Brake pedal went to the floor 2 days after the shop 'fixed' my brakes — do I have any recourse?

Oh wow, the pedal-to-the-floor feeling is absolutely terrifying — I had a similar scare after a shop worked on my car and I can tell you my hands were shaking for hours afterward. You did the right thing keeping the receipts. Document absolutely everything while it's fresh.

Do NOT let the shop's insurance adjuster be the one who inspects the vehicle. They will find every possible reason to say it was pre-existing damage from the original crash. Get an independent mechanic to look at it and put their findings in writing before anyone else touches that car.

From where I used to sit, a situation like this is actually pretty complicated because there are potentially two liable parties — the original at-fault driver whose crash may have started the chain of events, AND the shop for the botched repair. Insurers will absolutely try to point fingers at each other and leave you in the middle. The fact that the shop refused to put anything in writing is a red flag they already know they're exposed.

The legal theory you'd likely be looking at against the shop is negligence — specifically that they had a duty to properly repair your brakes, breached that duty, and that breach put you in danger. The fact that you didn't crash doesn't necessarily kill the claim; depending on your state you may still have something. The refusal to provide a written explanation is worth noting in your own records — write down the date, who you spoke to, and exactly what they said. That kind of contemporaneous note can matter later.

Not legal advice, but this fact pattern — shop repairs a safety-critical system, system fails almost immediately, shop refuses to document their explanation — is exactly the kind of thing a PI attorney who handles auto cases would want to hear about. Most do free consults. The absence of physical injury doesn't automatically mean the absence of a claim; there are other damages to consider. I'd make some calls.

Please check in with yourself physically over the next few days. Adrenaline is wild and people often don't notice soft-tissue strain or tension headaches until 48-72 hours after a near-miss. If anything shows up, see a doctor and get it on record — don't just tough it out.

Three things right now: (1) Don't let the shop do any more work on that car, (2) get that independent inspection, (3) call a lawyer before you say another word to the shop or either insurance company. You're being way too reasonable about this — a brake failure at highway speed is not a "slow leak they didn't catch" situation, that's negligence plain and simple.

I don't want to be harsh because that sounds genuinely scary, but I do want to ask — did you get any documentation from the original crash repair specifying exactly what brake components they replaced or serviced? And do you know if the car had any pre-existing brake issues before the accident? Just asking because the shop will definitely raise those questions and it's better if you know the answers now.

You kept a cool enough head at 55 mph with no brakes to get the car safely onto a shoulder. That's genuinely impressive and it probably saved lives. And you documented everything immediately after. You're actually in a much stronger position than most people would be — use it.