Got a lift home from the airport in a taxi yesterday and everytime he touched the brakes, the car shuddered. I’ve had screeching brakes where the pads were worn down to the rivets, but I never experienced shuddering.

What would have caused this, and how likely was catastrophic brake failure at highway speeds? (fortunately traffic was heavy so he was never going very fast)

Not my car, I’ll never see the guy again, but I don’t like things I don’t know the answer to, and this piqued my curiosity.

Thank you for your answers to my mystery.