People don't check their car is in neutral before starting?

I never have because I never leave it in gear nor does the wife.

People don't check their car is in neutral before starting?

 

Yes, everytime even though i'm the only person who drives it and I always leave it in neutral, well I did until monday.

Well I've had a chat with SUK customer services and guy I spoke to is going to liaise with my dealer once they have the car in tomorrow and he's going to speak to the body shop to obtain the part numbers for the parts they need and see what can be done to get parts quicker.

 

He was very interested in my past Skoda too as this is my third, he even asked for the reg numbers....

 

He's going to call me back on Monday with an update.

It does if you forget you've left it in gear when you start the engine and you are parked close to an obstacle in front!

 

Well, that's a really silly reason... I won't use the more appropriate and stronger word for it, imo. I thought we're all in control of our cars around here, weren't we? We're going from a failed handbrake to forgetting we've left our cars in gear? 

 

@Neily, I hope everything gets sorted quickly and to your liking.

Edited 20 March, 201412 yr by TudorM

Well, that's a really silly reason... I won't use the more appropriate and stronger word for it, imo. I thought we're all in control of our cars around here, weren't we? We're going from a failed handbrake to forgetting we've left our cars in gear? 

 

@Neily, I hope everything gets sorted quickly and to your liking.

Excellent point well made Barbeara.

I never use the hand brake unless I park on an incline. Parking on the level, I just leave it in gear. On an incline, I use the hand brake and leave it in gear.

When using the hand brake, I press the button in, and then release it once tension is nearly achieved so it just clicks twice into the highest position.

Anyone else on here deliberately makes no use of the hand brake? Over 30 years of accident free driving and the car has never run away whilst unattended. Am I unique :-)

I just put mine in Park..

Well the garage have inspected the handbrake and can't find fault with it but then I would have been surprised if they did find anything as it's only happened the once.....

I never use the hand brake unless I park on an incline. Parking on the level, I just leave it in gear. On an incline, I use the hand brake and leave it in gear.

When using the hand brake, I press the button in, and then release it once tension is nearly achieved so it just clicks twice into the highest position.

Anyone else on here deliberately makes no use of the hand brake? Over 30 years of accident free driving and the car has never run away whilst unattended. Am I unique :-)

 

Not saying whether what you do is right or wrong but you are committing an offence of 'quitting'.

 

Quitting is dealt with by Regulation 107 of The Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulation 1986 (S42 of the RTA 1988)

Regulation 107(2)(a). This states that no person shall cause or permit to be on any road any motor vehicle which is not attended by a person duly licensed to drive it unless the engine is stopped and the parking brake is effectively set. Exemptions to the requirements of this Regulation as to the stopping of the engine include a fire brigade vehicle, the engine of which is being used for any fire brigade purpose.   

Well, that's a really silly reason... I won't use the more appropriate and stronger word for it, imo. I thought we're all in control of our cars around here, weren't we? We're going from a failed handbrake to forgetting we've left our cars in gear? 

 

@Neily, I hope everything gets sorted quickly and to your liking.

If you arent used to leaving it in gear, then the first couple of times you could forget. But thats neither here nor there.

Do you mean because you have to depress the clutch in order to start the engine? Because you can then release the clutch and still forget its in gear.

Or is there another failsafe I'm not aware of?

Sorry, forgot. Its fail safe with me, as i always put it in gear and drive off, having already depressed the clutch.

Well the garage have inspected the handbrake and can't find fault with it but then I would have been surprised if they did find anything as it's only happened the once.....

On a plus note, despite them not being able to find anything wrong checking it has been covered by the warranty so no charge for today.

I'm always having this argument with the missus. I always leave it in gear, she doesnt, and when I leave hers in gear, she never presses the clutch to start and the car rocks on the starter and she turns into the Hulk.

I tell her, that it is unlikely that the handbrake will fail, BUT, it could, and there could be some woman with a baby walking somewhere behind the car when the brake fails. Could she (or anyone of you) sleep knowing you've possibly killed someone, or someones child because 'you were never taught to leave it in gear'?

Belt and braces for me. Very unlikely, but not impossible.

(on a contradictory note - has anyone parked on a fairly steep hill and put their car in gear and took the handbrake off to see if it would hold? I have and it still rolled, just bump bump bumped as it turned the engine over too. Manual gearbox though)

On a plus note, despite them not being able to find anything wrong checking it has been covered by the warranty so no charge for today.

