defective, faulty
front, rear
emergency (AmE), foot (usually footbrake), hand (usually handbrake), parking (AmE)
air, anti-lock, disc, drum, vacuum

apply, hit, jam on, put on, slam on, use
She slammed on the brakes to try to avoid the dog.

put your foot on, slam your foot on
keep your foot on
let off, release, take your foot off
He released the brake and sped off.

work
My brakes are not working properly.

fail
The car crashed after its brakes failed.

screech, squeal
be off, be on
Is the brake on?

failure
cable, fluid, lights, pads, pedal, pipes, shoes (esp. AmE)

act as a brake on sth, serve as a brake on sth (both figurative)
put a brake on sth, put the brakes on sth (figurative)
The need to earn some money put the brakes on my wilder ambitions.

a screech of brakes, a squeal of brakes
We heard the screech of brakes, followed by a loud crash.

hard, heavily (esp. BrE), sharply (esp. BrE), suddenly

brake to a halt
The train braked to a shuddering halt.

brake to avoid sth
She braked suddenly to avoid a cat.

Brake is used with these nouns as the subject:
train