Handbrake 'problem' mentioned in Which? magazine

[Duncan]

Problems of handbrakes releasing while parked have been mentioned by a number of members. In the latest Which? magazine that I subscribe to there was a page on it - online (summarised) version attached (there were several more people featured who had suffered this and cars written off/damaged and one bloke dragged down the street!!!)

Might be worth anyone who's had this problem contacting Which? just to give them more numbers. Contact details here - the fact that you aren't a member shouldn't stop them from taking the info from you.

D

[Green Growler]

There really shouldn't be "a correct way to put on a handbrake" !!!
You pull it up, the car stays where you left it, simple as !!!
I know what they are referring to though, you are supposed to lift the centre arm rest and yank the damn thing (the handbrake) all the way up !!!
And how many of us do that ! ?
Thank christ I got an auto, lol.

[SunnyDlite]

i get a creakin noise from my handbrake when im sumtimes on an incline/decline, took it to garage n they sed its ok :/

i just park in gear now

[R-man]

I had this when I had the temporary Signum. Parked at Blockbsters, thought there was a lot of tooting and bibbing when I was in there, get out to find the car in the main road having moved backwards down a slight incline. Always left it in gear after that, well i do with all cars now after that, where as I never used to.

[Duncan]

I've only had this happen to me once, and I still don't know whether it was down to me not pulling the lever up that last little notch.

I parked up on a slight incline inside the grounds of the school where Mrs Duncan worked at the time and went inside - car was sat there showing no signs of moving. Short while later I heard my car alarm going off (I was obviously close by! lol) and I went outside to see my car had rolled backwards down the incline with an eight foot brick wall at the bottom!!! Fortunately the incline levelled out to a flat area and there was obviously enough friction on the brakes to stop it before it hit the wall! It was ****** close though!!!

When I got back in the car the lever was still most of the way up, just a click or so from where it would have held the car fully which is not what the people in the Which? article were reporting - they were reporting the lever actually dropping right down.

It's never done anything like it since. I'm convinced it was just my error in not pulling the lever that last little bit and I've never had to pull the lever excessively to make sure it holds the car. Although since reading the number of other reports on the forum, I've made a point of parking in gear when I'm on any incline nowadays!!

[SunnyDlite]

the amount of force u sometimes have 2 put in to pullin it up makes u feel like somert will break, whether its the cable the arm rest of the handbrake lever comin off in ur hand lol

[Duncan]

That's one thing I've never had, it's always given me full hold without having to pull the lever half off! lol It never pulls up so far that the arm-rest gets in the way, although mine is always set back in the furthest position. It was just that one occasion where I think I simply didn't pull it that last little bit, as opposed to pulling it as far as I could and it then releasing.

[JuzzyD]

Its not just the C's that have the problem, all the B's I've had or driven had the same issue.

I always leave my cars in gear after a particular incident.

A company B I once had "broke" free on a forecourt of a filling station near Warwick (which was located on the inside of a bend) and rolled off the forecourt , across the road and came to a stop against the curb opposite... fortunately nothing was going past or came down the road when I ran over to retrieve the pesky thing!

[Caterman]

Strange as there is a recall on the Saab 9-3 for this very thing. Mine has been in to be done! Most of the mechanicals are the same so why no recall for the vec/sigs???????????

[BlueRob]

"the correct way to use a hand brake"......give us a brake......that is non sense IMO