i was driving for about 3 hours and i bearly saw the red light and i was doin about 30 and i pressed the brakes and it was so hard for the car to stop, this is what i did , i push the car into neutral and steped on the brake and i still ended up in the middle of the intersection i didnt have enough time to remember about pulling up that hand brake. after that the car braked fine, anyone know what kinda problem this was

 

you sure you didnt slam on the brakes late?

 

Do *NOT* pull up the handbrake when stopping fast. clee130 did that under similar circumstances and lost control of his car and wrecked it.

I'm sure you just got on the brakes really really late. When that happens it always seems like it takes forever to stop. That happened to me once a couple years ago. Just stand on the brakes and let ABS do their thing. Don't put it in neutral either.

 

Yea, one time i didnt see the stop sighn until im guessin 20-30feet later, and i was going 30-40mph, slammed on the brakes, and it seemed like the car was taking forever to stop even though the tires were sorta screeching.

 

On our 2k2's there is an electronic brake assit, you might want to get it checked with the dealership. It could be malfuntionaing.

 

This probably is not the reason for your braking problem; however this type of thing has happened to me. I have a 2002 Max 6 speed and I'm still getting use to the pedal locations. I've driven a Honda accord for 6 years and the close positioning of the brake and accelerator pedals of the Max is taking some getting use to. The brake pedal is a lot lower than on my Honda (for heal-toe shifting). So on more than one occasion I've when to step on the brake of my Max and I wouldn't stop quickly. The ball of my foot would push down on the brake pedal, but my toes would hit the back of the floor/fire wall enabling me to only depress the brake slightly. This is a very scary situation 'cause I couldn't let go of the brake or risk hitting the person in front of me and I wasn't stopping quickly enough since my toes were hitting the back of the floor.

 

(1) Do NOT put a car in neutral in order to stop fast. You lose engine breaking and also tend to make your breaks lock up faster.
(2) You didn't say you did this, but don't pump your breaks either. For an ABS braking system, it's essential that you keep the pressure steady on the brake despite the thud-thud you will hear.
(3) Was the pavement wet? If so, 30mph is still pretty fast. So, as others posted, start braking a LOT earlier. Similarly, your tires should not be worn out.

All this assumes your bake system is working okay.

 

though it was scary , i think i did brak kinda late
and some one asked if the rooad was wet , its was drying than a mof