Just had the life scared out of me

Driving at 30mph touched the brake and the car slammed on in traffic by itself without my foot depressed on the brake came to a stop with the clutch pedal solid as a rock

Turned off ignition and restarted and all working fine with the ice on road warning message on

65 plate with 8500 miles on the clock discs and pads seem to be ok

any ideas on cause ?

There was similar post recently the conclusion that time having had various things checked was, the wrong pedal was pressed IE. the brake rather than the clutch(rock hard) not saying it's this and it won't hurt to get them looked over, lots of places will do a free brake check.

Gwynboy said:

Just had the life scared out of me

Driving at 30mph touched the brake and the car slammed on in traffic by itself without my foot depressed on the brake came to a stop with the clutch pedal solid as a rock

Turned off ignition and restarted and all working fine with the ice on road warning message on

65 plate with 8500 miles on the clock discs and pads seem to be ok

any ideas on cause ?

Click to expand...

Hi and welcome

Thats a scary prospect..!!


Im intrigued though..

If the clutch was unuseable.. how did the car stop so suddenly..?

(The motor will still be pushing it forward..drive through the clutch fully engaged)

What engine + gearbox is this..

1.2 petrol..is this a 5 speed.. ??


Its too new for corrosion ..or wear really



Charlie

"without my foot depressed on the brake came to a stop with the clutch pedal solid as a rock"

That does very much sound like a case of pressing the wrong pedal... we've all done it at some point.

shackleton said:

"without my foot depressed on the brake came to a stop with the clutch pedal solid as a rock"

That does very much sound like a case of pressing the wrong pedal... we've all done it at some point.

Click to expand...

Yep..

Dipping the clutch..on an auto..

Lock all 4 wheels on a m.way sliproad.. !!

varesecrazy said:

Yep..

Dipping the clutch..on an auto..

Lock all 4 wheels on a m.way sliproad.. !!

Click to expand...

I made that mistake once in my auto Pajero, after that always kept my left foot hard pressed on the footrest to stop any temptation of using the 'clutch'

The cars a 1.2 manual 5 speed

didn't press the wrong pedal I lightly pressed the brake as approaching a junction ABS engaged brakes jammed on could not press clutch pedal down or steer car as everything locked up ?

I found one reported case of this happening on a motorway and the police checking the car and Fiat would not comment at all when asked by them
so at a loss at the moment

I am going to strip the front brakes this week to eliminate a seized calliper or corrosion to the braking system

Gwynboy said:

I am going to strip the front brakes this week to eliminate a seized calliper or corrosion to the braking system

Click to expand...

Probably a good idea, remember if it had only been one caliper seized the car would wildly pull to one side ?
Pull out the pads clean up the ends and grease the back plate mating surfaces.

Gwynboy said:

The cars a 1.2 manual 5 speed

didn't press the wrong pedal I lightly pressed the brake as approaching a junction ABS engaged brakes jammed on could not press clutch pedal down or steer car as everything locked up ?

I found one reported case of this happening on a motorway and the police checking the car and Fiat would not comment at all when asked by them
so at a loss at the moment

I am going to strip the front brakes this week to eliminate a seized calliper or corrosion to the braking system

Click to expand...

Does your car have disks or drums on the rear? If it has drums I'd start there. The geometry of drums make them much more likely to jam on if something is broken or worn than disks are. Did the nose of the car dip? Did it pull to one side? If it pulled up straight it is more lkely to be a ABS or master cylinder issue than a wheel assembly one.

Robert G8RPI.

Ok..
There are SOME reports of problems with the 'pedal carrier'assembly

That would be the obvious point of failure.. as the clutch pedal is hanging on the same rail

So.. you would need a scenario whereby the pedals all 'shifted' at the same time..

So:

Please walk us through 5 mins before..
to 5 mins after this incident

Im intrigued by how it 'recovered..'



Have you got loose mats fitted?

Drums on the back
before everything normal after engine restarted back to normal
nothing jamming the pedals like mats or passengers feet

Car braked straight not to one side nose dipped as braking front heavy

So.. what happened.. in what order

Did you wriggle pedals.. turn off and restart??

Anything or anybody in passenger side the press on the large bar that takes brake pedal movement to the other side of the car?

no wiggling the pedals just feet off and turned engine off and back on

no passenger in car

As Varesecrazy said, it sounds like interference between clutch and brake pedals.
If the clutch pedal was "solid" it sounds like the clutch pedal mechanism was actuating the brake. The fact that it stopped straight wirh normal front-rear bias pretty much rules out a problem at the wheels. A good look at the pedals, linkages and mountings is in order, but easier said than done. A good light and a mirror would be essential.

Robert G8RPI.

Did you have a passenger with you? It was possible on the early ones for the passenger to accidentally put their feet up behind the dash and activate the brake. it happened to me a couple of times. Although I had thought this had been addressed on later models but not sure.

muttleysdad said:

Did you have a passenger with you? It was possible on the early ones for the passenger to accidentally put their feet up behind the dash and activate the brake. it happened to me a couple of times. Although I had thought this had been addressed on later models but not sure.

Click to expand...

See posts 13 and 14

Well I think I found the problem !
Looking at the brake discs from the front everything looks normal but the inner sides are a different story around a quarter of the disc surface is rust to the point of looking like delaminating in chunks from the outer edge.
This in turn has ripped the inner pad to pieces causing heavy scoring.

Discs and pads in the bin all new fitted, Calipers all ok working properly
test driven on a long tarmac private road near by and at 30mph emergency stop was great repeated a number of times no issue.

On the clutch issue a local mechanic has suggested if the brakes jammed on this might have gone back through the system and jammed the pedal box assemble temporarily

Seems plausible the next couple of months will tell

thanks for the help

Did you take any pictures of the old gear?

Gwynboy said:

Just had the life scared out of me

Turned off ignition and restarted and all working fine with the ice on road warning message on

65 plate with 8500 miles on the clock discs and pads seem to be ok

any ideas on cause ?

Click to expand...

Something not adding up there..

How on earth have the brakes failed structurally in that time and use..?


(Im aware the modern brakes are inferior quality.. discs being required at 20k..
But 2.5 times quicker : should time to inform 'the ministry')