Happened to us few decade ago.
A 1988 rv motorhome, with a huge and heavy V8 that wasn't powerful at all. No cruise control, well the class. well maintained tho, but not new.
We leave Montreal to the rocky mountain , alberta. Climbed the a section of the mountain, then it was a hell of a ride down hill, always on the brakes. Then we did few km to get to USA border, annnddd we lost the brakes. We use the sidewalk to stop the motor home, hand (foot) brake wasnt strong enough to stop the vehicle fully packed, 5 people.
We were riding around 55 km/h on a flat road. So not a big deal, we only scratched the tire sidewall.
Me and my brother puked hard outside because of the ''what would have happened 25 minutes earlier in the mountain '' ????. We were speechless for about 20 minutes, stressed up like crazy. yes we had kids in the motorhome.
(in before you ask ''why the hell did you go there? . Well 70% of the circulation was RVs and bus, so the road was ''adapted'' for those bus)
No bakes fluid, we found a small leak. We cut the line, put a screw in the line, get some fluid and get the vehicle to the nearest garage, they changed all the lines.
We get back on our journey in USA, then go home montreal. ON MY STREET it loose the brake once again ! around 30km/h. No leak, probably the brake booster or something, pedal was very hard and it barely stops the car.
It has around 110 000km, we sold it as-is for 400$ at the srapyard , even if we aren't superstitious, we felt way better to scrap it than reuse it.
that thing could cost my family and my life, since I can't see how we could stop this thing when we had 100ft ditch all around us.
the thing we have learned, even a well maintained vehicle can be a bitch
Identical to this one :
sorry for this incident posted here, rip.