[Janko]

Driving 2015 Smart ED, had emergency brake situation, brakes kind of failed, rear ended Chevy Sonic, no ice on road just some melted water, slow speed about 35 mph. Wonder if extra 300 lbs in batteries is accounted for when brake system on Smart ED was implemented ? Any ideas ? Car has rear drums, tires are stock OEM size & brand.

 

[MB DNA]

Driving 2015 Smart ED, had emergency brake situation, brakes kind of failed, rear ended Chevy Sonic, no ice on road just some melted water, slow speed about 35 mph.

Sorry about your accident, hope occupant(s?) were okay.

Not sure what that means - brakes kind of failed?

Water on roadway (what was the temperature in cold CO?), "slow speed" about 35 MPH at what distance behind the car rear ended?

 

[chieftmc]

Sounds like you may have hydroplaned ???

 

[SuperSmartie]

In my smart ED (as in every car I ever owned) The braking performance in an emergency stopping situation is limited by the tires-road interface, not the brakes.

Brakes only are an issue in long downhills where they can overheat.

What failed? Did you have some brake system component failure? Air or water in the lines? Something broken?

 

[Janko]

Sorry about your accident, hope occupant(s?) were okay.

Not sure what that means - brakes kind of failed?

Water on roadway (what was the temperature in cold CO?), "slow speed" about 35 MPH at what distance behind the car rear ended?

Brakes fully applied did not slow down car to avoid collision, no skid marks, no noises, temperature around 40 deg. Noticed afterwards, no air bags deployed either car. Lucky both drivers were fine.

 

[Janko]

In my smart ED (as in every car I ever owned) The braking performance in an emergency stopping situation is limited by the tires-road interface, not the brakes.

Brakes only are an issue in long downhills where they can overheat.

What failed? Did you have some brake system component failure? Air or water in the lines? Something broken?

Road was level, no known mechanical brake problem, only 16K miles on car, so pads should be fine. Replaced rear tires only a week before accident.

Wonder about factory OEM tire size on Smart ED, car has extra 300 lbs over ICE version. Would wider tire up front help with braking response ?

 

[valvestem]

Sounds as if the Smartie hydroplaned. No noise, no skid marks, and no ice. I don't think ABS is in a Smartie, but I am not sure if it would have helped stop you in time

 

[GoFaster]

The EDs have ABS just like any other 451. The weight of the batteries is like carrying a heavy passenger, and the stock brakes on a 451 are more than up to the task of doing a panic stop.

Hydroplaning is possible; water-soaked brake pads are possible (it can take a moment to shed the water from the rotors). Mechanical failure is possible but normally this wouldn't be a phantom thing that comes and goes. (If you lost power assistance, you should have felt that this was the case before. If you broke a brake line, the brakes would have gone and stayed gone, never to work again until fixed.)

Check for bald tires ...

 

[MB DNA]

Brakes fully applied did not slow down car to avoid collision, no skid marks, no noises, temperature around 40 deg. Lucky both drivers were fine.

Air temperature "around" 40 degrees, ground temperature in CO could have been near freezing - may have looked like water but so does black ice?

Note, Aurora, CO recorded temps 1/13 38°/18°, 1/14 42°/22°.

Don't think the additional 300lbs (286lbs/+16%) of ED battery had anything to do with 100% "brakes kind of failed."

 

[SuperSmartie]

Would wider tire up front help with braking response ?

Not if hydroplaning was the problem. Only gets worse with wider tires.

Did you get the brake system (ABS, fluid, etc.) checked out after the accident to confirm there was nothing wrong? I don't know if one could check for air, but they can check for water in the brake fluid. And read out ABS diagnostics.
Are you repairing the smart or was it totaled?

Brakes fully applied did not slow down car to avoid collision

Did you consider that maybe you were just following too close for conditions to start with?
Don't hate me, someone had to say it...

 

[Janko]

Sorry about your accident, hope occupant(s?) were okay.

Not sure what that means - brakes kind of failed?

Water on roadway (what was the temperature in cold CO?), "slow speed" about 35 MPH at what distance behind the car rear ended?

After my accident , had an emergency situation on dry road doing about 50 MPH, car handled just fine. Suspecting that there was black ice on road in January 2017 accident.

 

[Janko]

Not if hydroplaning was the problem. Only gets worse with wider tires.

Did you get the brake system (ABS, fluid, etc.) checked out after the accident to confirm there was nothing wrong? I don't know if one could check for air, but they can check for water in the brake fluid. And read out ABS diagnostics.
Are you repairing the smart or was it totaled?


Did you consider that maybe you were just following too close for conditions to start with?
Don't hate me, someone had to say it...

Think there was not much room in from of the car, driver passed me in order to make right turn at the traffic light (without regard for safe driving conditions). This combined with slick road plus poor visibility did not help.

 

[MB DNA]

Driving 2015 Smart ED, had emergency brake situation, brakes kind of failed, rear ended Chevy Sonic, no ice on road just some melted water, slow speed about 35 mph.

Wonder if extra 300 lbs in batteries is accounted for when brake system on Smart ED was implemented ? Any ideas ?

After my accident , had an emergency situation on dry road doing about 50 MPH, car handled just fine. Suspecting that there was black ice on road in January 2017 accident.

So you have now moved on from "the brakes kind of failed" on your MY15 ED?

 

[Niteshooter]

Driving 2015 Smart ED, had emergency brake situation, brakes kind of failed, rear ended Chevy Sonic, no ice on road just some melted water, slow speed about 35 mph. Wonder if extra 300 lbs in batteries is accounted for when brake system on Smart ED was implemented ? Any ideas ? Car has rear drums, tires are stock OEM size & brand.

Sorry to hear this, ok when you hit the brakes did you keep pushing to the floor and yet nothing was stopping you?

Did you feel any pulsing in the brake system which would have been the ABS activating. If not I would start to suspect some sort of mechanical failure, did the pedal go right to the floor or did it go to about the spot it normally depresses to?

Hydroplaning or black ice is a possibility though I would suspect that you have had some experience as to how sliding on ice or water feels like and if so was this what you felt? In other words did the car drift one side or the other as you applied brakes?

How badly damaged were the cars? Since airbags didn't deploy do you know roughly at what speed you hit the other car?

 

[Niteshooter]

Ahhh replied to old thread.....

 

[MB DNA]

Yep, Janko awakened his own Zombie...