What to Do If Your Car’s Brakes Lock Up While Driving | Drivekool

The term brake lockup is itself very scary and disturbing and certainly is a big liability when faced
while driving the car. Not only does it lead to a big problem but it can be extremely dangerous
during a moving car, nevertheless this affair can prove to be an expensive one too.

Let us try to understand a few reasons that can lead to the lockup of your brakes :
 braking system might have been overheated,
 Usage of incorrect brake fluid.
 damage or breakage of calipers, rotors, or drum brake backing plates
 If the ABS component, a proportioning valve or parking mechanism is defective can lead to
this mishap.
 Worn off caliper pistons or brake wheel cylinders.
 If the power brake booster is misaligned that too can be dangerous.

So now having understood various reasons for the lock up of the brakes, let us understand what we
should ideally do in such a situation. Before you start any mechanical exercise to such a situation try
to check how many wheels are locked. If one wheel is locked then you can try to lift the car and
rotate the wheels by hand. If you can find any broken spring or clogged fluid pipe, this indicates that
the pipe has transferred the fluid to the cylinder of the wheels but blocks when you press the brake
pedal.

In case your brakes get locked when you are driving and your car doesn’t have ABS brakes then try
to release the brake pressure and keep pushing the pedal until the vehicle stops moving. As for the
vehicles with ABS brakes, the system is unlikely to lock up unless a component is the system stops
working. Such cars will prevent locking of the brakes automatically if you lose the grip on a rough
track. In case you feel a beating sensation while pedalling, ignore them and keep the pressure on
and halt the car at a safe place.