This is a stupid question but what would exactly happen lets sy if you are driving down the highway and decide to change it from D to R or P??? My driving school taught us that if ALL of your brakes fail and have to stop quick that that would be our last resort in an emergency stop. Would the transmission be in pieces or what?

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99 C43
98 S420
99 C230K
01 C240

You can't shift from D to P or R in a Mercedes once the vehicle is traveling more than 8 mph. You can only go to Neutral! But I'm sure on all the "regular" cars, it'd probably drop right out of the car!

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2006 E350 w/ 155k miles (Daily Driver)

Previous:
1993 300E 3.2L Sedan w/ close to about 300k miles
2003 E500 Brilliant Silver (Had 217k miles when totalled!)
1989 300E with 289,000 miles (had for <1 yr while in HI)
03 CLK 500 cabrio (Mom's)
2006 C230k (Dad's)
1999 S420 (Mom's/Dad's)
2000 C230k Sport sedans
2001 CLK320 Cabrio (Mom's)
1995 C280 My First Mercedes-Benz... (155k miles. EXCEPTIONAL AUTOMOBILE. Was Very hard to let go of!)

If I lost my brakes, I would simply downshift the car and let it slow down as much as possible if I had room to do so. IF not, I would slowly depress the hand/parking brake down while holding the release to slow the car down to a stop.

Alon

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'92 300CE - Sold
2004 C240 - 744 - C7 Wheels - Android Radio
2002 C320 - 816 - Sport Wagon

OK, but lets say you dont have ANY brakes at all?

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99 C43
98 S420
99 C230K
01 C240

Then you scrub off speed by running into something like a guardrail, ditch, etc.

I guess if you don't have ejection seats in your car, that's all you can do, with a "complete brake failure" with a simultaneous engine AND brake failure. :p

-Sam

Your best bet would be to downshift and use the parking brake to stop.

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Ali Al-Chalabi

2001 CLK55
1999 Dodge Ram 2500 Cummins Diesel
2002 Harley-Davidson Fatboy
Merlin Extralight w/ Campy Record

Sometimes I dont even want to think on these kind of things because it scares me!!

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99 C43
98 S420
99 C230K
01 C240

I have done this a few times on worthless cars. I had an astro van (automatic) that i switched from drive to reverse going about 30 mph. Sure enough, the van hit reverse and chirped the tires to a complete stop. Still worked fine afterwards! I also had an Eagle Premere i put in park going 60mph It makes a sound like the " Wheel Of Fortune" when you give it a spin! I think this is a fail safe for most cars you can put into park when thier still rolling. The most fun is aquired when dropping the trans from neutral to drive at 5000rpm OOPS!
Adam

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Current Stable:
01 ML55 AMG
92 500E (a few mods)
87 300E (lots of mods)
00 Chevy 3500HD Diesel Box Truck
68 18' Donzi Marine
06 GT i-Drive7 1.0 Mountain Bike (with GPS!)

PREVIOUSLY OWNED:83 300SD, 87 420SEL, 88 420SEL, 90 420SEL, 86 560SEL, 86 190E 2.3-16V AMG, 94 E320

The best offence is a good defence, there is no substitute for making sure your car is regualrly serviced and things like brakes are regularly checked and fluids changed and parts replaced when necessary.

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Jason Priest
1999 E430
1995 E420 - retired
1986 420SEL - retired

I know that of course! I was just asking out of curiousity.

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99 C43
98 S420
99 C230K
01 C240

With a post 1967 vehicle( US ) a dual master cylinder should save you from total brake failure. Unless your mechanically gifted girlfriend decides to give you a little nudge towards the hereafter.