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New Mercedes System Deflates Tires In Emergency Situations
Car Buzz ^ | 22 Nov 2021 | GERHARD HORN

Posted on 11/22/2021 2:36:00 PM PST by DUMBGRUNT

It's a user-operated fallback braking device coupled with a valve that lowers tire pressure. In cases of emergency braking, the tires will go flat to help slow the car down if the braking system fails.

If the drive-by-wire system fails, the results can be catastrophic. Ford recently had problems with six Mach-E models in Norway. The regenerative braking system kept on recuperating energy, overheating the batteries.

To work around this problem, Daimler came up with the new fallback system. It only comes into play when the actuator master unit fails or even has a simple error. In this case, the brake pedal is connected to the fallback unit, which is a basic friction system. The main new feature is the air release valve, which can reduce tire pressure.

(Excerpt) Read more at carbuzz.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Humor; Travel
KEYWORDS: failsafe
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Many miles on many beaters, never a total braking failure.

An ancient and faithful IH Travelall that I gave my brother, had a wheel cylinder fail and it kissed bumpers with another vehicle.

Can happen.

1 posted on 11/22/2021 2:36:00 PM PST by DUMBGRUNT
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To: DUMBGRUNT

Useful if you get stuck in deep-sand banks on backroads (e.g. Grand Staircase-Escalante, Utah).


2 posted on 11/22/2021 2:40:09 PM PST by rfp1234 (Comitia asinorum et rhinocerum delenda sunt.)
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To: DUMBGRUNT

Down shift, get it in neutral and find a grade or some thickets if need be. There are ways! Be as safe as you can be!


3 posted on 11/22/2021 2:40:25 PM PST by foundedonpurpose (Praise Hashem, for his restoration of all things!)
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To: DUMBGRUNT

Just what I needed - a complex automobile expensive to maintain with even more CRAP to go wrong. 🤪


4 posted on 11/22/2021 2:43:11 PM PST by NWFree (Somebody has to say it)
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To: DUMBGRUNT

Great for rush hour on the freeway where every one is going 70+ with 10 feet between vehicles. Gotta love those pile ups in the morning, in the dark as the hits just keep coming ...


5 posted on 11/22/2021 2:48:54 PM PST by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now its your turn)
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To: DUMBGRUNT

Lol. And when the sensor glitches while you are doing 80mph?


6 posted on 11/22/2021 2:49:11 PM PST by Seruzawa ("The Political left is the Garden of Eden of incompetence" - Marx the Smarter (Groucho))
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To: DUMBGRUNT
I had brakes fail completely once on a hilly city street, going downhill in a big SUV loaded to the roof with heavy band PA gear, behind two other cars and coming up to a light that had just gone red. Hit the brakes and my foot went to the floor.

Steered hard into the curb and slowed down just enough that when I contacted the car in front of me I was only going about 10 MPH. Everybody was okay, just a little shook up.

I'm not sure that having the tires go flat would have helped much.

7 posted on 11/22/2021 2:53:02 PM PST by dayglored ("Listen. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.")
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To: DUMBGRUNT

I once drove a friend’s Pontiac Bonneville on its final trip to the wrecker, because nobody else would. Drove it with absolutely no brakes (not even the parking brake), clear across a medium-sized city without hitting anyone. When I had to stop, I’d downshift the automatic into low, then slip it into reverse to stop completely, then into park or neutral until the light changed.

Today, I’d tell her to call a tow truck, but I was 44 years dumber then.


8 posted on 11/22/2021 2:56:47 PM PST by HartleyMBaldwin
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To: DUMBGRUNT

>the tires will go flat to help slow the car down if the braking system fails.

You have violated the limits set by your VaxxGreen Social Score, citizen. Your tires are now being deflated remotely to prevent you from exceeding your carbon and/or social limits.


9 posted on 11/22/2021 2:58:23 PM PST by No.6
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To: dayglored

Very scary, but you kept some control of the vehicle.
Other folks may have frozen in helpless shock of the brakes not working.


10 posted on 11/22/2021 2:58:38 PM PST by lee martell
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To: DUMBGRUNT
I can't think of anything that would help more in an emergency situation than 4 flat tires.
11 posted on 11/22/2021 3:00:44 PM PST by DannyTN
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To: DannyTN

New cars in the US 1968+ have dual master cylinders, so if you lose a brake line or cylinder you still have one front and one back brake; the BRAKE light will come on. Pay attention to it! But before then, you lose one line or brake cylinder at the brake, you could lose everything!

Another reason brakes fail these days is people don’t change their brake fluid. if you live in the flat Midwest, you don’t care that the fluid is hygroscopic and water eats through the inside of your brake lines, because the entire rest of the car will be a pile of rust before failure. If you tow a trailer in the Rockies, you will care, because water boils at a lower temp than brake fluid does. Boiling brake fluid = no brakes!


12 posted on 11/22/2021 3:13:02 PM PST by The Antiyuppie (When small men cast long shadows, then it is very late in the day.)
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To: NWFree

It’s pretty much beyond the ability of the average mechanic to troubleshoot this sophisticated electronics without the factory equipment.


13 posted on 11/22/2021 3:15:21 PM PST by nascarnation (Let's Go Brandon!)
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To: DUMBGRUNT

I had the brakes go out on me in a ‘50 Ford…there’s a reason they’re called “emergency brakes.”


14 posted on 11/22/2021 3:19:31 PM PST by dinodino ( )
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To: No.6

Ah, you beat me to it.


15 posted on 11/22/2021 3:23:06 PM PST by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge)
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To: DUMBGRUNT
"total braking failure"

The Lincoln line of MKVII (1988-92) had a hydroboost braking system with no redundancy.

When it fails, usually daily driving symptoms (increased stopping distance) gave you a week before total failure if one had not crashed before then.

I changed out mine ('90 MKVII HO) to a '95 Mustang GT vaccumm booster, any '90's V8 Cougar master cylinder, machined the proportioning valve to mate new brakeline connection.

Looked and drove factory when completed.

16 posted on 11/22/2021 3:24:05 PM PST by Deaf Smith (When a Texan takes his chances, chances will be taken that's for sure.)
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To: DUMBGRUNT

By the time it stops you the car will be on fire. Friction is a real thing.


17 posted on 11/22/2021 3:30:49 PM PST by Openurmind (The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world it leaves to its children. ~ D. Bonhoeffer)
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To: rfp1234

—”Useful if you get stuck in deep-sand banks on backroads”

Also for situations that require lower total vehicle height.

Like a garage door that gets stuck midway.


18 posted on 11/22/2021 3:34:52 PM PST by DUMBGRUNT (("The enemy has overrun us. We are blowing up everything. Vive la France!"Dien Bien Phu last message)
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To: NWFree

—” a complex automobile expensive to maintain with even more CRAP to go wrong”

I stayed with hand crank windows for many years because of a bad winter experience.

Windows I can deal with, this one will be illegal to modify.

https://nypost.com/2021/08/05/drunk-driving-alert-hot-car-monitors-may-be-required-under-1t-bill/


19 posted on 11/22/2021 3:43:10 PM PST by DUMBGRUNT (("The enemy has overrun us. We are blowing up everything. Vive la France!"Dien Bien Phu last message)
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To: PIF

—” going 70+ with 10 feet between vehicles.”

In Chiraq it is closer to 17mph and maybe a foot or two?

Someone spits out the window and you sit for ten minutes...


20 posted on 11/22/2021 3:46:09 PM PST by DUMBGRUNT (("The enemy has overrun us. We are blowing up everything. Vive la France!"Dien Bien Phu last message)
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