Wild rumour about Swift brakes. Baseless though.

[theMAG]

Originally Posted by lin-jo

Is this true? Has anyone on this forum faced any such issues with their Swifts or heard of such issues?

I can tell you for a fact, as a completely satisfied Swift owner for the last 3 years, that that is completely untrue. This car has amongst the best braking that I've known amongst mainstream Indian cars. What lets down the good braking is the puny stock tyres.

[lin-jo]

Originally Posted by abhilash_iv

From these words it looks like the engine got switched off (how?). Only then the Steering will freeze and the brakes loses the power. I think he should investigate why the engine was put off at that time?

When we were discussing this at work, almost all who heard about the incident had this question first- "Are you sure the engine was not off or some how got turned off?"
His answer was that the engine was ON.
All who heard about the incident and saw the pics (I believe he took them for Insurance) were shocked.

[SkyWalker]

Originally Posted by lin-jo

4. Is this a rumour? -As far as my co-worker's experience is concerned, no! He was driving Bangalore Chennai- and the Swift brakes just failed.

Originally Posted by sriramv.iyer

I am a victim of Swift brake failure - I had a VDi Swift + ABS with ZXi tyres and alloys (wider tires)

The brakes failed me at a crucial moment, and I had the worst accident of my life.

Originally Posted by solly

One of my friend had a similar brake failure in his Swift Dezire and rammed into a truck.. he also swears he'll never buy a Maruti again..

Seems like we have 3 posted cases of brake failure here already.

[romeomidhun]

Originally Posted by lin-jo

When we were discussing this at work, almost all who heard about the incident had this question first- "Are you sure the engine was not off or some how got turned off?"
His answer was that the engine was ON.
All who heard about the incident and saw the pics (I believe he took them for Insurance) were shocked.

It's quite natural that drivers blaming the car for the reason of the accident rather than his absent-mindedness and ignorance. He aims the insurance amount, and want to escape from the friends' teasing also - nothing more in the case of Swift.

[supremeBaleno]

We have the Zxi (has ABS) and the stock tyres (I think they are JK) are 185/70/R14 and I never felt even once that braking is not to the mark. While I always fault the Swift for not being FTD in traffic, braking is not a point where I found it lacking.

Originally Posted by abhilash_iv

From these words it looks like the engine got switched off (how?). Only then the Steering will freeze and the brakes loses the power.

Exactly what came to my mind too.

Originally Posted by sriramv.iyer

I am a victim of Swift brake failure - I had a VDi Swift + ABS with ZXi tyres and alloys (wider tires). The brakes failed me at a crucial moment, and I had the worst accident of my life. The brakes locked and I couldn't use the ABS. I am not writing more about it because the accident was quite traumatic for me personally.

Given that you have had a serious accident, you should give a more detailed account of what happened. Maybe someone else might benefit from reading your experience or others could be wary of certain situations.

[vikram_d]

Originally Posted by vid6639

It's mainly due to the tyres and not anything to do with the brakes. A tyre upgrade will improve braking by a great deal. Also the ABS versions have excellent braking. I'm sure Vikram_d will vouch for that. lol.

Yes I will vouch for the Swift's braking especially with ABS. Even on the non-ABS Swift that I own I have never faced any braking problems even though that car is on stock tyres.

Originally Posted by lin-jo

4. Is this a rumour? -As far as my co-worker's experience is concerned, no! He was driving Bangalore Chennai- and the Swift brakes just failed. Steering also froze. Ended up ramming into the back of a tractor trailer - his spouse got injured. By God's grace nothing else happened. His car got badly damaged. He showed me photographs. If I get them I will post them.

I agree with the others here who have said engine must have been off.

From what you have posted here it looks like he tried cruising with the engine switched off. Or the engine switched off due to some other problem. Nothing else can explain the lack of brakes & power steering at the same time. Kindly find out from your friend if he switched off the engine for any reason or was it something else.

Also how sure is your friend that the engine was running. A bad accident always causes some amount of short term memory loss.

I can understand brakes failing. But brakes & steering failing together only means that the eninge was off. Both of them have separate fuses and it is highly unlikely that both the fuses blew together.

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by solly

One of my friend had a similar brake failure in his Swift Dezire...

Originally Posted by sriramv.iyer

I am a victim of Swift brake failure - I had a VDi Swift + ABS... The brakes failed me... The brakes locked and I couldn't use the ABS.

Originally Posted by lin-jo

...and the Swift brakes just failed. Steering also froze.
The brakes just went hard is what he said. No response on pressing the brake as hard as one could try.

3 reported cases of Swift P/D/DZire, one with loss of steering assist.

Originally Posted by vikram_d

I agree with the others here who have said engine must have been off.

From what you have posted here it looks like he tried cruising with the engine switched off. Or the engine switched off due to some other problem...

