I am driving along on the freeway doing 55-60 MPH when a large 18-wheeler decides to insert himself directly in front of me then suddenly brakes hard. I hit my brakes hard and what happened next really concerns me:

The entire rear end of the car left the ground! I was staring at the road for a brief moment then my rear end came down hard with a crash on the cement. At the same time the car torqued slightly but that might have been me grabbing the steering wheel unevenly.

Luckily, I didn’t hit the truck and nobody behind me hit me.

Has anybody experienced the rear end leaving the ground? I am not mechanical but I assume it has something to do with the front disc versus the rear drum brakes.

 

I had that happen after hitting a good size dip in the freeway- as the car rose up out of the dip (& lifted up on the springs) a good size blast of tail wind hit. The back of the car lifted & jumped a little to the left before settling down.
Wheeee!!!!

 

I've noticed the brake distribution is more towards the front than other cars I've driven. Also I have my ABS kicking in whenever I hit a bump while I'm braking...weird!

 

Oh man, that must have been horrible! Glad you're alright!

I imagine since the front of the car is a lot heavier with the engine and all, plus the braking made it easy for the rear end to lift up..

 

Thats soo sweet.

And they say the brakes suck on the fit....I tell them bs!!!!!
(Well at least the front dont...lol)

P.S. Glad your ok OP

 

Sounds like we need a "fix" from Honda for this tail wagging issue under heavy braking! Meantime, we probably benefit from a over sized CF tail wing. (j/k)

JDP, are you listening?

 

Sounds like the brake distribution is waay off.

 

Hello guys, I´m glad that you´re ok, a diference between the us model and the la (latin american) model is that the la model has the 4 wheels disc brake, mine has (Mexico), and one thing that like to me when I took the test drive was the brake system, because when I drove it that time I push the brakes up to the end and it stops instantly, then when I drove my own fit first time in hw I did not see a railroad track so I push the brake again up to the end and the fit stops and that time we were 4 persons on the car, and stops nice, no jumps, no skid, I´m happy with my fit´s bakes, the fit of yours are with rear drums, am I right?

again, sorry for my poor english

 

THAT IS SO INTENSE! I had that happen with my 8th gen civic. I was turning left and went over a bump (little fast, but never had problems before on this bump) then the back popped up and flung right self and landed. I say it was at least a 45 degree air turn.

I think yours happened because of some odd combination of things happening at one time.

Glad everything is okay though.

Try this out, find a straight away with no cars and attempt to do it again and see what happens.

 

Must be nice to have 4-wheel disc brakes. Asean countries and well as Europe have FiTs with 4-wheel disc brakes and yet, North America being the biggest auto market in the world (North America) have their FiTs equipped with rear drum brakes.

Now what in heaven's name are the people in Honda Canada & USA thinking when they spec'd our FiTs? Their own bottom line?

I would have gladly paid $500 more to have our FiT equipped with 4-wheel disc brakes!

 

4 wheel disc brakes vs discs and drums won't change the "rear lifting" described here.

I find it hard to believe that on a straight flat surface that aggressive braking would lift the rear off the ground. I think the limits of tire adhesion would prevent it.

 

well your fit has issues that mine does not, like the side air bags, the tweeters mine has only 4 speakers, in my country gps is not optinon, it comes only with the standar radio with out the usb conector, no cvt option, and a lot more, but instead mine has 4 wheel disc brakes, and a diffrent tail lights, I think that the differences are because the final price, you can pay more than us, but I don´t understand why honda don´t put rear disc on the us model.

 

Is there a chance to put rear disc brakes on the Fit instead of the drums?

 

that sounds like it should be a safety concern

 

I'm picturing that Hayabusa powered Smart Car video I saw on youtube slamming it's brakes and it's rear getting airborne.

I can't find the link though...

 

Well, think about it, if all the weight (upwards of 65%) is in the front of the car--and it is, how are rear disc brakes really going to improve braking other than not having the possibility of brake fade?

There is only so much braking that the rear wheels can do, I think that's why they went with the drums, plus the Fit is even more nose heavy with the safer (heavier) USDM front end. In turn, those additional safety standards raise the price of the car, hence the drum brakes.

 

Someone should go tearing around in it and shoot a video clip of this in action! Yeah!! *Tip - Try not to flip end-over-end though.... start off easy, ya know?

 

Something just sounds fishy about the OP.

It says: I'm sure that a Fit can easily stop much faster than an 18 wheeler (even empty) so how would the fit leave the ground in such a situation?? Just sounds wrong to me.

 

endo ftw! LOL

Seriously though, seems scary as hell. I'm glad you're OK.

 

Nothing fishy about it--he had to make an emergency stop so his brakes were floored, it makes sense.

One day I got on the highway leaving work during rush hour...down the road a chain accident was about to happen, because a wheel that literally shot off a chevy SUV and it hit a car forcefully enough to make it loose control (or maybe the driver lost control in shock) but it caused a huge mangled mess with several cars.

Anyway, the only reason I wasn't one of the several cars in that pile-up is because of my cat-like reflex skills --as this accident unfolded in front of me, I slammed the brakes and swerved left hardcore towards the inner barrier to slip by on the median and just barely cleared the whole mess, but in that driving manuveur I definitely felt some serious lightness in the back of the car as if it hopped around a bit because the car was really unstable for a few moments after I corrected the swerve reaching the median.