I'm surprised by your comments on the Azera's braking performance. My folks have one and I end up chauffeuring them when I visit or when they visit so I've driven it many times. I find the normal braking performance and pedal forces to be quite nice actually. I've never had to emergency stop though so I haven't experienced braking conditions similar to your accident.
My folks owned a Subaru before the Azera... that one you had to push the pedal a long way - and get a fair bit of force - to get any response out of it. I thought it had a mechanical problem initially... until I drove other Subies and they were similar. When my folks bought the Azera (I was with them and ended up driving it home for them) I warned mom about the difference in the brakes - that it was much more sensitive than her Subie was. Just rolling backwards out the driveway she "hit" the brake pedal and nearly flipped my head backwards over the headrest. It took her a few miles to adapt to the much more sensitive Azera brakes.
I tend to prefer a firmer pedal - not as much travel - as so many cars have today. In fact, I don't care for the varying pedal feel of the Genesis! When slowly applying the brakes it takes a lot of travel to get any significant braking force; when quickly applying they build up more rapidly. I wish they'd stay at that "rapid" setting all the time. I've never had any issue with how fast my Genesis stops though... just the feel of the pedal.
A few things for you to consider/test on the Azera to make sure it's working properly:
1: of course any air in the brake lines will severely limit stopping power. Any idea when the system was last bled?
2: if the vacuum booster on the Azera leaks (on any car really) it'll take a LOT of pedal force to stop the vehicle. If the check valve on the booster leaks that can reduce the booster effectiveness. To check a booster do these simple tests: engine off, pump the brake pedal a few times. Each time it should get harder sooner (less travel) as you use up trapped vacuum in the booster. Once it's hard as a rock how far can you push it with light pressure? If it moves more than an inch, the "freeplay" of the brake pedal linkage is way too high or your auto-adjusting mechanism (rear/parking brakes) is locked up leading to excessive gap between the rotor and pads. If the freeplay isn't much, continue the tests: push the pedal down firmly and hold it while starting the engine. Once the engine begins to catch, the pedal should sink a LOT as the vacuum builds up in the booster again. Push the brakes a time or two while the engine idles. Then let the engine idle for a few seconds, foot off the brakes, and then shut the engine off - still foot off the brakes. Once the engine has stopped, apply the brakes slowly two times. The pedal should go down quite a ways BOTH times; after two applications it'll be harder to push it fully. Most cars are designed with boosters large enough to trap enough vacuum for 2 full brake cycles. Next, restart the engine for a few seconds, foot off the pedal again. Then shut the engine off and let the vehicle sit for several hours. Try applying the brakes again (engine still off) twice. If the pedal is stiffer now the booster has a slow leak, or the check valve is leaking. If your Azera can pass these tests, the vacuum braking system is working normally.
3: Does the Azera have "factory" brake pads or have they been replaced? Many
aftermarket ones, especially the "lifetime guarantee" ones sold by brake shops, are very hard. They grip poorly compared to good pads. And, by being so hard, they're abrasive and will wear out the brake rotors much faster (generating future repair business for that brake shop).
4: If the brakes ever got really hot (riding the brakes while going downhill, several high-speed stops in a row, parking brake didn't release fully or brakes were dragging for some other reason, etc.) the rotors or brake pads may be "glazed." Glazing causes the rotor or pad surfaces to get rock-hard and have little friction/grip. Glazed rotors can sometimes be repaired by a brake shop "turning" the rotors (basically using a metal lathe to cut a thin layer of damaged metal off the rotor); glazed pads should be replaced. Look at the rotors through the
wheel spokes... if you see any blue streaks in the rotors, they've definitely been overheated and will need to be replaced - usually blue-streaked rotors are too damaged for a simple turning.
5: Look at the rubber hoses going from the brake calipers (behind the
rims, you may have to remove the wheels one by one to see them) to the chassis. While staring at those hoses, have a helper mash the brake pedal. If you can see ANY hose trying to grow in diameter or bulge, that hose is SHOT and is about to burst. It must be replaced immediately. Any signs of wetness at the ends of the hoses?