I wouldn't think the engine was turned off or died on its own... Folks today don't switch off and cruise, because ALL cars have PS and brake boost which stop working when the engine is turned off.

I wonder if this is a situation caused by alternator drive belt failure. Solly, Sriram, can you please report if you lost steering assist too during brake failure? (Sorry, Sriram, for digging into your traumatic experience, but it is imperative to other people's safety that we know). Lin-jo, Solly, Sriram, would all of you be so kind as to report if any or all of the Swifts in question had a broken alternator belt after the accidents?

The alternator stopping due to a broken belt will mean loss of assist to both steering and brakes. (Both EPS and brake booster won't operate without the alt running).

And here I was earlier, so confident that the Swift has good brakes... I possibly stand corrected.

[SumitBahl]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

I wonder if this is a situation caused by alternator drive belt failure. Solly, Sriram, can you please report if you lost steering assist too during brake failure? (Sorry, Sriram, for digging into your traumatic experience, but it is imperative to other people's safety that we know).

I agree with you. These all could have been caused by alternator drive belt failure.

I had experienced this first hand on my Scorpio (now sold).
I was doing around 60-70KMPH and was watching the timer on signal. It was about to finish, I revved up the car and during the turn braked just locked.
No response at all.
Had to drive the car into rough as there was a lot of traffic ahead.
Luckily it was a scorpio and didnt mind a few grown bushed and high pavement.
And stopped without any damage to the car and myself.
Later I found out that it was a alternator drive belt failure.

[ashwinpak]

Guys who talked against this allegation has more to say about how good or effective the brakes in the Swift are. That is not the point here. Brake failure is a totally different thing. It might be working quite fine until one day it fails. The most effective brakes can fail. I too have driven a Swift extensively, and I can say that the braking is good. But I can't vouch that it will not fail.

[Jaggu]

Originally Posted by ashwinpak

Guys who talked against this allegation has more to say about how good or effective the brakes in the Swift are. That is not the point here. Brake failure is a totally different thing. It might be working quite fine until one day it fails. The most effective brakes can fail. I too have driven a Swift extensively, and I can say that the braking is good. But I can't vouch that it will not fail.

completely, let me tell you after having 2 swifts, one diesel and one petrol.

Diesel runs on 195 65 14 tyres and is a Vdi, and till date apart from one or two odd panic brakes when lock ups have happened, no issues with the brakes. Close to 30,000 km of city and highway driving, and am not merciful with my driving.

Petrol runs on 165 80 14 and is a Vxi but is pain with frequent lock ups, but apart from that, no failures yet, close to 28k kms mark now. Driver is rather fast also.

Both these cars are serviced by dealership regularly and that gives me the confidence that things shouldnt go wrong in the future.

My concluion: NO swift is NOT prone to brake failure, and rumors also needs to make sense at times

[Rahulkool]

lol .... dunno from where these rumours start and people actually believe in these

Swift has pretty good brakes and i don't think if there was a case of brake failure any car company will take it lightly .....

[luky_13]

I have June 2005, SWIFT Vxi which has clocked 50,000 KMs. Almost 4 years of driving, No issues with brakes neither any with the car !

[emkay456]

I think Moderators may need to take a look at the evolution of this thread. The creator has only 13 posts to his name, and seems to have joined to create this thread !! No offenses meant, but doubts creep in.
My concern is that the reputation of team-bhp should not be misused. I know many of my friends who are not members but visit here to read the reports for evaluating cars.

[d_himan]

Must be a one off incident.

Would be a fantastic learning experience if gurus can point out to any warning signs/leading indicators to watch out for before such a catastrophonic failure happens.

My personal experience with Swift 06 VXi non-ABS

1. Progressive with 'strictly adequate' bite. The initial bite felt a bit low when I had taken delivery of the car and I felt something was wrong. The dealer told me that 'its a safety feature to prevent wheel locking and that bite increases as you depress more' . Found that to be true.
2. Locks up easily with 165/80 tyres
3. Post putting in 185/70 Michelins, advantage is tyres dont lock up - honest didn't feel braking distance reduction/improved brake feel etc.
4. Definitely inadequate in hard braking maneouvers post 140 kmph. But I guess that's true for most non-ABS hatches. For instance, one panic braking I did at 160kmph in the SX4 Zxi felt way more controlled and had a noticeably shorter braking distance (could be due to ABS)
5. My front right brake pad wore out after 15K. Might be an alignment issue/my style of driving. Didn't expect that to happen so early though.

[vikram_d]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

The alternator stopping due to a broken belt will mean loss of assist to both steering and brakes. (Both EPS and brake booster won't operate without the alt running).

I might be wrong but isn't the brake booster vacuum assisted? Please clarify?