Total brake failure - 2015 SMAX

[Dapster]

Car is a 2015 SMAX 2.0 petrol, bought from a Ford dealer with 9k on the clock. Now has 25k on the clock with full Ford service history. Last serviced at Ford on 2nd Sept this year.

My wife was driving the car when she experienced almost total brake failure. The brake pedal travelled to the stop, and there was virtually no braking effect. There were no warnings on the dash to indicate a problem – either a low brake fluid warning light or a message displayed on the screen.

The car was recovered to an independent garage near home who quickly diagnosed the issue – a split brake hose on the near side front wheel. The split hose caused total brake fluid loss and the consequent brake problems. The brake hose to the off side front wheel was perished and bulging.

The garage told me they had never before seen brake hoses is such a condition, and given the age of the vehicle (just 4 years old), suspect a manufacturing fault with the hoses.

I've written to Ford and await their response.

Has anyone seen anything like this?

[Novexx]

Seen more S-Max & other similar Fords on more occasions than I care to remember, from cherished private vehicles to thrashed out taxi's & I've never seen or heard of anything like this. An issue this serious would no doubt have a recall or TSB related to it. Two things that cross my mind;

Any previous heavy lower front accident damage has the potential to weaken the hoses.

If the car has had any open heart engine or gearbox work done in the past, it's possible that the hoses have been bearing the weight of parts of the front suspension while dismantled, which would weaken them. Hubs & so forth should be adequately supported during such work....


The hoses appear to have failed at or near the unions - typical if the hose has been stretched / overloaded.

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

Crumbs! Had total brake failure in my Viva, it's not pleasant. I always thought (wrongly evidently) that modern cars had two circuits to avoid this situation?

[Novexx]

2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:

I always thought (wrongly evidently) that modern cars had two circuits to avoid this situation?

They do - but OP said almost total failure, not total failure.

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

Novexx said:

2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:

I always thought (wrongly evidently) that modern cars had two circuits to avoid this situation?

They do - but OP said almost total failure, not total failure.

You'd expect 30-40% performance though?

[Novexx]

2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:

You'd expect 30-40% performance though?

Agreed, but even with 50% left, the 50% drop in performance is going to be startlingly obvious & pretty shocking - that's my take on the "almost" part. 50% would absolutely make me s*** myself & may not be enough to safely stop under certain circumstances.

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

[Dapster]

Thanks guys. To respond to a couple of points:

1) Car has never had any damage under my tenure. It may have had a heavy frontal before my ownership, but it was a Ford management vehicle and I would have hoped that they would have repaired it properly for that reason. Still, that may be the case

2) The car was recovered to the garage by the AA. The AA guy said the circuit was split front / rear (ie both front on one circuit, both rear on the other) so the rear brakes were probably operating and providing 30ish % service. I thought the split was diagonal F/R but whatever - I drove the car around the garage compound and up and down a side road - I sh*t myself at 15mph. You could bring the car to a halt but anything pulling or running out in front of you and it would be game over

Ford customer services have replied saying take it to the dealer to be inspected.

Watch this space.....

[Novexx]

Dapster said:

Ford management vehicle

That equates to vehicle management rather than management in the normal sense & doesn't really have bearing on previous usage - could have been used for the period by a sensible driving employee, thrashed as a company hack or a whole lot more.

Dapster said:

The AA guy said the circuit was split front / rear (ie both front on one circuit, both rear on the other)

Diagonally split, not F/R.

Dapster said:

Watch this space.....

I will be - as they say in this modern age "Interested".

[Dapster]

Well, I've heard back from Ford UK. They've told me to p*ss off. I called the UK Customer Service centre who have said that as I had the car fixed at an independent rather than a non Ford dealer, they have no policy to compensate me for the cost of repair, despite the fact that the failure of the component was within any reasonable expectation of useful life. They also have no interest in pursuing a possibility of a manufacturing fault in the brake pipe. If I'm inclined to do so, I can call their technical team at £1 a minute and tell them, but if I can't be bothered, it will go no further.

Off to think of the next steps.

[Matt_E_Mulsion]

Dapster said:

Off to think of the next steps.

Chalk it up to experience. I don't see what you expected Ford to do seeing as you took it to an independent garage to be repaired.

[Dapster]

Matt_E_Mulsion said:

Dapster said:

Off to think of the next steps.

Chalk it up to experience. I don't see what you expected Ford to do seeing as you took it to an independent garage to be repaired.

I'm inclined to agree with you...

[Novexx]

Dapster said:

despite the fact that the failure of the component was within any reasonable expectation of useful life. They also have no interest in pursuing a possibility of a manufacturing fault in the brake pipe.

Sorry to hear you had no luck.

While anything is possible I still doubt very much that the hoses have failed prematurely form manufacturing defect - & single hose failing in this manner is unlikely, but two on the same axle, on the same vehicle just doesn't seem feasible.

Regards manufacturing defect, if there was an issue with the hoses, their is a fair chance that they would already be aware of this - huge number of dealers working on a huge pool of vehicles feeding info back through warranty, technical & concern channels.

Another possibility for the failure - did someone in the vehicles previous life put something other than brake fluid into the reservoir that was later flushed & replaced. I'm thinking someone could have arsed up on the 2Y / 24K fluid change - although if you purchased the vehicle before it was 2 Y/O that wouldn't be the case.

[ronnie012]

Appreciate this post was a while ago - however i have just had EXACTLY the same issue with my 66plate S-Max Vignale. The pedal went to the floor, got the car home and RAC confirmed front offside brake hose split. Local garage then looked at the car and confirmed both front nearside AND rear offside hoses were bulging and close to splitting.
Im lucky - this happened at a slow speed (albeit outside my daughters school) - i drive the M25 most days and could have been fatal.
i have taken my car from the local garage (no work done) and got it into a Ford dealer for assessment - sorry, but this post and my situation sound identical, both potentially very serious if happened at speed.
RAC and local garage said the same thing 'havent seen anything like this before'.....
Update to follow once assessed.

[David201111]

Yes I had same issue recently front near side brake pipe failed and no warning, the pipe had fractured and had it replaced - no leaks but needed a further full brake fluid change to bleed the brakes

[Gavin_C]

Interesting to see this post.

I have a '65 plate Smax and just booked it in for the airbag recall and got told there is also a recall note that went on in May '24 for inspection of brake hoses.

I hadn't had a letter so googled the issue and this post came up at the top of the search results.

[Dapster]

Gavin_C said:

Interesting to see this post.

I have a '65 plate Smax and just booked it in for the airbag recall and got told there is also a recall note that went on in May '24 for inspection of brake hoses.

I hadn't had a letter so googled the issue and this post came up at the top of the search results.

Hi OP here.

I too got the airbag recall notice too but nothing about the brake hose inspection....

Hope you get yours sorted and don't have the experience I had.

Otherwise it's been a fantastic car. I had a 24 plate Kuga hybrid as a loaner a few months ago and was well impressed with that too - I just cant face spending 50 grand on an electric Enyak or ID4 or something come replacement time. The ICE Smax is such a good car.