If you have a bad habit of hard braking, Advanced Automotive is here to hopefully break you of it. Driving fast and slamming on the brakes constantly not only damages your vehicle’s brake system but also opens you up to unnecessarily dangerous situations on the road. Let’s talk further about how slamming on the brakes can give you the worst avoidable headache you’ve ever had.
Increases Your Chances of An Accident
There are times when you must slam on the brakes to avoid an incident. In these cases, it’s not your fault that someone slammed on their brakes or ran out in front of you. If you, yourself, hard-brake constantly, however, the driver behind you may end up hitting you. Hard-braking on wet and icy roads also increases your chances of losing control of your automobile due to the wheels locking and skidding. In fact, hard-braking can trigger unnecessary ABS function, which wears down this system prematurely.
Reduces Fuel Economy
Admit it. The reason why you brake hard is that you drive aggressively. This means you take off from a stop like a shot, speed, tailgate, and then slam on the brakes when you need to slow down. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, you can reduce your vehicle’s gas mileage by as much as 40 percent when you drive like this. Driving aggressively also takes a toll on you. It increases your blood pressure and encourages dangerous habits, such as road rage and weaving through traffic.
Tire Damage
Every time you slam on the brakes you run the chance of wearing down your tire tread in that spot. This is called “flat-spotting,” and it is common when you slam on the brakes and your wheels lock up. Slamming on the brakes stops tire rotations immediately and keeps the portions of your tires that are on the road in contact with the asphalt. As your vehicle keeps moving, the tire spots that remain on the road wear down. This damages the tires and increases your risk of blowouts as the tread continues to wear.
Brake System Damage
Slamming on the brakes also damages the brake system. It can overheat the brake pads, causing them to glaze and causing you to lose control of your vehicle when the brake system fails. Slamming on the brakes is also damaging to the brake hoses. The excess heat and pressure caused by the overheating brake pads permeates the braking system and prematurely crack the brake hoses. What’s worse, hard-braking can damage your driveshaft, which is an expensive vehicle repair.
Slow down and give yourself plenty of time to stop to avoid the above hard-braking damage. If you suspect you have brake trouble, call Advanced Automotive in Stanwood, WA, for a service appointment.
