Roll Away Car

[Guest CAT]

I'm brand new to this site so forgive if this has already been answered in the past.

 

I have a 2003 ghia 1.9 tdi that rolls away if parked on a hill after about 5 minutes.

 

the handbrake comes up as normal, ..... but after 25 years of driving cars i do not feel that i should have to yank the handbrake to maximum,park in gear, chock the wheels or park only on flat roads.

 

last week the galaxy rolled down a hill into a building damaging the bonnet,bumper and grill.

 

the ford dealer said "no never heard of that happening before mate!"

 

"LUCKY" (tv advert) not me.

 

paul :unsure:

[Guest fredt]

I'm sorry but you say it rolls away if parked on a hill after about 5 minutes! well this may not be the answer your looking for? but why not come back in 4 minutes and stop it before it happens? :unsure:

[italiastar]

I remember reading a story on this site about an Alhambra which nearly rolled into a lake for the same reason - basically because the brake disc had cooled down and thereby reduced in thickness resulting in the pads slipping.

 

I can't believe the comment about, we've never had this reported before (with the inference that it can't be a problem then!!! - I keep getting this said to me.

[seatkid]

Yes, twas me. Had I not seen it with my own eyes, I would question it. But the tyre tracks in the snow clearly show the tyres had rotated (not slid) of their own accord.

 

It happens because as the discs cool, they contract and the handbrake mechanism (unless it is under a lot of tension), slackens off and bingo off we go.

 

There have been several high profile cases of this happening in the past, I remember a Daily Mail story of a young asian woman suing Vauxhall after her car took off and damaged several others while at work and the insurance company blaming her.

 

This is indeed a serious problem, recently in Bradford ...

 

Mother of six crushed to death by runaway car

 

Sally Cope

A MOTHER of six died when a runaway car mounted the pavement and crushed her in a freak accident as her young daughter looked on.

 

The woman was mown down by a silver-grey Vauxhall Vectra, which had been parked nearby and which rolled several feet down the road and onto the pavement where she was walking.

The 53-year-old woman was with one of her twin daughters and was on her way to pick up the other twin and her 12-year-old son from school.

The driver of the Vectra had parked the car on the corner of Great Horton Road and Union Road in Bradford while he went to a nearby shop, leaving a toddler strapped in the back. The man was last night helping police with their inquiries.

A police spokeswoman said an 18-month-old child had been in the back seat of the car wearing a seat belt when the accident happened, but was uninjured.

Police are investigating why the driverless car started to move in the freak accident, which happened at 3pm on Wednesday.

Insp Angus Rushton, of Bradford North Police, said: "Early indications are that the car was stationary and the driver went to a nearby shop.

"For whatever reason the vehicle rolled forward some distance, we do not know how far, and onto the pavement and collided with a female pedestrian."

 

To be safe, on a hill, park in gear etc etc.

 

At the very least cars with disc handbrakes should have a warning sticker tell you to apply the handbrake firmly.

[Richmond]

a Daily Mail story of a young asian woman suing Vauxhall after her car took off and damaged several others while at work and the insurance company blaming her.

A nanometre or two off topic, but I wonder why the paper regarded the woman's ethnic origin as important? Because it was the Daily Mail, I suppose.

 

House prices plunge as immigrants' handbrakes fail up and down the country! 'It's political correctness gone mad' says [insert practically any politician's name here].

[Masked Marauder]

Thing is with the Vectra though is it has shoes for the handbrake so it may not be the disc coolong that is causing this issue with them.

[MrT]

Why don't people want to park in gear? I have heard people say so that the engine/transmission does not get damaged if the car is shunted whilst parked, but the tyres would slip on the road before any damage occured.

 

Also when I was taught to drive I was told when parking on hills to turn the wheels slightly so if the car did move the front wheels would roll against the kerb then stop.

 

Anyway I can only remove my ignition key when the gearbox is in Park.

[seatkid]

:rolleyes: Sorry, my fault. I can still visualize the pi**ed off expression on the girl's face in the photo they published (with car in background) and I shouldn't haven't mentioned ethnic origin (or sex) but rather she/he was about 5' 6" tall, rather attractive and I guess in her/his mid twenties. Any further description and I might set Fredt off again.... :blink:

 

This was about 5 years ago and I must admit my thoughts then were - the car was not to blame, <_< how wrong can I be :( . Incidentally, I now recall the photo was on a snow filled car park - reflecting my personal experience. Possibly she/he gunned it into work (hot discs), applied handbrake just a couple of notches and the cold winter temperatures did the trick.

 

As a disc based handbrake doesnt work on fluid pressure (which would take up any expansion/contraction automatically) but a tensioned cable, it would be interesting to find out if something like a series mounted spring is normally fitted which would act as a tension "accumulator" allowing a greater range of operation.

 

Thank goodness my Skoda has drums on the rear (which also keep the alloys nice and clean :) )

[seatkid]

Thing is with the Vectra though is it has shoes for the handbrake so it may not be the disc coolong that is causing this issue with them.

Are you sure? Drums are usually only fitted on base or low performance models.

[Andrew T]

The Vectra has a small drum within the hub of the disc, a completely crap idea. It was so prone to freezing on that we stopped it in the winter and just left the car in gear.

[Masked Marauder]

The Vectra has a small drum within the hub of the disc, a completely crap idea. It was so prone to freezing on that we stopped it in the winter and just left the car in gear.

Most Vauxhalls have this arrangement and I have never ever had a problem with any of mine freezing, even in the coldest weather. Perhaps water had got into your cable somehow?

[Ivor_E_Tower]

My parents' 1974 Volvo had discs all round with separate drums for the handbrake and in 30 years we never had a problem with the handbrake sticking or freezing.

 

Irrespective of what rear brakes you have, it is always sensible to leave the car in gear when you park. I was also taught to park on hills with the wheels pointing so that should the car move, it would roll into the kerb.

[Andrew T]

Most Vauxhalls have this arrangement and I have never ever had a problem with any of mine freezing, even in the coldest weather. Perhaps water had got into your cable somehow?

To be fair we lived up a long unmade lane with huge puddles on it, and the house was 700ft up on a hillside, so we could get frosts in june (eeee but its grim oop north lad <_< ). However I've not experienced this problem in cars I've had where the handbrake acts directly on the front brake pads (Subaru, Citroen) which would snap off as soon as you started driving. The Vectra would just drag its locked rear wheels. And If that had been the Vectras only problem I would have been a happy man. :rolleyes:

[Topbloke]

Some of the new renaults have an electric handbrake which measures the tension in the cables and winds the handbrake on further as the disc's cool off . what ever next ,they will be getting rid of the bloke with the red flag next !!!!!!! :rolleyes: