Warning: HAND BRAKE DOES NOT WORK!!!!!!!!!

[simple1]

A wee word of caution: Parked my car today after a drive, on a fairly minor slope. Aplied the handbrake and went off to get a coffee. On my return, the car had wondered off down the slope and come to rest against a fence. Damage to the rear was enough to get annoyed about, a call to the Audi dealer revealed a few others have done the same thing. Audi's line is that the handbrake must be applied, it was and that the car should be left in gear Which now leaves a dilema, Why should a car need to be left in gear if it has a fully functioning handbrake????????
Have to take the car to bodyshop for estimate on Monday, but it needs, o/s rear light units, repair and paint to tailgate and bumper.

[Golich]

O dear sorry to hear that Simple. Although I have to say this is not the first time I've read about various Audi's suffering from this issue from a couple of years back. If memory serves me correctly the A3's were particularly prone to this.

The problem is believed to be from the entire braking system cooling down and thus contracting. i.e. fluid, disk, caliper pad etc.

I've experienced the brake baking off very slightly on my RS. Thankfully I was changing into my mountain biking gear behind the car at the time and noticed it starting to move!

[Jezzer]

I always leave mine in gear but have noticed that the handbrake on the first notch doesn't keep the car on the slope and you really have to force it up to get it to stay still

[simple1]

This was pulled up about four clicks, so it was on...........

[tanoga]

Leave the car in gear. Another one of these Audi safty features.

[MarkB]

I work with a chap whop had this problem with a Ford Mundeo. Excpet his car parked itself in the front room of a house at the bottom of the hill!

The disc's when hot are larger, as they cool they shrink and the brake releases. A failing of using the disc as main brakes and parking brake.

BMW and some other use a drum inside the disc for parking brake...

[GlynRS2]

BMW and some other use a drum inside the disc for parking brake...

So do Porsche. That is the set up on my RS2. The problem with that set up is that the drum brake never gaets used for stopping the car, so the brake shoes rapidly become glazed and the handbrake weaker. Us RS2 owners are forever moaning about how weak the handbrake is - either that or forever adjusting it!

[MarkB]

Yep hand the drums rust up on my BMW and had to replace the discs... Get an Auto and you have to leave it in park.

[MCB]

Sorry to hear your tale and Audi never cease to amaze me , one would of thought that this should not be an issue and we would not have to come up with B****y theories to explain it! Regardless thanks for letting us all know Simple and I hope your bill is not to bad.

[FastShow]

The problem with that set up is that the drum brake never gaets used for stopping the car, so the brake shoes rapidly become glazed and the handbrake weaker.

Pah, that's nothing a handbrake turn or two added to your daily routine wouldn't fix - sounds like a plus point to me!

[PetrolDave]

This isn't an Audi-specific issue, it happens with ANY car where the handbrake acts on the rear disc brakes.

The discs expand as they heat up in use, you apply the handbrake, the disc contracts as it cools down so the pads are no longer being squeezed against the disc. Result - no braking force!

This is why some cars used to be fitted with small rear drums purely for the handbrake, but for cost reasons this isn't done any more.

[shineydave]

That sucks, when something like that happens it always seems to me that it's not a new car anymore.

The Celica i had used a seperate drum for the handbrake although the Coupe quattro it replaced used the disc. on 3 occasions i came out to find the quat had done a runner, once into a neighbours car, once to the bottom of the road crossing 2 lanes of traffic (at a crawl i might add) and the third time with a friend in the passenger seat, unfortunately he was blessed with only a left leg and his attempts to stop the car were a sight to behold. fortunately non of the incidents involved any damage but that was an 88 model year car so obviously things haven't got any better.

[ZeroK66]

Next thing they will say is you should use down change to help with braking. Audi never surprise me anymore. Sorry to hear that though... hope that damage is not too bad/costly.

[JAMES]

sorry to hear that.
had the same thing in my vr6 corrado years ago,it rolled down the hill through somebodies front garden and parked itself into their rover.no damage to the vw that a bit of t cut couldn`t fix,but had to pay out for the damage to his car and wrecked his lawn driving out.you must be really pissed doing that to your new car.
the rs2 handbrake was crap no chance of a handbrake turn but was reliable,i always pulled it up and down a few times while driving to keep the drums rust free.
audi/vw should put a second calliper on these high performance cars as movit brakes did on their b5 upgrade. the brakes are regularly hot when parked.for now we just have to use the gearbox.

[simple1]

Upshot is Audi are refusing to fix the car, £680 plus the vat....... so I am in the process of returning the car to Audi as not being road worthy. I expect a bit of kicking but I am armed with various engineers reports that state the parking brake should not require any assistance from the gearbox, and MOT specs also demand brake be applied only..........