Changing the gear???
 

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???:eek: :eek: :eek: 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?

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! :D

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

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

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.

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

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! :D 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! :D 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 :eek: :D OOPS!
Adam

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.

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

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.