So wifey parked the Rapid up, it was on a slight hill but not Everest or anything.

Popped into a friends house for a cuppa.

20 minutes later and a loud bang is the sound of my Rapid rolling into the front of said friends Hyundai.

She is adamant the handbrake was applied and I believe her (logic being that if she'd have gotten out of the car without it applied, it would have rolled whilst she'd got stuff out of the boot and before she'd walked the 5 car lengths to the door)

No one injured or property damaged but the rapid has damage to the F. Bumper - wing - bonnet and 1 smashed headlight.

And the Hyundai? Ha - traded paint and a scuff on the bumper.

:,(

No issues here, but having once watched a Saab roll silently down my road and into a big wall, I always, always leave my car in gear when parked.

So if I was parking on a sizeable hill then I would.

But the engineering world gave us a handbrake for a reason, not sure why I'd assume it would fail and thus put it in gear etc.

So, was the handbrake applied or not? After the rolling, what has the position of the handbrake, up or down? If it was up, then your wife did her part and the car is to blame. Otherwise, I think that she forgot to pull it and left it with a gear engaged or that she did not pull it hard enough and left it on neutral and after a while it began moving. After that, it just accelerated downhill until kissing the Huyndai.

I haven't noticed any malfunction with mine, and if indeed there is a malfunction with yours you should take it to the dealer and have it checked, it will be easy to determine if this is the case.

The MK3 Octavia suffers with this too. There's a lengthy thread about it. Apparently it's a known problem. If the brakes are hot when pulling the handbrake on and then cool down it can be known to roll on a slope. My MK2 Octavia did this a few times.

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I had a Citreon BX once which,being citreon,had a handbrake which operated on the front wheels.It had a habit of rolling down my drive into the garage doors half an hour after it had been parked.My theory was that the front discs cooled down and therefore shrunk parting company with the pads unlike drums where they would shrink on to the brakeshoes.If the Rapid has a similar set up this might be the reason.Anyway I now leave any car I have with the handbrake on and in gear.

Yeah my mind has that answer too.

One click is all my HB needs and I can't push it to move, but if the hand brake is off, I can push it along my flat drive with only two fingers and my weight behind it.

She is certain the HB was applied when she came to the car in its sorry state, but truly can't remember as she was a little shuck up.

I had a Citreon BX once which,being citreon,had a handbrake which operated on the front wheels.It had a habit of rolling down my drive into the garage doors half an hour after it had been parked.My theory was that the front discs cooled down and therefore shrunk parting company with the pads unlike drums where they would shrink on to the brakeshoes.If the Rapid has a similar set up this might be the reason.Anyway I now leave any car I have with the handbrake on and in gear.

I also owned the legendary BX! The handbrake had a ridiculously large number of 'clicks' to pull, almost twenty if I remember correctly! Unreliable car, but I really miss the hydropneumatic suspension!

 

The Rapid has two smaller disc brakes on the rear axle which operate the handbrake so this might well be the answer to our little mystery. I will conduct a little experiment today to investigate.

My first BX was a death trap.The most mild form of it's malicious nature was that you could park and come back 10 minutes later and whatever you did it would refuse to start.20 minutes later you would try again and it would start immediately just as if someone had thrown a switch.It's  worst manifestation was that you could be doing 80 mph in the outside lane of the motorway and it would just cut out and you had to risk your life steering a powerless car to the hard shoulder!!!

Edited 7 August, 201510 yr by Robbydazzler

My first BX was a death trap.The most mild form of it's malicious nature was that you could park and come back 10 minutes later and whatever you did it would refuse to start.20 minutes later you would try again and it would start immediately just as if someone had thrown a switch.It's  worst manifestation was that you could be doing 80 mph in the outside lane of the motorway and it would just cut out and you had to risk your life steering a powerless car to the hard shoulder!!!

I had the 1124cc petrol variant. Never started it without pulling the choke and warming up the engine for at least one minute by stepping on the gas pedal. Mind you that I live in the always-hot Greece.

Still, I miss it

I had this happen once with a brand new, two day old, VW Touran - left it in the work car park with handbrake applied and the wind caught the slab back and provided just enough force to set her off!   Unfortunately, the car door it decided to roll into was an Alfa Romeo Spider which cost a fortune to fix - the VW obstinately had no marks at all!

From that day, I always leave my car in gear - even when parked on the flat!

Same thing happen to my mates audi, I always leave in gear when parked on a slope as too many stories of cars rolling away. Don't know what you are suppose to do with a Tsi though as there are stories about leaving it in gear can cause the timing chain to jump if it rolls back???

Really? I'm gonna get me some of these then:

Not sure they'll help my issue regarding our hand break!

I hate seeing that photo :(

I found that all cars with rear disc brakes tend to creep on handbrake including my Octavias before. My Citigo had drum brakes and never moved on any slope.

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Same thing happen to my mates audi, I always leave in gear when parked on a slope as too many stories of cars rolling away. Don't know what you are suppose to do with a Tsi though as there are stories about leaving it in gear can cause the timing chain to jump if it rolls back???

 

Just thinking about this... is it because the tensioner works on old pressure, so if the engine is cold and there is no pressure, the timing will be out? My Astra was the same design but I never had an issue. Still might get the chocs then.

Anyone got any thoughts as to whether this is worth pursuing with Skôda?

My insurance has had to pay out obviously but I'd at least like my excess back?

Doubtful. Presumably the handbrake appears to be operational now? If you can't prove mechanical fault, I wouldn't think you'll get anywhere.

I wouldn't. Skoda will just laugh at you :(

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Belt and braces...... handbrake & 2nd gear

I couldn't get mine out of gear one morning as it had rolled back overnight. Clutch in and car started to move! Extra tug of handbrake and it hasn't done it since.

Mines only 2 clicks for max handbrake. It won't go any further. It holds it on a slope easily,but I still put into gear also. I'm just old school

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Mine is two clicks max but even on one click it will not move.

The only real proof I have is the gradient of the hill it was parked on and witnesses that say it moved 20-25 minutes after it was parked.

Yes the discs cooled off in that time causing free play.

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