Well, there are still the steering and the wheels as the most important prerequisites for safety, but then also the most important assemblies are mentioned. In any case, we expressly do not include such components from the drive system. After all, it's a question of when you should feel insecure as a normal driver. That is the criterion, no more and no less.

We will not decide for you what you should do, because that is also individually different. Recently, a master mechanic told me that he was driving a Facel vintage car by Middle France with a brake, the effect of which had only been adjusted after several pedal pumps. He wanted to save the owner the expensive towing costs.

You will certainly not go that far, but you will have to decide for yourself how far. At most we will set a sign of No-Go, when finally the last drop of Brake fluid threatens to leave the system. But that's even beyond the experience of the above-mentioned master mechanic.

As always, the first step is to press the pedal. Already there you can do a differentiated troubleshooting. The way to the pressure build-up can be further than before. It can be done after renewed pressure. be shorter. But if nothing helps, it cannot go on like this. The pedal can move up and down a little with the wheel speed. Also here is action need, presumably because of unround drums or warped disks.

Pressing the pedal can have too little effect. Then, if we rule out totally run down brakes, it is due to a lack of brake power reinforcment. This can get worse rather quickly. It can culminate in a desperate stemming between the brake pedal and the steering wheel. And yet the car in front gets closer and closer.

Just as a brake may not be able to produce grip, so it may not be able to loosen the brake , with fatal consequences for wear, tear and operational readiness during the next urgently needed use. So you have the feeling that something is braking and the car is not grinding to a halt as usual. By the way, gaining a feeling for the vehicle that is frequently moved seems to be particularly important not only from this point of view.

And then the effect of the brake. If you apply the drum brake for the first time in an oldtimer and the brake pulls crooked, then this could be normal, in a modern car or SUV by no means. This could get even worse at higher speeds, so please don't try it at all.

There's no other way, we have to add the handbrake. It doesn't really matter whether it's conventional with a lever or not with a button. It must unfold its effect. Doesn't harm anything to test it from time to time in a slightly more extreme gradient, of course without obstructing or endangering flowing traffic. If the car rolls anyway, something is wrong.

By the way, it is also not permitted to pull the wheels skew. So you might want to try it out on an unpaved area at a speed that is not too high, stopping only with the handbrake. Then you will also see how good or bad would be the second safety line after a possible total failure of the foot brake. You will notice: Its frightening.

What is possible with transversely dynamic, you will hardly believe, may be with longitudinally dynamic, too. After all, a car has at least two axles, one of which can overbrake. So you go driving alone with an empty luggage space normal on the brake and behind you it squeaks. This can be the vehicle behind you or your own rear axle.

Such a phenomenon is also possible when driving with (residential) trailers, just like the skewing. This gives you the feeling of a much better braking effect. But far from it, here a axis takes too much responsibility and that is not good for the overall system. Depending on the driving situation, this can even turn into skidding that is difficult to control.

And if you have to open the bonnet to refill the windscreen washer system anyway, looking towards the brake fluid reservoir won't do any harm, less than the oil level. If the front or rear part has a significantly lower level than the other, then the need for action is no longer doubtful.

And where something is missing, something must have gone missing. Perhaps it left traces on the garage floor or where the car is usually parked. If you should find such, then it makes little sense to try to determine their origin by rubbing between two fingers. Even experts have difficulties, so differences between oil and brake fluid to determine.

Yes, if the dripping points are near the wheels, this already indicates the brake, but brake lines can be found almost everywhere under the car floor and moreover the nowadays often full in disguise. For this reason, a loss in the expansion tank does not necessarily have to occur under the car floor. The stuff waits in the fairing and distributes itself during the journey.

So, these were the most coarse characteristics of defects for normal drivers. Fortunately, possible defects are quite rare, provided they are properly maintained. These are systems have been well investigated by accident research, but as a rule human failure and no defect in the brake system remains as the cause of accidents.

But as we have perhaps been able to show, their complex system is much more difficult to find out than, for example, a defect in the steering or the tires.