This is a terrible idea.
Braking systems need MORE redundancy. Not less.
this post was submitted on 06 May 2026
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does not really matter when brakes are only activated electronically, sadly
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(2 replies)
Well that sounds terrifying. There's a reason why the brake hydraulicsystem is actually two separate hydraulic systems, for diagonally opposite wheels. The only single-point-of-failure is the brake pedal.
Their leaving out the critical details on how this will electric system will be fail safe, or even legal.
The announcement was light on details about both the system itself and how its fail-safes are implemented.
Maybe they'll return to spring actuated mechanical brakes that are released when everything is working. (More common in heavy industry, and I believe also truck brakes)
The only single-point-of-failure is the brake pedal.
And even then, only on cars with those stupid electronic parking brakes instead of a proper mechanical emergency brake.
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(22 replies)
Come with me on an ADHD journey!
Spring actuated, or well, any type of ‘fail closed’ brake design would definitely work.
But what happens if it fails closed (due to no power - the only failure mode I’ve considered below) and the vehicle needs to be moved?
Are they gonna do that thing they do with elevator emergency brakes with the spinning balls that engage the brakes only if a certain inertial threshold is reached? That way as long as they aren’t going too fast, the car can be pushed off the road?
Or are they gonna let you plug in a phone to charge the brake system enough to disengage the failsafe?
Maybe there will be a sweet-ass lever under the center console like the one in the first Jurassic Park movie where people have to pump it to prime the system?
My favorite iteration of this nonsensical idea is that new cars are going to come with a crank in the front, like old-school model T’s, so that in an emergency, people can wind up their cars to release the brakes.
(Please consider all of the above as me having too much time on my hands, and not a real critique of your statements. I think failsafes are a good idea. I’m just a silly.)
Theres trailers for that as the other comments mentioned but maybe it could be designed in such a way that you could clip jumper cables on from another vehicle or car battery to open the brakes maybe even give normal braking power to the pedal so one can safely stop again, something that hydraulic brakes arent good at. (Stopping a car thats off, where the brake booster isint powered)
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That's going to be very interesting to see failure rates and modes on the road over time.
We at least know it could potentially have really low failure rates since airplanes have the same type of systems today, and that's highly regulated
I'm more concerned about the failure mode than the failure rates. Mechanical and hydraulic brakes can experience gradual failure, giving the driver a chance to pull over get the car repaired.
EVs usually have a single motor and a single inverter , both of which can fail suddenly. Electronics usually work perfectly fine until they suddenly don't work at all (blown fuse, bad connection, blown capacitor etc)
How are they gonna build redundancy so that no single component failure means youre freewheeling downhill on the highway
single component failure means youre freewheeling downhill on the highway
Do people really think Professional Engineers are stupid?
Yeah, they'd never put an unsafe vehicle into production. It would help boost confidence if someone explained what the backup plan is.
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Back in the day you had to have two distinct hydraulic lines, crossing over and serving 3 wheels each, so that you could still break if one went down, but you'd feel it.
Guess they'll have at least 2.
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In fact, according to BMW, drivers of current EVs pretty much never activate their mechanical braking systems, relying instead on their electric motors to handle the job.
I didn't think the regen could bring a car to a complete stop, like at a stop sign or a red light. They're certainly not using the motors to hold your place on a hill, are they?
Or are they just saying BMW drivers never stop when they're supposed to?
I didn’t think the regen could bring a car to a complete stop
Yes, it can. Newer axial motors can actually put -700hp of stopping power per wheel, and the whole motor hub assembly weighs less than a brake assembly. All that energy was previously wasted as heat by braking.
it is not legal in china for a car to come to a complete stop using regen braking. And most electrics come from there
Yasa is not a current OEM. They are a research group partnered with Mercedes, not supplying Mercedes with current market equipment. So no, this is not a solution to regen braking not being able to brake the last 10% to a stop. That's not what BMW claimed, either. They said "almost never" activate mechanical brakes. Everyone is still using mechanical brakes for the last, final stopping force. That is how generators work. If they're not spinning they're not generating. Slowing to a stop means the braking force from regen rides the curve down to near zero. Yada has nothing to do with the thread anyway
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In Formula E, they mostly brake with regen so much so that they completely did away with rear brakes. Whether or not current road cars can do the same I do not know. But from what I have heard many electric cars have problems with their brakes because they are used soo infrequently.
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Brembo’s new “Sensify” braking system takes that one step further, eliminating the hydraulic system entirely and relying instead purely on electronic brake-by-wire and electric motors.
I can see it catch on for EV, pretty sure it won't be used on ICEV considering brake is the only thing that can stop the car
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