My friend's bad luck / lesson / query

[Dauphin]

Hi everyone,

One of my friends had a car accident last week. She claims the brakes simply didn't work when she used them as normal to slow down and she slammed into the back of the car in front at speed.

I don't have any photos.

The total of her car's damage was $7K and there is of course damage to the back of the car she hit.

The bad news is that she was three days late on renewing her insurance. She just got busy and it slipped. Her insurance claim has been refused because of this.

The car has been re-assessed as a write-off and the extra bad thing is that it is still under finance. She owes $9K on it. She has to pay for the towing, storage and damage for the other car.

All up, something like $20K instead of $450 or so.

But her story brings me back to what she said, that her brakes failed. What do others think of this happening in a modern car? I think it was a Hyundai or Kia, only a year or two old. Do you think that the mechanics or the manfacturer could be approached about this?

I would appreciate some opinions.

Thanks!