Brake and pedal failures — Massachusetts Permit Test

Brake and pedal failures on the Massachusetts permit test — 6 rules, each with the reason behind it and a question on it while it is fresh.

The rules

If antilock brakes fail, downshift to a lower gear and work your way down to the lowest gear if necessary.

The engine can slow the car when the brakes will not. It is the only braking left.

Downshift to a lower gear, and work your way down to the lowest gear, if necessary.

Massachusetts Driver's Manual, p.124

Apply the parking brake gently when the brakes fail, and hold the brake release in case the vehicle starts to skid.

Pulling it hard locks the rear wheels. Holding the release means you can let it off the instant the car slides.

Apply the parking brake gently. Hold the brake release in case your vehicle starts to skid.

Massachusetts Driver's Manual, p.124

If you cannot slow the vehicle, sound your horn and flash your lights to warn drivers and pedestrians around you.

You cannot stop, so the next best thing is that everybody else gets out of the way.

If you cannot slow your vehicle, sound your horn and flash your lights to warn drivers or pedestrians around you.

Massachusetts Driver's Manual, p.124

A vehicle without antilock brakes should have its brake pedal pumped several times rapidly to build up brake fluid pressure, but antilock brakes must never be pumped.

Pumping restores pressure in an ordinary system and switches off an antilock one. Knowing which you have matters before it happens.

If your vehicle does not have antilock brakes, you should pump the brake pedal several times rapidly to build up brake fluid pressure.

Massachusetts Driver's Manual, p.124

If your gas pedal sticks, put the car in neutral and press the brake pedal to slow down.

Neutral disconnects the engine from the wheels, which takes the power away whatever the pedal is doing.

Put your car in neutral and press the brake pedal to slow down.

Massachusetts Driver's Manual, p.124

You can find out what type of brakes you have by checking the indicator on your dashboard or your vehicle's user manual.

The middle of an emergency is the wrong time to find out. Both checks take a minute in a parked car.

You can determine what type of brakes you have by checking the indicator on your dashboard or checking your vehicle's user manual.

Massachusetts Driver's Manual, p.124

On the test

What is the first step when antilock brakes fail?

Downshift to a lower gear. The engine can slow the car when the brakes will not. It is the only braking left. Massachusetts Driver's Manual, p.124: “Downshift to a lower gear, and work your way down to the lowest gear, if necessary.”

How this works

Most practice tests hand you a bank of questions and leave the manual somewhere else. This one puts them together.

You read one law and the reason behind it, then answer a question on that law while it is still fresh. Get it right and you move on; get it wrong and you have found the gap while it is cheap to fix, not on the morning of the exam.

Learning one rule at a time, and proving it immediately, is what turns a manual you skimmed into something you actually know — and it makes studying feel like getting somewhere rather than like waiting to find out.

What it costs

  • One payment, once — not a subscription. Nothing renews and there is nothing to cancel, for an exam you sit one time.
  • Free to start: a 10-question test and the first section of cards. No sign-up and no account.
  • Paying opens the rest of the cards, unlimited full-length practice tests, and retests built from exactly the questions you got wrong.
  • Every level up to Prepared — 3 tests passed in a row.
  • Do the work, fail the real exam, and we refund you.

All Massachusetts permit topics

Where these come from

Every rule here is checked against Massachusetts Driver's Manual, published by the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles, and against the state code itself. Last checked 2026-09-16.