Hello: Better half had a fender bender in the rain today in her 00 Accord Coupe. After I picked her up we drove by where the wreck was.

She had told me on the phone she went over a hill and two cars were stopped to turn in the road and she skidded/slid into the back of it.

However, when we went to the crash site, the hill was just a gradual slope. I suprisingly asked where she saw the car and when she applied the breaks.

After showing me where she first hit the breaks and informed me she skidded for a good two solid one-mississippi, two-mississippi seconds I asked if her ABS kicked in. After then explaining what ABS was to her she said she heard/felt none of the effects of ABS.

Puzzled I said, either your wheels locked up and you in fact were skidding on the wet road but the ABS would have kicked in, or the breaks didn't work.

She said when she first saw the car she pushed on the breaks and slowed for a second, but then did not slow anymore until impact 2-3 seconds later. She just figured she was sliding on the wet road. She was originally driving maybe 35-40mph before breaking and ended up pushing the one car into the car in front of it hard enough to smash not only her hood but the car in the middle's hood got slighty dented too. The grade she was driving down is maybe 5-10 degrees. This leads me to believe the car did not slow down after the initial slow at all.

Can a car hydroplane at 30mph on a very mild sloped hill?

I just had new tires put on the car maybe 3-4000miles early and just had a new set of break pads put on maybe 2-3 months ago (maybe 2k mile).

Could her breaks of flat out failed? What does break failure even really mean? We told our insurance company and they said they could evaluate if the breaks did indeed fail. What does this mean and how do breaks fail?

Thanks! and does anyone know Big Brother's eye in the sky satelite URL? Would love footage to find out what in the heck happen.

 

I would guess she was sliding rather than the brakes not working. If the brakes weren't working, she'd know before the wreck. And the odds of them "failing" somewhere between her last stoplight and the wreck is slim to none.

If she hydroplaned, I bet she'd realize it, its kinda of a violent thing.

If it happened on a dry road and there was no squealing, etc, then I'd be worried about your brakes, but in the wet, you can slide pretty easy depending on the road surface, the oils coming out of the road, etc.

When you are in a wreck, sometimes it's hard to remember after the fact exactly how fast, how far, how long, etc.

When the car gets fixed, do a little testing in an open space and just make sure everything is fine.

What model and trim was car she was driving?

I know you are just guessing, but a 10 degree grade is pretty steep still, enough to make a noticable difference in braking distance.

 

maybe it was so slick that when she appiled mild brakes...the car just slid. or does ABS snense that you are sliding and come into play? i just thought abs comes on when you slam it.

 

Wow! That is interesting. To answer your question about hydroplanning is simple. I am 99.9% sure a car can hydroplane even at speeds a little slower than that depending on the amount of water built up on the road. What puzzles me is that the ABS should have kicked in. My suggestion would be to call the dealership or the Honda customer care people and let them know what happend. I think, if it is possible, you should take the car to the dealership and/or have a mechaninc look at the brakes and see if there was something wrong with them. If there is anything wrong with the brakes or system someone else may be at fault. Hope this helps and sorry that this happend to ya

 

After thinking about it a bit, when I said hydroplaning was pretty violent, I was thinking about the times when you actually go through standing water and you feel everything transmitted up through the steering, etc.

I guess in theory if you slide on a wet road, you are in fact hydroplaning, because you do in fact have water between your tires and the road preventing you from having enough friction to stop. Just a little clarification.

 

brake failure is a very rare thing but it happens. maybe she was already too close to the car ahead when she realize she had to floor the brake all the way down and ofcourse abs do kick in but u are going to slide eventually because is wet and they work better when u are braking at high speed in wet roads.

35-40mph is slow enough to fully stop and avoid any collision in really wet road as long there is no ice, ofcourse as long u have been keeping a safe distance and u are actually looking ahead and in front.

 

break =/= brake

 

Thank you.

My guess would be it was 95% driver error (and hopefully she didn't do too much damage, since it will be deemed entirely her fault) because I've never hydroplaned nor slid while braking on this car. I've done almost full out panic stops in downpours and have never slid an inch. That's what the ABS is for. I would say it's rather clear that she misjudged her distance and didn't brake correctly, as ABS is rather loud and obtrusive in the 6th gen Accord.

The only really possible cause of brake failure would be inadequate brake fluid or stuck pistons. On a MY2000, I doubt it has a stuck piston. My right front piston sticks from time to time (I need to get a caliper rebuild kit) but my car is still able to brake very quickly. To have all 4 pistons stuck? I'd say the odds of that are pretty astronomical.

If the ABS light was not on at the time of the accident, your ABS was working. FYI, if it came on only after ABS was activated, the ABS system worked for the panic stop and then shut itself off because of an intermittent failure.

The only real way to skid in a modern car with ABS and good tires is on ice or snow. Brake failure is highly unlikely - I would imagine she wasn't paying attention and only braked at the last second, or misjudged it completely.

 

hi, i dont have abs and i dont know where u live. the road may have caused part of the accident. if she was driving on asphalt in the heat, the oils in the asphalt can make the road a hazard especially when it first starts to rain.. or if she drove and the rain shower was brief..

 

Are you sure this car even has ABS? If it is the LX coupe, it does not. Only the EX and the LX V6 have the ABS.