No Hydraulic Brakes !

Just bought a Bolt Premier with DCFC, Confidence II, and Infotainment pkgs yesterday.
I drove home from the dealership (30 Miles) using "L" mode and don't think I hit the
brake pedal a single time. Good thing! I was checking out the car today and found
no brake fluid in the reservoir over the master cylinder so back to the service dept
to get that fixed in the morning. First I thought due to an oversight, they didn't put
brake fluid in it at the factory. I checked the inside of the reservoir cap, and it was
wet with brake fluid. So, probably just a loose fitting on a brake line somewhere.
Since today is Sunday, got to wait until morning to hit the service department first thing.

This car is amazing that you can drive it and come to a complete stop without
hydraulic brakes, re-generating power back into the battery. I've driven several
different cars in my lifetime when the hydraulic brakes have failed, mostly from
bad, leaking wheel cylinders. With this car I have a lot of confidence there will
be no problem driving the 30 miles back to the dealership with no hydraulic
brakes.

Bad idea to drive it in that condition.

In an emergency stop situation, full regen does not come even close to the power of the hydraulic brakes. If a child runs out in front of you chasing a ball and you can't stop in time....

There are also many variables that will greatly reduce (or eliminate entirely) the amount of regen available.
Battery SOC, battery temp, etc.

If you've charged the car to 100%, you'll likely hit something in a few blocks as you will have near 0 regen available when you first start out.

DucRider said:

Bad idea to drive it in that condition.

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VERY bad idea.

jbrad4 said:

This car is amazing that you can drive it and come to a complete stop without
hydraulic brakes, re-generating power back into the battery. I've driven several
different cars in my lifetime when the hydraulic brakes have failed, mostly from
bad, leaking wheel cylinders. With this car I have a lot of confidence there will
be no problem driving the 30 miles back to the dealership with no hydraulic
brakes.

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My advice is to call Onstar in the morning and have the car towed to the dealer. Since you have posted here that you know the brakes don't work you are in danger of being liable for anything that happens even if it is not not your fault! Most likely you will not have any problems but why take the chance? I drive the same as you using L and the regen paddle but I would say that at least once a day I end up hitting the brake pedal pretty hard because of something I did not see coming.

I have to say I'm pretty impressed that you didn't notice the problem when parking or with pedal feel, or see a puddle of brake fluid under the car, or that the instrument cluster wasn't completely spazzing out. Do let us know how things go. I'd be pretty nervous to find out that these cars don't have sensors in the braking system.

Went to service at the dealership today and all is well. The reservoir is about 2 inches high. There is fluid in there but only shows between 1/8 to 1/4 inch of fluid. The service people tell me that is normal. Sounds/looks crazy to me, but they say that's the way its suppose to be. Nothing has leaked out or gone away.

Uh, so, let me see if I understand this post: you didn't try the brake pedal, but decided you didn't have any friction brakes based on the appearance of the master cylinder, and then you drove your car to the dealer and at no time during that trip (like in your driveway) did you test the brake pedal? That's some scary stuff right there! :shock:

Also, if the brake fluid had leaked out, wouldn't the brake failure warning light in the dash light up?

DucRider said:

Bad idea to drive it in that condition.

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I agree, but I have to admit that if I needed to do it I probably would. But I'd be very, very careful about it.

SeanNelson said:

DucRider said:

Bad idea to drive it in that condition.

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I agree, but I have to admit that if I needed to do it I probably would. But I'd be very, very careful about it.

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In case of brake failure on the road, regenerative braking could allow you to stop in a safe parking place from where you can get the car towed to a repair shop.

So if I'm reading these posts correctly, you had no idea whether there is anything wrong with the brakes, because you never tried them?

EldRick said:

So if I'm reading these posts correctly, you had no idea whether there is anything wrong with the brakes, because you never tried them?

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Yeah, this seems to be the story now. Why tell a story like this?