I had failure of the brakes ( or at least it felt that way ) on my way to work, on a road I had driven 1000 times. The car had been driven for 30 minutes, very gently and was travelling at 50 mph when the brake pedal went rock solid and there was no noticeable deceleration. The car rolled for 100 metres until it crashed. I had a lot of external investigation done because Ferrari refused to accept that it could ever happen ( yet it did ) and obviously blamed driver error. ( I had driven for 30 years without an incident ) The conclusion was that the brake booster valve failed. It appears to happen more than anyone would like to admit.
Mine was a late 2012 Spider. I had failure of the brakes ( or at least it felt that way ) on my way to work, on a road I had driven 1000 times. The car had been driven for 30 minutes, very gently and was travelling at 50 mph when the brake pedal went rock solid and there was no noticeable deceleration. The car rolled for 100 metres until it crashed. I had a lot of external investigation done because Ferrari refused to accept that it could ever happen ( yet it did ) and obviously blamed driver error. ( I had driven for 30 years without an incident ) The conclusion was that the brake booster valve failed. It appears to happen more than anyone would like to admit.
There is a Ferrari Service Bulletin about the failure of the Brake Booster on 458’s ??? Is that True ?
I had failure of the brakes ( or at least it felt that way ) on my way to work, on a road I had driven 1000 times. The car had been driven for 30 minutes, very gently and was travelling at 50 mph when the brake pedal went rock solid and there was no noticeable deceleration. The car rolled for 100 metres until it crashed. I had a lot of external investigation done because Ferrari refused to accept that it could ever happen ( yet it did ) and obviously blamed driver error. ( I had driven for 30 years without an incident ) The conclusion was that the brake booster valve failed. It appears to happen more than anyone would like to admit.
Something tragic happened when the booster failed on my 458. Ferrari came in force ( engineers and. Lawyers ) and did all they could to place the blame on me even though all the evidence pointed to a failure. They said it could never happen, and yet it did. With a disastrous ending. I had failure of the brakes ( or at least it felt that way ) on my way to work, on a road I had driven 1000 times. The car had been driven for 30 minutes, very gently and was travelling at 50 mph when the brake pedal went rock solid and there was no noticeable deceleration. The car rolled for 100 metres until it crashed. I had a lot of external investigation done because Ferrari refused to accept that it could ever happen ( yet it did ) and obviously blamed driver error. ( I had driven for 30 years without an incident ) The conclusion was that the brake booster valve failed. It appears to happen more than anyone would like to admit.
Unfortunately.....Someone lost their life in my accident when the Booster failed on the road. A life was lost and many lives were ruined by Ferrari and their 458.
It is possible mine was in Race...Although I cannot remember now and thought it was in Sport at the time.
Tony......I would like to discuss with you any issues with 458 Brake/Booster failure. Mine ruined the lives of many and I would like to help others and to seek justice for all involved.
Could switching to "CST off" while the brakes go hard, free them up? Have these brake booster issues ever happened while the car had CST or CT off?
