If your car breaks down on the side of the road, it will certainly be inconvenient and delay your trip, but it is unlikely to endanger your life. However, if your car breaks down while it’s still moving, the consequences could be entirely different, especially if you’re traveling at high speed on a motorway, which requires you to react correctly and decisively to ensure your car comes to a safe stop. safely without causing an accident. accident.

engine failure

Most modern cars now come with power steering and power braking, so if the engine fails, there’s a good chance these systems will be affected as well. Therefore, you will need to be prepared to use extra force to turn the steering wheel and apply extra force to the brake pedal to stop the car safely.

Most engines are now governed by an electronic control system that has an emergency mode if they detect a fault, and this could mean that your speed is suddenly limited to less than 30 mph, even if you are traveling at a much higher speed. If you suddenly experience a loss of power, switch your left hand indicator lights and use the gaps in traffic to pull over safely to the side of the road.

engine fire

If you detect an unusual smell of burning or gasoline, or see signs of fire, stop immediately and get all occupants out of the vehicle to a safe location as soon as possible. If the fire is inside the engine compartment, do not open that hood, as the sudden blast of air will cause the fire to ignite and burn even more. Stay away and call the fire department to deal with it.

engine overheating

The first signs of an overheated engine will be in the temperature rise gauge inside the cabin, which if not noticed can cause steam to come out from under the hood. As soon as you suspect the engine is overheating, pull over, turn on your hazard car bulbs and turn off the engine as soon as possible, otherwise the engine could be severely damaged.

Allow the engine to cool down sufficiently before investigating further, especially if you are going to remove the engine coolant filler cap and top off the fluid level. The reason for this is that the refrigeration system is a closed system and so while it is still hot it will release scalding steam.

Modern car engines are usually extremely reliable, however failures do occasionally occur, so it is important to know how to react safely and correctly if they do occur.