6: If you really want to examine the braking system, jack the vehicle up. Remove each
wheel one by one. Look at the outside edge of the caliper assembly; most have a small oval-shaped cutout so you can see the edges of the brake pads. Look at the pads: you'll see a metal part (about 3 to 5 millimeters thick typically... I don't know the Azera parts off-hand) and the friction material which is anywhere from 2 millimeters thick (really worn brakes) to 7 millimeters (brand new pads). And you'll see the silver or rust colored edge of the rotor itself. Look at the friction material on the two pads: they should be the SAME THICKNESS. If one pad is considerably thinner than the other there is something WRONG with the caliper: it's binding on it's "sliding" bolts and/or the piston (that pushes on the inner pad) has a layer of rust on it and is jamming to the caliper body when you release the brakes. Remember how thick the friction material is on this
wheel... go to the other side of the car now and check the twin
wheel (i.e. compare front
wheel to front
wheel, back
wheel to back
wheel) and see how thick the friction material is on that side. If they differ much, the braking action is not consistent side-to-side on the vehicle - another problem. That usually means issues with the calipers again, or air in the brake lines. A really screwed-up ABS can also do that if the
wheel speed sensor for one
wheel is reading incorrectly. On cars with Electronic Stability Control (ESC) such a sensor makes the ESC system think the vehicle is constantly in a spin and it'll either light up the dash ESC warning light or will just continually try to "fix" the spin while you drive... leading to weird driving characteristics. Most cars wear out the front brake pads twice as often as the rear (weight transfer under braking to the front, and FWD cars tend to start nose-heavy anyway); has the Azera's maintenance history indicated many more front brake pad replacements than rear? (if you've owned it long enough to go through several sets of brakes that is...)
7: when parking the vehicle, do you use the parking brake or just rely on the auto transmission's "Park pawl" to hold the vehicle? On almost every car made in the last few decades, the parking brake shares parts with the regular foot ("service") brakes. That's a mechanical mechanism to combine hydraulic pressure activated brakes (service brake) with the cable parking/emergency brake. That mechanism self-adjusts to compensate for brake pad wear each time you use the parking brake. Folks that never use the parking brake will end up with excessive pad-to-rotor-gap as the rear brake pads wear down from normal brake use. This gap requires extra brake pedal push/travel; it "uses up" a lot of the available pedal travel before the rest of the braking system works. (front brakes don't have this "gap" issue because, without the parking brake mechanical bits, there is nothing that pulls the pads away from the rotors in the first place). Just about every car sold today uses a dual-chamber brake master cylinder (the thing your brake pedal connects to). The first chamber operates the rear brakes, pressurizing the brake fluid in those lines to actually apply the rear brakes. Once that pressure really starts building up - which means the pads are actually in contact with the rotor and have moved through any pad-to-rotor gap - that pressure in turn starts pushing on the front chamber of the master cylinder. THEN the front brakes begin to apply. This dual-chamber approach makes sure both the front and rear brakes engage - regardless of any "gaps" in the pad to rotors. Excessive gaps though mean too much of your available pedal travel is consumed just getting past the gaps.
mike c.
p.s. I don't mean to imply/say your perception of the Azera's braking performance is incorrect - I'm just providing info on potential mechanical problems that may explain poorly performing brakes. I've found several newer cars (1990-later) have lousy feeling brake pedals by design - lots of pedal travel needed to stop hard compared to my older vehicles. I much prefer a "firm" pedal myself... that's why I don't like the "feel" of the Genesis brake pedal though the brakes do seem to work well. I drove a brand-new Celica years ago (a rental); I could bottom-out that pedal without locking the wheels (no ABS on that car either) which I did NOT like at all! I hope the Azera is not like this - I'll have to test-drive my folks Azera (without them in the car!) to see if it is that bad.
