping time becase of the high rate of speed going down an incline.
I have this on the back of my motor home:
The article says the rig crashed because of “brake-fade” ... I wonder why the guy didn't just shut the key off to stop the coach?
"Brake fade" is when your brakes become ineffective due to heat buildup. They just overheat and no longer work. You have plenty of pedal pressure available but no effect.
The other less common one is brake fluid boiling. This causes your pedal to go spongy or go to the floor with no effect when things get very hot. Brake fluid absorbs water (from the atmosphere) and with time its boiling point will get lower due to the water absorbed.
An old rule said you go down a hill in the same gear you went up. That worked on stick shift vehicles. It really still does. If you have a retarder you can usually go a gear or two higher.You tell that to someone whose never driven a stick shift, they'll probably tell you "I went up the hill in 'drive'". Needless to say, they weren't tuned to the tranny that was probably in low or second gear and that's the gear they should have started down in. If the engine held it good in that gear, maybe go up ONE gear. And shutting off the engine on a runaway will generally not stop the vehicle. It WILL give the added benefit of not having any power steering AND no brakes.
* This post was
edited 05/08/08 03:05am by Tarantula *
People will attribute it to brake fade-when it is most likely moisture build up in their brake fluid which causes the fluid to boil at a much lower temp and makes the brakes "fade"--replace all the brake fluid every 2 years and eliminate the moisture build-up.I have seen endurance racers enter the pits with their rotors glowing and the brakes still work!-because their fluid did not have water(steam-vapor lock) induced problems.
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