Leave your car parked in gear

I have read several threads recently about cars rolling away with the handbrake apparently on (uk.legal). This is caused by the brake disc cooling and releasing the brakes. I was a bit sceptical about this, but I have just witnessed it !! While I watched, a year old avensis just rolled away and into the back of a mondeo. The way it moved away on the slight slope gave the impression that the brake had been suddenly and completely released, but the handle was still up. The car had been parked for about half an hour or so.

So, the moral of the story is always leave your car in gear as well as apply the handbrake while the footbrake is still applied (allows more pressure on the pads, according to manufacturer advice and logic)

mrcheerful

Reply to
mrcheerful
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Or have a car with drum rear brakes. As the drum cools, it contracts, and grips the shoes better. Built in safety. Some years ago I used to park an old sherpa on a slope at a scrapyard I used to go to. When I parked, the geezer used to put a big lump of metal under a back wheel before I could get out. When I was about to leave, I would remove it, but the vehicle wouldn't roll. And this was only after 10mins or so.

Steve

Reply to
shazzbat

Actually it's caused by bad design. Has anyone on uk.legal mentioned suing the company? Expansion and contraction of metals has been known to engineers for at least a century, and to allow this to happen is unacceptable. If someone were to be killed by this, corporate manslaughter would be mentioned, no?

Steve

Reply to
shazzbat

I had a new Xantia a while back (N reg) and ISTR that Citroen had only fixed that problem on Xantias a few months previous to that.

It made it into the news then. You'd think people would learn.

It's not Citroen again is it?

Reply to
Simon Barr

Simon Barr ( snipped-for-privacy@privacy.net) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

The Xant recall was utterly silly.

All they did was to put a different quadrant into the thing that removed the first few notches.

Citroen have been using handbrakes directly onto front disks since 1955. No hydraulically suspended Cit has a rear-wheel handbrake, due to it "locking" if parked in gear as it sinks, due to the wheelbase lengthening as it goes down.

Reply to
Adrian

Caused by not applying it fully, or the brake needing servicing. There is so much 'spring' in a handbrake cable that it will easily take up any contraction due to the discs cooling. Otherwise, no disc handbrake would ever have been reliable.

Basically, the vast number of modern handbrakes are poorly engineered since they're not now regarded as an emergency brake in event of the hydraulics etc failing. However, a half decent handbrake will still act as an emergency brake by nature.

I have a BMW with their separate drum brake system for a parking brake, and that's near useless too. But being an auto, it doesn't much matter.

Reply to
Dave Plowman

if you buy a new mondeo then it wouldnt suprise me. !

Reply to
JK

I understand there is a bit in the Mondeo handbook about pressing the brake pedal first , then apply the handbrake???

mrcheerful

Reply to
mrcheerful

they had a recall all 2002 models were done about last august

Reply to
dojj

A good point. The best handbrake I've ever experienced is on my current 1970 Triumph 2.5pi - it will actually stop the car if used sensibly, and will easily lock the rear wheels even while driving. In the words of the MoT tester "Jeez, this has got a sh*thot handbrake!"

People don't use handbrake anymore during driving, even when at rest for minutes in a traffic light queue. I'd always assumed it was wise to keep these things in use to save seizing up. How many golf and XJS owners (just two that spring to mind) out there have had to have serious work done to their underused handbrake mechanisms just to get throught the MoT?

Reply to
DocDelete

I've got this problem with my Cavalier, it's got discs all round but drums for the handbrake (similar to Dave's BMW?). The problem is that the shoes see so little wear that the self-adjust mechanism doesn't need to do anything; it has now seized and the handbrake is gradually getting softer...

P
Reply to
PM

Self adjust mechanism? You sure? All of my Carltons (latest was an L reg) had manually adjustable handbrake shoes. A bit fiddly, but actually not too difficult to do provide you don't treat the Haynes manual as gospel. It tells you to push the side of the adjuster (all you can see of it through a hole in the disc) upwards to tighten (IIRC), but doesn't mention that it's the opposite for the other side. It's obvious when you think about it, as they're threaded the same way and winding the same way to tighten, so it'll be different for different sides of the car.

Peter

Reply to
AstraVanMan

You're right about the Beemer handbrakes being poor (although no worse than most other cars!). A few years back, when I had an old E23 series 728i, the brakes failed and I had to use the handbrake to stop. Even on the level, the car just slowly (and I mean *slowly*) glided to a stop. On a hill, I would have had no chance. Made the remainder of the journey to the scrapyard interesting anyway! Lol.

Regards, Jim.

Reply to
Jim Walsh

Well, the BMW isn't self adjusting. The adjuster is accessible through a wheel stud hole, and is at the bottom slightly to the front of the car. It's an edge on 'cog' which you lever with a suitable screwdriver to adjust. On mine, one was locked solid on minimum - and obviously had been since the car was built, despite my many complaints about the handbrake being useless. I had to take it off and free it in the vice. It wasn't corroded, just jammed.

If you're checking the whole lot properly, slacken the handbrake cables first - there's a good chance some wally has attempted to make the brake work by tightening this - it's easier to get at than the drum adjusters. Check also that both pivots for the shoes are free to float - this is needed for the self servo action. Adjust the shoes till they *just* rub, and then each cable in turn so it starts working on 2 clicks. Then run the car for a short distance with the handbrake on lightly to bed in the shoes.

Reply to
Dave Plowman

add to that little lot almost ALL the german cars that use the same handbrake mechanism/caliper that the golf uses (namely audi) and nearly all the granada's with an auto box

Reply to
dojj

Doh! Of course it's manually adjustable - I've tried and failed to adjust it because it has seized. My memory ain't what it used to be (AFAICR!)

Pete

Reply to
PM

Well if it's too slack you could have a go at removing the rear discs, then access should be better to get something onto the adjuster that you can whack with a hammer!

Peter

Reply to
AstraVanMan

If you're going as far as taking off the disc, you might as well remove the adjuster and free/lubricate it properly. It's dead easy.

Reply to
Dave Plowman

Yeah, I sort of meant that, just didn't go so far as writing it!

Peter

Reply to
AstraVanMan

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