An accident at Bangor’s Independence Day parade that caused an antique fire truck to crash into a John Deere tractor during the Fourth of July parade has been blamed on low and contaminated brake fluid.
The 1930 McCann Pumper had low brake fluid in the master cylinder when the truck descended a hill. The angle caused the master to suck in air when the driver hit the pedal.
Firetruck riders told police that a mechanical failure caused the truck to go out of control in front of a large crowd of parade-watchers and slammed into the rear of the tractor.The fire truck eventually was able to stop with the the emergency hand brake.
This type of failure can occur on modern cars if the brake fluid is low. Just remember this the next time you before go down a hill or choose to ignore a brake problem or noise.