Ferrari’s recalling more than 23,500 cars because the brakes might not work

In terms of all-time puckering moments, discovering the brakes don’t work on your Ferrari has the potential to be quite a way up the list. And as some 23,500 Ferrari owners are in danger of finding that out for themselves, you won’t be surprised to learn that Ferrari’s initiated a recall to remedy the problem.

With 23,555 Ferraris affected, you’ll be equally unsurprised to find the recall isn’t limited to just one or two models, either. In fact, it affects the F430, 488 Pista, FF, Roma, 612, California, F12, Portofino, F8, GTC4... even the limited-run F60 America. And it gets worse: not even the LaFerrari is immune, apparently.

Which isn’t great news when you’re in one of the quickest cars known to man and you experience what the NHTSA drily describes as “a brake fluid leak that may lead to a partial or total loss of brake function”.

And the infuriating bit is that it’s all down to a single piece of plastic – the brake fluid reservoir cap. By design, they’re apparently supposed to vent... which does strike us as odd, considering that brake fluid is hygroscopic and any exposure to the air means it takes on water, boils quicker and becomes useless sooner. But hey, we’re not mechanical engineers and perhaps someone can explain that to us later.

In any case, the Ferrari caps (as in brake fluid caps, not branded money-spinners) don’t vent when they should, creating a vacuum inside the reservoir that can then somehow lead to a leak. And as little as we understand how a sealed system needs a vent or how a vacuum creates a leak, we do understand that the only thing worse than bad brake fluid is no brake fluid. And we understand that the result of either is... well, an all-time puckering moment.