Are you sure they didn't damage the front bumper whilst checking the handbrake

Are you sure they didn't damage the front bumper whilst checking the handbrake

 

Climbing over the handbrake can cause this kind of problem to start happening. With the handbrake on, hit the handle to the left and then to the right. If it releases, it is an MOT failure. There is no way cooling disks can cause a problem - the tension in the handbrake cables is too high.

Mine released this evening.

I park on a steep drive, reversed up the drive and applied the handbrake as usual. Three of us got out and closed the doors. My daughter opened the tailgate and when she closed it there was a hell of a bang. Fortunately the car has a DSG gearbox which was in the park position. The handbrake hand completely released and the lever was down in the released position.

As I have just got the car back having waited six weeks for a replacement front bumper it was a bit of a shock.

Mine released this evening.

I park on a steep drive, reversed up the drive and applied the handbrake as usual. Three of us got out and closed the doors. My daughter opened the tailgate and when she closed it there was a hell of a bang. Fortunately the car has a DSG gearbox which was in the park position. The handbrake hand completely released and the lever was down in the released position.

As I have just got the car back having waited six weeks for a replacement front bumper it was a bit of a shock.

There's clearly a problem here, are you planning on reporting this?

I'm keep all my receipts for the repairs incase of a recall or something so I can try and claim my money back.

Neily, you put your handbrake on and it released by itself. To me its faulty, the fact that your dealer can't replicate the same thing doesn't mean anything. Its not even like an intermittent fault, such as a misfire, you have the proof it happened as it rolled into another car...

Neily, you put your handbrake on and it released by itself. To me its faulty, the fact that your dealer can't replicate the same thing doesn't mean anything. Its not even like an intermittent fault, such as a misfire, you have the proof it happened as it rolled into another car...

I know and I agree with what your saying but neither me or the dealer can replicate it so fixing it is impossible but I'm keeping a close on eye it and leaving it in gear when parked.

But now that's 3 owners including me that have had this issue there clearly is some sort of fault.

One thing I have noticed is the spring that returns the handbrake to the off position is extremely strong, much more than any other car I've had before....

I do also have good CCTV footage from when mine went on Monday :(

I think that those that have also experienced this need to make contact with the dealers and report this even although they haven't had any damage caused.

I'd ask them to log it with Skoda (if they can) in case it happens again and damage is caused.

Even if the called Skoda customer services and did the same - sort of a "I thought I should let you know" type call.

Then they might start looking at the handbrake.

Agreed Mike, it'll help us all, no one wants their car rolling off and potentially killing someone, even if it's because of a design flaw....

There are 2 strong springs, one per caliper, both trying to release the parking brake, versus the handbrake lever ratchet and its light coil spring which is not much more than a beefed up biro pen spring. My personal theory is that if you pull the handbrake lever up with the button depressed you might release the button with the rack/gear and pawl not properly engaged. The release springs are pulling on it and it gives way ( maybe assisted by a slight movement or knock to the car from a passer-by ). The release springs pull the brake off faster than the button spring can react. That's my theory anyway....

Edited 21 March, 201412 yr by classic

Well the garage have inspected the handbrake and can't find fault with it but then I would have been surprised if they did find anything as it's only happened the once.....

 

They didnt on the A3 I mentioned earlier, but Audi still replaced the whole handbrake mechanism under warranty.  Not sure who covered all the damage it caused.

I'm always having this argument with the missus. I always leave it in gear, she doesnt, and when I leave hers in gear, she never presses the clutch to start and the car rocks on the starter and she turns into the Hulk.

I tell her, that it is unlikely that the handbrake will fail, BUT, it could, and there could be some woman with a baby walking somewhere behind the car when the brake fails. Could she (or anyone of you) sleep knowing you've possibly killed someone, or someones child because 'you were never taught to leave it in gear'?

Belt and braces for me. Very unlikely, but not impossible.

(on a contradictory note - has anyone parked on a fairly steep hill and put their car in gear and took the handbrake off to see if it would hold? I have and it still rolled, just bump bump bumped as it turned the engine over too. Manual gearbox though)

Does the Octavia not prevent starting until the clutch is pressed?  The Sharan does (61 plate), and our DSG Touran (63) wont start unless the brake is pressed first.  Turning the key does FA and Maxidot/HiLine just says "Press Clutch/Brake to Start".

 

Unless Skoda decided not to enable it?  Maybe a VCDS setting?

^^^ that second quote isn't me!

But yes it won't start until the clutch is depressed.