Car moved while my foot was on the brake

[myzaa]

I own a 2001 4runner and my brakes are a few months old. Earlier while sitting at a stop light with my foot firmly on the brake, my car rolled forward a few feet causing me to rear end the person in front of me. Luckily there was no damage to either car, but it is still worrying. Does anyone know what could have caused this? Thanks for any help or insight.

 

[drdolittlerwc]

Did your foot go to the floor? How is the overall braking power? You may need to bleed them, cheap and easy first step.

 

[kolelt]

Check your brake fluid

 

[Benski]

Always be ready for that "what if" scenario. Pull the e-brake, shift to neutral or park, or turn the key off. Now to fix the issue, trace the system. I had to replace my master and slave cylinders due to brake issues.

 

[blueblur1984]

I almost had a numb nuts move when I was changing my brake pads. I pulled the cap off the reservoir so I could compress the piston, but forgot to put the cap back on (ie no brakes).

Check all of the air tubes going to the brake booster (the round thing on the fire wall driver side), make sure you don't have a fluid leak, no air in the brake lines, etc. Good luck and try to keep off of busy roads until you've got it sorted out.