458 Brakes A millionaire supercar dealer and TV star has been banned from the roads after crashing his £180,000 convertible Ferrari into a Porsche while racing. Carl Hartley, 32, smashed his grey Ferrari 458 Italia into a Porsche 718 Cayman GTS worth £80,000, owned by Henry James Hibbs, on a roundabout in Sheffield, South Yorkshire. The Ferrari bore the number plate C4RLS - a plate Hartley has used on a number of his own cars, including a £1m Bugatti Veyron. Hartley, of Swadlincote, Derbyshire, later identified himself as the driver of the Ferrari, but told police the brakes on his car had failed, which caused the crash - though police found no evidence of this The father-of-one starred in Channel 4's First Cut - Supercars: the Million Pound Motors. He featured alongside his self-made multimillionaire dad, who heads the Derbyshire-based Tom Hartley luxury and performance car dealer. Both Hartley and Hibbs initially fled the scene of the smash, which happened just before 8pm on May 20, 2018. The crash left the Porsche without a rear wheel and its bumper in pieces on the road. 9 months sentence in jail for the Ferrari driver racing at the time. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Oh ya, I’ve seen that show . This break failure issue happen to me when I totaled my 430. I had a 2009 F430, which came standard with CCB. One early morning I was coming around a curve in front of my house. It’s a very quiet secluded road with hardly any traffic, good visibility, and smooth like butter. I always drive in RACE MODE, but for some reason I was in sport mode that day. Anyways the car slid, I tried to catch it but it caught facing the ditch beside the road. I tired to break and no breaking at all, no sensation of the car slowing down. I just assumed the CCB were cold and they didn’t catch. Car ended up in the ditch and totaled. I chalked it up to cold tired and CCB, plus the car being in sport mode didn’t give me time to catch the slide myself. But the breaks were nonexistent. I always wondered if it was truly cold CCB?? Sent from my iPhone using FerrariChat
My previous 458 spider seemed to have an issue with a lack of bite on the breaks and a number of times I felt I have been luck to stop but, eventually after really standing on them they did work just not very well, my new one seems to work as they should. I'm not sure if this is the same issue as I did have some breaks and this seems to be about non existent breaks. I hope this does not turn into a wide spread issue as it is catastrophic for all those involved and of course so unsafe [emoji1694]
Almost all cases of brake failure I’ve read involve driving the car in Sport mode. Can it really be that there’s something about that specific manettino position and set up that somehow enables the failure? Kind regards, Nuno.
I suppose its possible there is a gremlin in the software in sport, I'll remember only to drive in wet or race from now on, no way is this kind of failure worth the risk of driving in sport
Had this happen to me last weekend while driving Angeles Crest Hwy. I had driven spiritedly all the way up to Newcomb's Ranch no issues, on my way down the mountain my brake pedal was short and hard as a rock with little stopping power. Stopped the car turned it off waited 5 min drove the car and no change all the way down the mountain. Had to do a two foot leg press to get the car to brake. I have not driven the car since and thought I need to bleed the brakes as I had just done a 2000 mile road trip through the Pacific Northwest and one track session (about 9 hard laps) I will drive the car tomorrow before I bleed the brakes to see if it is still stiff then change the fluid and test drive it and follow up in this thread. 2013 458 Spider stock size wheels/tires headers Fabspeed / iPE exhaust + 200 cell cats + tune(open flash) Driven in Race mode (did not know there was a sport mode ; ) Image Unavailable, Please Login
Actually if the car continues to exhibit this problem take it to a pro car shop and have them take a look to see what is going on. A reproducible case is golden for analysis! Too many times this is transitory... SV
I agree, I have talked to my shop that I use and the first thing they would try is always the simplest and least expensive to the customer fluid flush and bleed so I can do that myself. If nothing changes they will do the abs with the computer and keep going through the steps to see what is the failing part or parts. Like other comments I think the dealer ends up at 12k to "fix" the issue with new booster and valves.
2000 mile Pacific Northwest road trip!!!!! Man I’ve been wanting to do a road trip, where did you go? Sorry to get off topic and yes, please keep us in the loop on the break issue.. Sent from my iPhone using FerrariChat
“Brakes” and “braking”, not “breaks” or “breaking.” Cars already break enough without adding lost braking to the problem! It does sound like a brake booster issue or check valve that fails to maintain vacuum. Why it would be intermittent or not occur in Race mode is a mystery, though. Sent from my iPad using FerrariChat
SV[/QUOTE] I went on the "Adventure drives" AD07 Seattle, Portland, Bend, Spokane, Whitefish, Big Sky, Jackson Hole. Oh and somewhere in Mexico Image Unavailable, Please Login
oh **** , my bad ... i type off the phone (fast) and sometimes don't have my glasses on, or sometimes just make typing errors (lol)... will make the correction and thanks for pointing it out .
I went on the "Adventure drives" AD07 Seattle, Portland, Bend, Spokane, Whitefish, Big Sky, Jackson Hole. Oh and somewhere in Mexico View attachment 2984873 [/QUOTE] Amazing!! I've heard about the "Adventure drives", sounds like a lot of fun!! I can't wait for next year to get back to events and drives. BTW 173 mph is impressive!!