Hey boys and girls, I just got back from a run across town for business and I was just about in a crazy accident. There was a pickup about 3 cars ahead of me and it was hauling around pipe and a big piece fell out. The people in front of me locked up their brakes, as did I. I was doing about 70 on the interstate here in Omaha when this happened. I slammed on my brakes and also pulled my parking brake. I ended up only a couple of feet off the Chevy Tahoe in front of me. The lady in the Explorer behind me swerved across a couple lanes and lost control. She tipped the Explorer on it's passenger side and slid into the median. And then a Beretta that had lost control ran into her (not very hard) I got out of my car and ran up to help the lady in the Explorer. She was kind of freaked, but she was wearing her seatbelt. She was fine, just a little rattled. The guy in the Tahoe said he was looking in his rearview and thought I wasn't going to get my car stopped. As I was driving after that I thought I probaly would have had a lot less luck if I didn't have my car lowered, cause when I stopped I was sitting crossways across the lanes. Holy crap, I thought I was gonna loose by baby. Just thought I'd share my story.

 

glad you weren't hurt... but I would be willing to wager that pulling up on the e-brake is what caused the car to end up crossways on the lanes, you majorly threw of the braking balance of the car. In any case, you got the car stopped in time and that is what matters

 

I know that's what caused it, but I was lucky cause I don't think I would have stopped in time with just the front brakes.

 

I personally don't blame you for pulling the ebrake .. I would have done the same thing , but only held the button and rashioned it so I wouldn't spin .. But F it .. if you stop by being sideways then frigin that is what you have to do .. I know that I try to keep my brakes on point cause if I eveer have to stop in a hurry , which I have had to do .... I am damn sure going to grab that brake handle ....
This is also why I will be converting my back drums to disc ... but the drums perform well in these types of situations ... I am glad you made it out of that alright ,,, and I have to commend you on getting out and helping that lady that flipped her explorer ...
A good citezin you are
Bruce

 

you luckie duckie glad you're in one piece, and your car too!

 

you're lucky

next time you pull that EMERGENCY brake, you'll probably end up losing control and sliding sideways towards someone

emergency brake != emergency stopping
emergency brake = when normal brakes DON'T WORK AT ALL

 

I don't know why I pulled the E brake, but I seriously think it helped me out. I didn't pull it until I was standing on the regular brakes. It was kind of a freaky situation, and I am glad nothing bad happened. I don't get rattled by much, but that scared the crap out of me. I wear my seat belt most of the time, but I can tell you that when I got in my car this morning, that sucker was on before the key was in the ignition. I hope that "scared" feeling doesn't wear off for a while. What is it, something like 21 times makes a habit?

 

Generally speaking, you should not have to pull your emergency brake unless your regular brakes fail.

70% of your stopping power is with your front brakes; 30% with your rears. Your regular brake system uses both fronts and rears at the same time.

The fact that you locked up your tires means that you don't have ABS. The ABS system in the Mazda 3 also has electronic brakeforce distribution, meaning if you're turning a corner and need to hit the brakes, it will automatically increase brake pressure to the tires on the outside of the corner as necessary. The EBD further reduces your need to pull the emergency brake or anything else.

In short, pulling the emergency brake with your tires locked does absolutely nothing for you.

-Aaron-

 

damn , im really glad ur alright man. **** i dont know what id do with out my pro

 

Damn threads-from-the-dead!

 

yeah jeez, holy bump!