Five Things Everyone Should Know About Their Car Brakes

No matter how a vehicle is rated for safety, it doesn’t mean a thing if the brakes have gone out. That’s why every car owner should know at least five important things about their brakes. This knowledge could save a life, and it definitely could save your car from an accident.

1. What Depends on Your Brakes

The first thing you should know is what depends on your brakes. Sure, you expect your brakes to stop the vehicle, but they do much more than that. These days, your brakes are working individually as they help provide traction on slippery surfaces. Your brakes are helping to provide stability on curves where two wheels try to go faster than the other two. Your brakes are helping on inclines to help slow the car’s descent with less stress on the transmission.

All of these extra duties are determined by your vehicle stability controls and traction controls. These systems cannot work without effective brakes on every wheel. This demonstrates just how important your brakes are to driving safely.

2. Your Brake Pads Are Money Savers

Replacing your brake pads isn’t as inexpensive as we might like it to be. However, it is much cheaper than the alternative. Without these pads, the mechanicals parts of the brake are scraping together. The pads prevent this from happening, saving big money when compared to mechanical part replacement.

The tell-tale whine of the pads is there to alert you to when to get replacements. You can also follow the recommendations of the vehicle manufacturer.

3. Healthy Brake Fluid is Important

What defines a healthy fluid in a car? To figure that out, you can look at what a liquid looks like before it goes into the car and what it looks like after six months or more of regular use. Car fluids take on dirt, metal shavings, and other debris. This turns the fluid into sludge. It happens even faster if you are an Arizona driver. This is due to the high heat in the American southwest.

You should replace your brake fluid on time at your Ford dealer service department. It is vital to the way your brakes work. The money you spend on fluid replacement is much less than related brake repairs.

4. The Sensors Need to Function Correctly

You can replace your brake pads and brake fluid on time and still have an issue caused by a faulty brake sensor. The light on your dash that indicates a problem with the brakes may not be as scary as it seems. Replacing a faulty sensor is not expensive like mechanical brake repairs. Furthermore, it is much cheaper dealing with a wreck and its aftermath.

5. Three Dash Lights Relate to Your Brakes

You have at least three dash lights that relate to your brakes. It is important to know what each one is and to be willing to take the car to a mechanic if a light comes on. The anti-lock brake system has a light in addition to the regular brake light. Then there’s the traction system and perhaps the stability system. If you have automatic braking systems, these will also have dash lights.

When you add up the ways that your brakes now affect your driving, it is more important than ever to keep them in good working order. Fortunately brake maintenance isn’t expensive. It’s just a matter of keeping up with the schedule for brake pad replacement and brake fluid replacement.