Road Test editor Scott Mortara headed down the quarter mile in the bright-yellow Boss 302 Mustang, steadying his speed for Motor Trend's standard brake test, just as he's done a thousand times before. Back in the day, before anti-lock brakes and stability control systems and decent tires, you never knew quite which direction the car might be facing when you finished a brake test. These days, though, it's fairly simple: At about 70 mph, you grenade the brake pedal and hang on. The electronic nannies keep the cars nice and straight, and our sophisticated on-board data-logging equipment automatically captures the distance it takes to decelerate from 60 mph to a standstill.So when Scott punched the Mustang's brake pedal and it went straight to the floor, it got his attention. He quickly ran the six-speed manual back through the gears, slowing the car enough to make it through the gap in the wall at the end of the track.

Total brake failure during regular performance testing is a very rare occurrence. I've had plenty of cars get squishy pedals and smelly pads after hot laps around a road course. But in more than 25 years of testing, I've never known of such a complete -- and potentially catastrophic -- loss of braking.