Brake Failure Anyone?

[garyjac]

I was talking to a prospective buyer of Model S this afternoon and I was asked if I'd ever had trouble with the brakes. Whereupon this person told me that a friend had reported having to slam the foot down as hard as possible to get the brakes to respond?

Never seen/heard/read of any such behaviour in a Model S, EVER. Has anyone?

 

[paulp]

I think if I slammed my foot down on model s brakes I'd probably get severe g forces.
Given tesla recalled every car last year because one had a loose seatbelt bolt, I'm sure we'd all know about it if a brake failure occured as a consequence of manufacture.

 

[garyjac]

I think if I slammed my foot down on model s brakes I'd probably get severe g forces.
Given tesla recalled every car last year because one had a loose seatbelt bolt, I'm sure we'd all know about it if a brake failure occured as a consequence of manufacture.

Yes, that's what I thought. Somebody doing something to pre-empt autopilot braking maybe?

 

[paulp]

Or someone looking for an excuse.

 

[meloccom]

One thing that might seem like brake failure is the fact that the current Autopilot has difficulty in seeing stopped cars. If you are following a car slowing for a red light then it pulls over into another lane Autopilot may not see a car stopped at the traffic light. That being said the car seems to be learning and it seems to be getting better in this situation, but I'm not ready to trust it yet.

 

[garyjac]

Although I've noticed the phenomenon you mention, I've also found that the radar pretty quickly picks up the next car (stationary or not) and brakes quite all right. However, what I also notice is that the car is a bit more "sudden" braking than I tend to be. It uses aggressive regen and you do wonder if it has spotted the car in front sometimes and keep the foot "hovering" over the pedal, but I have not had any instance where it failed to act well in time.

 

[DFibRL8R]

The brakes are great. The only issue I have had is that you really hardly use them (mostly use the regenerative braking by simply letting off the accelerator). As a result, the brakes get wet driving in the rain especially in highway driving where long periods of time pass without touching the brakes at all. The water accumulates on the brakes/rotors and if a sudden brake is required there is an uncomfortably long period where it feels like nothing is happening no matter how hard you push the pedal. This is not unique to Tesla but it is more susceptible due to the less frequent use of the friction brake.

I believe I read that some manufacturers have designed a feature to occasionally activate the brake to prevent this from happening. Seems like Tesla could deploy a software upgrade to address this that could only engage if wipers in use and no braking in x number of miles/minutes. Easier than me trying to remember to do this myself!

 

[paulp]

The brakes are great. The only issue I have had is that you really hardly use them (mostly use the regenerative braking by simply letting off the accelerator). As a result, the brakes get wet driving in the rain especially in highway driving where long periods of time pass without touching the brakes at all. The water accumulates on the brakes/rotors and if a sudden brake is required there is an uncomfortably long period where it feels like nothing is happening no matter how hard you push the pedal. This is not unique to Tesla but it is more susceptible due to the less frequent use of the friction brake.

I believe I read that some manufacturers have designed a feature to occasionally activate the brake to prevent this from happening. Seems like Tesla could deploy a software upgrade to address this that could only engage if wipers in use and no braking in x number of miles/minutes. Easier than me trying to remember to do this myself!

Whenever I wash my car, which include copious amounts of water in the wheel drums, I take my car out and do a few very hard braking actions to clear the disks up. Can't say I've ever experienced the lag that you mention though, either in my tesla or my previous cars.

 

[paulp]

Although I've noticed the phenomenon you mention, I've also found that the radar pretty quickly picks up the next car (stationary or not) and brakes quite all right. However, what I also notice is that the car is a bit more "sudden" braking than I tend to be. It uses aggressive regen and you do wonder if it has spotted the car in front sometimes and keep the foot "hovering" over the pedal, but I have not had any instance where it failed to act well in time.

The small graphic in front of you will show what cars it has picked up.
Mine alerted me to an impending collision with a pedestrian today. Just a drunk walking across who normally would have made it, but he stopped in the middle of my lane. Alarms, red dash, music muted. I was already about to brake, but impressive detection and rapid notification from the tesla. I should have maybe left it to see what the car did next

 

[Blue heaven]

I was talking to a prospective buyer of Model S this afternoon and I was asked if I'd ever had trouble with the brakes. Whereupon this person told me that a friend had reported having to slam the foot down as hard as possible to get the brakes to respond?

Never seen/heard/read of any such behaviour in a Model S, EVER. Has anyone?

Dissapointingly a very sad attemp going back around 2 years ago by some non Tesla vehicle owners to short Tesla, and of course unfortunately the rumours hang around the Internet for ages.

 

[DRM]

I'm a roadster owner, so this may not be relevant to you folks.

My break booster pump went out about 3 months ago. This allowed the breaks to still work, but I had to push down the pedal *really* hard for them to engage. The odd thing was that, although i recognized the breaks felt weird one day, it took me a couple days of driving to convince myself something was actually wrong. The regen breaking was strong enough to obscure the lack of power breaks to the point where they just felt different -- not broken. In an ICE car, I'm sure the problem would've made the car undrivable. There are enough Model-S out there that statistically, one of them could've had a problem with the break boost system by now. I'm just saying it's "plausible"....


//dan.

 

[tbdd]

"a friend had reported having to slam the foot down as hard as possible to get the brakes to respond"

Hi Garyjac, any further information on your friend's experience ? What was Tesla's response ?

 

[garyjac]

Nothing much to report. I suspect a deliberate red herring in this case .

 

[Shock-On-T]

No, in fact I was told at last service to use my brakes more, they were still as-new at 38,000km.
I might set regen to Low for a week or two.

 

[garyjac]

Did they specify a reason for using the brakes more?

 

[meloccom]

Did they specify a reason for using the brakes more?

Generally to make sure that the disks and pads are not glazed or dirty so that one time you really need them they will work immediately.

 

[ICUDoc]

Nothing much to report. I suspect a deliberate red herring in this case .

Yep. I agree.
Brakes are awesome and regen means they wear very little...