Help Please

[martin 1965]

hi all, just joined.

 

i have a 60 plate 2l tdi company car, which due to my job i carry a lot of heavy equipment in the rear of the car.

 

today i parked in a car park with a steep slope.

 

when i returned to the car after completing my work , i found the car had moved backwards and hit a tree causing severe damage to the rear of the car,(it might have to be written off). the hand brake was still on, this has happened once before ,when i only had the car 1 week. (i thought i had'nt put the handbrake on,but i had).

 

has anyone else had experience of this ? as i may be in serious trouble at work if there is no fault found with the hand brake.

 

if anyone has any infomation / help i would be extremely grateful.

 

many thanks

 

martin1965

[sparky Paul]

Your car is a mk. III Galaxy, you might have more luck posting a query in the mk. III section... this section is for the earlier models which are completely different vehicle.

 

I presume the later Galaxy also has a hand brake which operates the rear disk brakes, this is an issue which is more common than many realise. If the hand brake is applied when the rear brakes are hot, the hand brake will tend to release slightly as the disks cool and contract. The manufacturers usually get around this problem by including a warning in the owner's manual to always ensure that the car is left in gear, or in 'park' on an auto, when parked.

[RADIOTWO]

hi all, just joined.

 

i have a 60 plate 2l tdi company car, which due to my job i carry a lot of heavy equipment in the rear of the car.

 

today i parked in a car park with a steep slope.

 

when i returned to the car after completing my work , i found the car had moved backwards and hit a tree causing severe damage to the rear of the car,(it might have to be written off). the hand brake was still on, this has happened once before ,when i only had the car 1 week. (i thought i had'nt put the handbrake on,but i had).

 

has anyone else had experience of this ? as i may be in serious trouble at work if there is no fault found with the hand brake.

 

if anyone has any infomation / help i would be extremely grateful.

 

many thanks

 

martin1965

 

Hi Martin

The problem with the type of brakes as on he galaxy is the way the handbrakes work ! when you pull up on the leaver it turns a cam in the rear brake assembly, and if you have been giving the brakes a hammering before applying parking brake, the disc's will be hot, and then it will cool off and the pad will slightly release, and then you get the problem you have.

 

The answer is to apply the hand brake VERY hard many more clicks than you think, but the best advice is ALWAYS leave the car in either 1st or reverse gear when parked up

 

Radiotwo

[chrispb123456]

Just to add always apply the footbrake hard when applying handbrake as this will assist maximum handbrake pressure.

[cyborg]

As above and I always turn steering a little to right so the kerb acts as natural barrier just in case..

[wez_tdi]

wow, thought i was going crazy, replied to the other topic with same title in the "Questions about the Galaxy" section this morning lol...