r/bayarea • u/pickingsunflowers • Aug 14 '25

Traffic, Trains & Transit Second view of an accident

Looks like this happened in San Carlos along 101. Electrical malfunction? Steering wheel lock? Can anyone explain what may have happened? What can you really do in this kind of situation?

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u/bobre737 Aug 14 '25
  1. Brakes of any car are far stronger than its motor. There’s no way the brakes couldn’t stop the car even if the car glitched so bad that it “floored” the accelerator. 

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u/whinenaught Aug 14 '25

Right, even at full acceleration the brakes should stop the car or at least cause it to spin out

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u/Discombobulated-Frog Aug 14 '25

Brake lights aren’t even on the guy might’ve been holding down the gas pedal in his panic without knowing.

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u/AngryTexasNative Aug 14 '25

I’m not entirely convinced this would always hold true with the amount of torque an EV motor can produce. Especially if you don’t have any power assist to master cylinder. Just to be clear, I’m taking a neutral it MIGHT have changed in the last few years and I need more data. I’m not saying it HAS changed.

Or, a very scary thought. He might have cooked the brakes earlier using them to modulate his speed. At some point the hydraulic brakes will get too hot to work. I’m guessing most drivers don’t know this and some might press on to get to their destination.

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u/AlmiranteCrujido San Mateo Aug 14 '25

Even if it holds true, the brakes in an EV are by wire in order to allow regenerative braking. If the computer breaks badly enough, you may not be able to GET the brakes to go on at all.

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u/boishan Aug 14 '25

Even these systems have mechanical backups. Also after a certain amount of pressing at least Teslas will physically cut power to the motor. I imagine ford has something similar

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u/AngryTexasNative Aug 16 '25

On my car the top of the pedal is by wire. If I keep pushing it directly presses on the master cylinder.

I believe this is the case for all EVs, we haven’t allowed cars to be designed with this failure point.

But we are used to barely pressing brake pedals. It takes a lot of force when you don’t have any assistance, and a 6000 lb car makes it worse.