My 4Runner broke a brake line today. Total loss of braking. Vehicle simply would not stop, coasted for about 1/2 mile until I was going slow enough to put into park.

Happy I was not on the highway.
Happy nobody was on the road
Happy it was a quite Sunday on a side street
Happy it was not in a school zone

 

wow, that's really scary... glad there was no bad outcome.

i've honestly never heard of a vehicle losing a brake line and i didn't know that would leave the system with no braking... although couldn't you have used the park brake?

 

So. I have never ever heard of it. However, AAA tow driver said that it happens all the time. Never in his experience on Toyota. That said, never considered the parking brake, nor did I consider shutting it off as things were happening so fast. Husband asked if the brake pressure light on the dash came on, I said it happened so quick, didn’t see it.

I always thought the car would at least stop, seize up the brakes for a fail safe. Guess not.

Thanks. Yes, scary.

 

Curious if you tried putting on the parking brake to slow the vehicle?

Edit sorry - totally missed that already posted above. It often used to be called the 'emergency brake' but I suspect lawyers had something to do with renaming it

 

No. Didn’t even come to mind as things were happening so fast. Thanks for asking. Doing a little internet research, someone said it is a bad idea to do it. I will go back a look as to why.

So a quick look. Using the emergency brake can cause the car to skid.

 

if a park/emergency brake is engaged with a 'ratcheted' hand brake handle or foot bedal, there's no way to moderate it. with the hand brake at least, you can usually hold the button pressed in and modulate how much braking you want, but yes, slamming the foot pedal park brake is a bad idea.

 

Sorry for this bad experience...and glad you're OK. Is there any sign this was salt or rust-related? You regularly live and drive in an area with severe winters and a lot of snow. How often do you or your husband clean the salt off the bottom of your vehicle and in the wheel wells? Even on durable vehicles like the 4Runner, the effects of salt, over time, can build up on underbody parts.....including brake-lines. Auto manufacturers occasionally issue TSBs or recalls dealing with safety-related underbody parts that can rust or deteriorate from salt.

 

My 4Runner has the foot brake. Just never crossed my mind. A bit of an update: apparently there is supposed to be an alarm for the brake and if it goes out a light and buzzer are supposed to alert me. Did not happen.

 

Yikes!

I did have this happen one time on my Ford Explorer. Really scary. Just age, one of those things where you're better off going to braided metal lines when they get really old.

 

This is actually not true. My first truck (a '96 Ranger) had a defect where the front brakes were partially applied at all times, which Ford refused to acknowledge, even after one of their technicians burned his hand touching one of my front wheels. By the time I traded it in at 25k miles, the second set of front pads was toast, and would grind the rotors if you applied even moderate pressure to the brake pedal. But I didn't want to pay to put another set on (and Carmax didn't care). So on the way there, I used the emergency brake as the service brake. You push it down until it starts ratcheting, then let it up and push it down again. Now you've released the ratchet and can modulate it all you want as long as you don't let the pedal all the way up. Worked just fine, though obviously you don't have as much stopping power with only the rears. Of course I kept my right foot resting (but not pushing) on the brake pedal so my brake lights would be on and people would know I was stopping.

There's another kind of ratcheting foot pedal with a separate hand release, as opposed to being integrated into the pedal. That could be done too, but would be much more awkward, needing to keep your hand under the dash to hold the lever/paddle back. Even so, in an event like this where the service brakes have failed, it wouldn't be the worst thing to engage a ratcheted brake to the point where it will stop the vehicle in a reasonable time and leaving it there, as long as you don't jam it down so hard that you lock up the rear.

 

Yeah git rid of the rubber hoses & replace with something that will rust...

 

Most parking brakes only apply the rear brakes which can make the vehicle spin suddenly, unless the steering wheel is pointed perfectly straight ahead.

 

The ELEPHANT in the room is being ignored.
How is it that the OP lost ALL Braking?
Dual braking systems went in all cars sold in USA, in the early1980s.
Breaking "a brake line" could not make the OP lose all braking power.
Dual system, 2 wheels (diagonally opposite) whould still have brakes if one brake line broke.
Did the OP, who forgot about emergency brake, have the power-brake booster go out, and think: NO BRAKES !!
Or did both lines manage to go out at once - Sounds improbable to me.

Where oh where are some of you people getting your information??
Parking/Emergency brake is mechanical, an acts on rear brakes only.
It's there for a reason, generally :
(a) Parking on hills, if you worry about your automatic transmission letting go, and
(b) Emergencies - if/as/when brakes fail, gives you at least some braking ability.
Will it make your car (or your head) spin .. I guess it could, but it should not.

/

 

I have no idea about whether both lines were broke. Or something else. But I have fluid all over the one side of the frame near the steering column. I did see that there was something about dual lines. But I was also reading on a few 4Runner forums about the 4Runner losing brakes in multiple instances.

 

Incorrect. Split-master cylinders and cross-diagonal dual braking systems were first required on new American-spec vehicles by the 1966 Motor Vehicle Safety Act, and, I believe, were first installed for the 1968 model year.