Breakdown

A Ride Breakdown occurs with most rides in RollerCoaster Tycoon, RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 and RollerCoaster Tycoon 3. Breakdowns have a number of causes and a number of effects depending on the ride type and other factors. Breakdowns generally increase in frequency as the ride ages and as the reliability of the ride decreases. Adjusting the inspection time for Mechanics can help delay this. Certain rides never break down, thus, never require inspection. A complete list of rides that never break down can be found here.

Safety Cut-out / Emergency Stop
This is the most common breakdown and affects most rides. The details of the breakdown are not explained, but it has a number of effects. If the ride consists of trains or cars that are powered by the track, such as a Monorail or Car Ride, those vehicles will stop moving. If the ride is a roller coaster that consists of a lift hill, trains being pulled up the lift will stop once a breakdown occurs. In all cases, trains waiting to exit the station will not be allowed to depart until the breakdown is addressed, even if they have exceeded their maximum wait time. This breakdown can result in a crash if a roller coaster has a part where a train is moving really fast, but then goes up a chain lift hill. It could get stuck on the hill while another train collides into it. The term "Safety Cut-out" is used in RollerCoaster Tycoon and RollerCoaster Tycoon 2, while the term "Emergency Stop" is used in RollerCoaster Tycoon 3.

Restraints / Doors Stuck Open / Closed
This breakdown occurs when the safety restraints on a ride either are stuck open after a train has loaded and is preparing to leave the station or if the restraints are stuck closed as a train arrives in the station. The only difference between the two is that when the restraints are stuck open, guests who have already been around the circuit of the ride on another roller coaster can exit. However, they are stuck until the ride is fixed if the restraints are stuck closed. For monorails, the breakdowns are "Doors Stuck Open" and "Doors Stuck Closed," respectively.

Station Brakes Failure / Brakes Failure
This type of breakdown only occurs in RollerCoaster Tycoon and RollerCoaster Tycoon 2.

This is often a severe breakdown, where the brakes on a ride, specifically the regular brakes on the track, as well as the brakes in the ride's station(s), fail to function. This breakdown can often result in a ride crash if a train enters a station at too high a speed and collides with another train waiting at the station, which is stuck there due to the brakes failing.

This type of breakdown can be negated by having only a single vehicle for the ride or by reducing the speed of the ride's vehicles before they enter the station, such as through a long hill or ascending helix. Rides that have a single vehicle will not crash as a result of the breakdown, as the vehicle will pass through the station without stopping. However, rides whose vehicles are not attached to the track, such as the bobsleigh, may still crash if a sharp, unbanked corner is placed right after the station as the vehicle would pass through the station without incident, but fly off the unbanked turn. Rides with two or more vehicles will not crash as a result of this breakdown if the vehicles collide at a combined speed of less than 30 mph/48 km/h.

When this breakdown occurs on Powered Launch rides, such as the Steel Roller Coaster's Shuttle Loop, the roller coaster will enter and pass through the station backwards, but the last car of the roller coaster will stop just before completely leaving the backend of the station before the roller coaster is launched forwards and out of the station again, as though a new ride was starting. This will repeat itself until the breakdown is fixed.

Mechanics fix this breakdown by hitting the brakes at the back end of the station five times with a hammer. The brakes will resume functioning immediately after the fifth hit.

In RCT2, this breakdown is known as "Brakes Failure." Powered launch rides are now affected by this breakdown in the same manner as single-vehicle rides, as station brakes no longer stop vehicles that enter the station backwards. Block brakes are unaffected by this breakdown. In all other respects, it is the same as its RCT1 iteration.

Some roller coasters as well as log flumes and river rapids (?) are not affected by this. In terms of roller coasters, they'll still come into the station fast, but will just hit the car ahead and stop without crashing. A suspended roller coaster is one example of a roller coaster that doesn't crash into the train waiting at the station (if there is one) when station brakes failure occurs. In terms of the log flumes and river rapids, they're not going fast enough to cause damage and just flow through the station and repeat the course. If there are already vehicles stuck there due to the station brakes failure, they will just stop.

Vehicle Malfunction
This breakdown involves a problem with a ride vehicle. It has no specific effects, except on go-karts where a random vehicle will not be moving, and other karts in the same lane will get trapped behind it.

Mechanics fix this in RollerCoaster Tycoon 1 and 2 on roller coasters by adjusting a wrench on the first car of a train. They then scratch their head in frustration, kick the car, and once it moves, will jump for joy. This is worthwhile to watch for a laugh or two. They do this with breakdowns consisting of restrainst being stuck open or closed as well.

Control Failure
This breakdown affects the Merry-Go-Round, Double Decker Carousel, causing it to spin rapidly and the music to speed up. The ride may begin to shake after it has broken down for a long period, but other than that, the control failure is pretty harmless and will only cause the guests to think, "I want to get off of [merry-go-round name]." However, it can (and does) affect many more rides in RCT3 since almost every ride has a visible control panel.