I was driving a little fast on a bend in an elevated road (passing an Audi) and as I was coming out of the bend, to my horror I saw that cars in both lanes were all stopped. I slammed on the brakes and for a split second, there wasn't enough stopping power and I knew I would rear-end the car in front of me. But then, I don't know what happened, but the brakes must've dug in hard because I ended up stopping practically 10 feet behind the car I thought I was gonna rear-end a moment earlier! During the hard-braking, I don't think the ABS even kicked in (despite me having the brake pedal slammed all the way down the entire time) since there wasn't the shuddering stop, but it was a smooth stop. Awesome!

Anyway, has anyone experienced the same thing with hard braking (initial low stopping power, then boom, major stopping power)? I'm not sure if this is normal or even why or how this happened.

BTW, I should've been more cautious with my speed, I know, but I just got a little enthusiastic with my new G. Lesson learned.. whew!

 

It's called Brake Assist.

The on-board computer senses an emergency situation by the speed and force you apply on the brake pedal, and adjusts braking power accordingly.

 

Since you were on a bend, VDC may have kicked in also and limited your braking to one or more wheels to stop you from skidding sideways or totally losing control....

Slow down on bends. -- you never know what's around the next corner....

Be safe
C.

 

Yeah brake assist, I didn't think it would be like that though, pretty neat.

 

Yeah, the brake on the G is one of the best. I have a 06 sedan and the stopping power is really amazing. The Mazda RX8 braking was even better though.

 

That's because an RX8 can't go very fast...

 

I think what you're describing is Brake Assist, or whatever they call it on the G35. On another car that has BA, the sensation as I stomped the brake in a classic "this is going to be bad..." fashion was akin to normal braking for the first inch, then the pedal just went straight to the floor as BA kicked in and slammed on the brakes for me.

It was eerie, but I've never seen a car stop so fast.

 

Very nice. Although I was a little perturbed at the initial lack of stopping power but the VDC explanation may explain it. I'm appreciating the features of this car more and more every day.

 

I think it was more BA than VDC, because that is what BA does. I am in love with this cars features also.

 

Oh yeah, that's what I meant. The BA saved me, but I think VDC might explain why initial stopping power seemed so weak to me (although I didn't think VDC was necessitated from the turn, but maybe there was a bad patch or gravel on the road) . In any case, I'm a big fan of BA now.

 

Do you have a sport or non-sport model?

 

You guys need to watch the tachometer when you do a hard brake. I believe much of the help you are receiving (especially since you describe a short delay) is from a downshift. The car will drop 2~3 gears if you really jam the brake pedal. Annoying at times, but it has saved me once or twice, too.

 

That is correct.

 

no.. because it weighs much less..

 

Can't remember where, but I saw an auto mag doing their top 10 list and the G was #1 in braking against all sorts of sports cars, etc.