Your engine stops while you are travelling at 35 mph, and the brake pedal immediately goes very hard with the steering suddenly heavy. What should you do?

Why B is correct

A stalled engine removes power assistance rather than stopping the car. The brakes still function, they simply demand far more pedal force than the driver is used to, and the steering still works even though it fights back. The instinct to pump is misplaced: pumping was developed for systems without assistance, whereas with modern brakes the correct input is steady, hard pressure. Keep the key where it cannot lock the column and do not fight the wheel — hold your line, let the car slow, and aim for the shoulder or a side street rather than stopping in a travel lane. Hazard lights once you are clear.

Why the other options are wrong

A. Pump the brakes rapidly, because the brake system has failed

Pumping addresses a fault the car does not have. The brakes have not failed; only the vacuum assistance has. Firm continuous pressure is the input the system wants from you at that moment.

C. Shift to neutral and coast to wherever the car comes to rest

Coasting without steering toward a chosen resting place hands control of where you stop to chance. Traffic behind deserves a driver who decides, not a rolling obstacle.

D. Switch the ignition off and engage the parking brake at once

Cutting the ignition risks locking the steering column at exactly the moment steering is the one function keeping you out of the ditch. It adds a hazard without removing one.

On the road

A driver stalls in city traffic, finds the pedal rock-hard, plants both feet on it and holds the wheel toward the kerb. Forty metres later the car is stopped on the edge. The effort was higher; the outcome was ordinary.

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