Subaru Legacy: Braking

Subaru Legacy: Braking

• Braking tips
• Brake system
• Disc brake pad wear warning indicators

Braking tips

WARNING

Never rest your foot on the brake pedal while driving. This can cause dangerous overheating of the brakes and needless wear on the brake pads and linings.

When the brakes get wet

When driving in rain or after washing the vehicle, the brakes may get wet. As a result, brake stopping distance will be longer. To dry the brakes, drive the vehicle at a safe speed while lightly depressing the brake pedal to heat up the brakes.

Use of engine braking

Remember to make use of engine braking in addition to foot braking. When descending a grade, if only the foot brake is used, the brakes may start working improperly because of brake fluid overheating, caused by overheated brake pads. To help prevent this, shift into a lower gear to get stronger engine braking.

Braking when a tire is punctured

Do not depress the brake pedal suddenly when a tire is punctured. This could cause a loss of control of the vehicle. Keep driving straight ahead while gradually reducing speed. Then slowly pull off the road to a safe place.

Brake system

Two separate circuits

Your vehicle has a dual circuit brake system. Each circuit works diagonally across the vehicle. If one circuit of the brake system should fail, the other half of the system still works. If one circuit fails, the brake pedal will go down much closer to the floor than usual and you will need to press it down much harder. And a much longer distance will be needed to stop the vehicle.

Brake booster

The brake booster uses engine manifold vacuum to assist braking force. Do not turn off the engine while driving because that will turn off the brake booster, resulting in poor braking power.

The brakes will continue to work even when the brake booster completely stops functioning. If this happens, however, you will have to depress the pedal much harder than normal and the braking distance will increase.

Brake assist system

WARNING

Do not be overconfident about the brake assist. It is not a system that brings more braking ability to the vehicle beyond its braking capability. Always use the utmost care when driving regarding vehicle speed and safe distance.

CAUTION

When you need to brake suddenly, continue depressing the brake pedal strongly to bring the effect of the brake assist.

Brake assist is a driver assistance system. It assists the brake power when the driver cannot depress the brake pedal strongly and the brake power is insufficient. Brake assist generates the brake power according to the speed at which the driver depresses the brake pedal.

NOTE

When you depress the brake pedal strongly or suddenly, the following phenomena occur. However, even though these occur, they do not indicate any malfunctions, and the brake assist system is operating properly.

● You might feel that the brake pedal is applied by lighter force and generates a greater braking force.

● You might hear the sound of ABS operating from the engine compartment.

Disc brake pad wear warning indicators

The disc brake pad wear warning indicators on the disc brakes give a warning noise when the brake pads are worn.

If a squeaking or scraping noise is heard from the disc brakes while braking, immediately have your vehicle inspected by the nearest SUBARU dealer.

Power steeringABS (Anti-lock Brake System)