What occurs when you press the brake pedal in a vehicle with disc brakes?
- The pads are pullled away from the rotor's surface
- The pads squeeze against both sides of the rotor's surface ✓
- The rotor spins faster to increase friction
- The rotor moves outwards to meet the pads
Answer: B. The pads squeeze against both sides of the rotor's surface
When you press the brake pedal, the brake pads squeeze against both sides of the rotor's surface.
Why this is the answer
The handbook describes disc brakes as using a rotor and a caliper that holds brake pads. It says that when you press the brake pedal, the pads move toward each other and clamp the rotor from both sides. That is the action the passage gives for applying a disc brake at the wheel. The other choices describe the pads separating, the rotor speeding up, or the rotor shifting outward, none of which the passage gives as the disc-brake action.
Why the other answers are wrong
- A. The pads are pullled away from the rotor's surface — Pads being pulled away from the rotor is the opposite of braking; the passage describes them closing onto the rotor.
- C. The rotor spins faster to increase friction — The rotor does not spin faster to make braking happen; the passage says the pads clamp the rotor when you press the pedal.
- D. The rotor moves outwards to meet the pads — The rotor does not move outward to meet the pads; the caliper's pads press against the rotor.
Remember it
Think of the caliper as a clamp: pedal pressure closes the pads on both faces of the disc.