A woman was left shaken up after her car brakes suddenly stopped working. However, she claims a trick from a TikTok video saved her life and the lives of the passengers in the vehicle.
TikToker Amy Jo, who has over 1.4million followers on the platform, made a video recalling the scary moment she almost hit her sister’s car – with her four nieces and nephews in it – when her brakes failed as she was driving.
“I was driving home from California, following behind my sister, her husband, and their four small children,” Amy Jo recalled. “My brakes failed. They were braking because of traffic and my car was not stopping.”
Instead of panicking, she said she suddenly remembered an important video she’d seen about what to do if your car brakes ever stop working. “So I pumped my brakes to try to engage it and see if they were just locked, and it still wasn’t stopping,” she said.
“So I put my hazards on so that the car behind me knows to back off and that something was wrong. Thank god we were in the very left lane, so I was able to safely manoeuvre to the left shoulder.”
She explained that if you find yourself in a similar situation but you aren’t near any shoulders, you should make sure your hazard lights are on to warn nearby drivers that something is wrong, as well as rolling down your window to signal to other drivers that you need to go in a certain direction.
Amy continued: “So I veered into the left shoulder the last second before hitting my sister’s car with her four small children in it. And I let it roll by putting it in neutral, and let it roll to a stop, put it in park and put the emergency brake on.”
Thankful that no one was hurt, she went on to share her shock that no one had taught her this information as she was learning how to drive.
“I wasn’t taught that information in real life, I learned that information from a TikTok,” she said. “That app saved my life, it saved my sister, her husband, my nieces, my nephew’s lives.
“This app is not just for dancing videos and silly cat videos. So I’m sharing this story for you guys because hopefully if this happens to you, you see this, and you remember this as well.”
People quickly took to the comment section to wish her well, while also sharing their own tips on what to do in that situation.
One person asked: “Wait so you can’t pull emergency brake,” to which another user replied: “If ur going at a fast speed u can literally make ur car flip, ur wheels will lock and u won’t have any control of the car. Work down the gears and then in neutral when ur about 15mph then pull the brake.”
Another user wrote: “Also, if you’re driving a manual/stick – you can gear down as a method of slowing down (if you’re in 5th gear and brakes fail, gear down to third and then second and first and then put in neutral)”
“Its REALLY important that you and your audience know NOT to put the car in neutral in this situation! Use engine brake by shifting to lower gears, to stop the car as fast as possible!” another user added.
If you find that your car brakes are failing while you’re driving, you should focus on stopping safely, Transcare said. This can be done by downshifting in a manual transmission vehicle, or deaccelirating in an automatic car. They also urge you to pump the brake pedal to try to get it moving, before steering away from other vehicles where you can slow down.
