Where is the heat produced by friction between brake shoes or pads and brake drums or rotors absorbed and dissipated?
- The brakes and their components ✓
- The vehicle's exhaust system
- The vehicle's body
- The engine's coolant system
Answer: A. The brakes and their components
The heat is absorbed and dissipated by the brakes and their components.
Why this is the answer
The handbook says that when brake shoes or pads press on the drums or rotors, the friction creates heat. That heat is taken up and released by the brake assembly itself. The passage also warns that too much heat can lead to brake fade, brake failure or even a tire fire, and it advises stopping to let overheated brakes cool. So the parts that create the friction heat are also the parts that handle it.
Why the other answers are wrong
- B. The vehicle's exhaust system — The passage names the brakes and their components as the place where friction heat is absorbed and dissipated, and says nothing about the exhaust system handling that heat.
- C. The vehicle's body — The vehicle body is not described as absorbing or dissipating the heat made by brake friction; the passage assigns that job to the brakes and their components.
- D. The engine's coolant system — The engine's coolant system is not mentioned in the passage as the place where brake friction heat is absorbed and dissipated.
Remember it
Remember it as self-contained: the parts that make the friction heat are the same parts that have to shed it.