I have a new Subaru Legacy 2013. It is one month old. Three times the brakes have failed and the car has kept going. Once it kept going through a red light across a busy intersection, and finally stopped. Once I put it in neutral before it hit the car in front of me. Third time it finally stopped after constant hitting the brake. It has been at the agency for almost two weeks, with constant examination and even their top mechanic going over the car. It has been driven by different people at the service department, but it hasn’t happened again. Can you tell me what it can be that no one has found. They will not give me another car and I am afraid to drive it, in case it will happen again and I either cause an accident or get hurt myself. Please respond.
You need to start talking lemon law here. If you have been in an accident already, you should have a lawyer.
Best guess, it is in the ABS system. When it fails to stop, is the pedal going to the floor or is the pedal just extremely hard to push down?
Brake failure like this is sometimes caused by something hot, like exhaust, contacting a brake line and making the fluid boil. Vaporized fluid behaves like there is air in the lines. Once the fliud cools back to liquid, the brakes are fine again.
Is this a turbo car? Any heat-generating or -emitting part running near any brake lines or components are suspect. Usually, car makers lay out these parts so something like this doesn’t happen.
@Doll I suggest either lemon law, as @keith stated.
Or . . . tell the dealer to take the car back and give you another one, as this one is defective and unsafe.
Have your lawyer contact the dealer, certified mail preferably. If that gets you nowhere, have your lawyer contact Subaru corporate. If somebody isn’t being helpful, get his name and ask to speak to his superior. Keep escalating it.
BustedKnuckles brings up a point that I did not think of. It might be missing a heat shield and everyone is looking at the brakes, not the heat shields. That is worth looking into.