Baught a car. Broke down

Soldato
Joined
26 Aug 2010
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3,515
Location
glasgow
So had an fun weekend. Saturday morning about 11 am I pick my 64 plate bmw 118d se from a franchise dealer. By 5 pm I am being rigged for a tow by the AA. Front brakes are stuck on.

AA tried to free them with cleaner but he says its more serious than that. Prior to the brakes seizing on i was doing about 70 on the motorway and the brakes slammed on by themselves took me down to about 40mph before releasing again. This happend a second time after which I pulled in and called the AA.

What are my rights with the place I baught it and what the he'l.could cause the braking system to kick in on its own accord.

Car dosent have cruise control or active radar or lane assist of any kind to cause the car to brake on its own.

Thanks.
 
The garage was closed till Monday by the time we got towed. It' currently at my home address. I will be contacting them on Monday to arrange them to collect it.
 
How the hell does a car stand itself on its nose? :confused:

That could've ended very badly for you OP, glad you're ok. The dealer will sort it if they're any good.
 
Yeah it was definitely a fright. More so for the other cars behind me. I dont even know if my break lights came on.
 
Yeah it was definitely a fright. More so for the other cars behind me. I dont even know if my break lights came on.


Tbh I don't think I'd ever trust a car again if it did that to me. Agreed on ABS problem being most likely culprit.
 
Some of these have emergency braking assist and it could be that that's causing it, when it activates the brake lights flash to warn others - are you sure it doesn't have it?

Very dangerous no matter what!
 
Jesus. Scary situation, and a stark illustration of just how dependent nearly every function of a modern car is on electronic tools and toys. The more they over-think the plumbing, as Scotty would say...
 
This is where dealers turn out to be a great place to have bought from

Let them pick it up, sort you a hire or courtesy car and just leave it to be sorted
 
That must have been a real brown trousers situation and something you simply would not expect. I'm sure the dealer will fix it but as diddums says will it damage your confidence in the car?
 
Make sure that as well as checking things over that they replace discs and pads for you as that heavy emergency stop style braking from that speed can cause further problems for the discs and pads
 
Make sure that as well as checking things over that they replace discs and pads for you as that heavy emergency stop style braking from that speed can cause further problems for the discs and pads

A single emergency stop requires the changing of both the discs and pads?

What do you think they are they made of, balsa-wood?
 
My interpretation of it is the brakes have locked on by themselves, it would be a different action to an emergency brake and less controlled. Also OP suggested it happened twice in quick succession. I would only suggest it as a precaution to save further issues down the line if BMW dealer has it in.

Of course modern cars have very efficient brakes which should be able to withstand multiple heavy braking but whilst warranty work taking place i would suggest at least getting them looked at, cant harm to get a free set of discs and pads for future ownership?
 
If the brakes brought the car to a stop from high speed and then stuck on when they were very hot which the op seems to suggest it may be possible that it could cause a judder problem or something if brake pad deposits get baked on to the disc surface.
 
Bought...
I lol'd! :D

Sounds like it could be an ABS sensor problem. Years ago I had similar with a Renault Clio randomly slamming on the anchors. Was a busted ABS sensor on one of the rear wheels, but it was causing the brakes on different wheels to come on at random.
 
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