The handbrake button just popped out today with no warning. I couldn't get it to go back in which means the handbrake cannot be used because it will not lock. It's not the end of the world because I have simply left it in gear. Was wondering if anyone else had experienced this. 

Sounds like a bit of plastic wasn’t strong enough or has worn and the spring won...

and I'm dreading going to the main dealer - hours of work at huge cost no doubt. The car is a 63, but I feel that this is the sort of thing that should be covered under warranty beacuse it is not worn out but has failed.

 

Had it on mine. Think the garage charged me bout £100 odd to get a new one and pop it on. 

8 hours ago, 2cvhound said:

I feel that this is the sort of thing that should be covered under warranty beacuse it is not worn out but has failed.

 

Skoda's warranty lasts 3 years but you can extend it. Doubt it would cove items like this, they are normally considered "trim"

 

Fortunately such failures are rare and hopefully cost less to fix than the warranty would.

£230 ish - I'll buy a 2nd hand part instead!! ebay beckons!

 

Bumping this as the exact same thing has happened to me overnight.  Came out to the car this morning and the handbrake lever was down, fortunately I always park in gear and that's stopped the car rolling back down my sloping driveway and onto the road.

 

My car is a 15 plate, so out of Skoda warranty, but I only purchased it 5 weeks ago from a trader. Reckon it's worth trying to get them to fix it or can someone tell me what parts I need to purchase (2015 VRS manual diesel).

9 minutes ago, jwruk2 said:

Bumping this as the exact same thing has happened to me overnight.  Came out to the car this morning and the handbrake lever was down, fortunately I always park in gear and that's stopped the car rolling back down my sloping driveway and onto the road.

 

My car is a 15 plate, so out of Skoda warranty, but I only purchased it 5 weeks ago from a trader. Reckon it's worth trying to get them to fix it or can someone tell me what parts I need to purchase (2015 VRS manual diesel).

 

I think you have a different issue. See here:

 

 

1 minute ago, pist0nbr0ke said:

 

I think you have a different issue. See here:

 

 

 

Same issue, button is missing from lever and the lever had dropped.  I got in the car and put my foot on the clutch to start the engine, car rolled so I grabbed the handbrake and realised it was down and then button has gone. 

 

As I walked away from my car last night I heard a noise, which I now think was the button flying off and hitting something inside the car.

Mine just pinged off this morning on motorway. Is this always a worn button? With button placed back in and pushed down I can't hear the ratched but it pulls the cable. Bit of a shonky design as when it fails handbrake is released.

Press button cost £4.50 part number 5F0711333A 2ZZ

Being ahem, one of the older drivers here, I always park in gear.  Various reasons, it acts as belt and braces and when working with older Land Rovers that had transmission hand brakes, they had a habit of freezing on in cold weather.  Now with really old cars, drivers carried a brick to stick under a wheel😄

Ta buddy. Is it always the button? 

Can I buy a new one and just push it back in?

No doubt another common issue Skoda UK are all too aware of, but deny any knowledge when pressed about the subject.

 

Next time this happens find a dealer at the bottom of a hill. Park the car at the top of the hill and tell them that the button keeps popping off and when it does so the handbrake releases.

 

See how quickly they offer to fix it for free then.

So what's consensus can I just buy a new button and pop it back in. Or do I need to more. Could the rod be bust 

 

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F152538421272

Come on guys, of the ones that fixed the problem, did they just push that button in place? Should we just buy from Ebay and replace it ourselves? Please and thank you!

@lex131, if you type the @ symbol and then the member's username it appears like your name does in this sentence.

 

Depending on their settings, they'll get an email, or a notification when they next log in telling them they've been tagged.

 

Sometimes people forget to come back and check on older threads so a prompt or reminder can work a treat.

Thank you! 

 

Fortunately i already fixed mine diy style with a piece of metal :).

 

Working like new again.

 

 

How did you fix it with a pjece of metal? Did you fix the plastic button or something inside the lever?

The second I pushed that button in and it Clicked i realized :"I made no photos, people will surely ask me how i did it, and now I can't take it off anymore".

 

So I did the next best thing, i made 3D simulation in Sketchup :).

 

The actual fix took me something like 5 minutes.

 

The first step is to check to make sure your hand brake actually works and the only problem is the silver plastic button that popped off.

 

Reach inside the break lever and pull out the black circular shaped thingy. Keep it pulled out and raise the hand brake. If the hand brake starts catching like it used to and you can stop raising the lever, let go of it and then let go of the black stick inside and it stays put - then congrats, only the button is screwed and you can fix it as below:

 

Below you have 9 images.

 

Image 1: This is the button and the piece of metal that I made.

 

That piece of metal is just some metal sheet scrap i had lying around the house from a roof i just put on. So something like 0.6mm thickness (quite sturdy). 

 

There is a whole on the underbody of the button and I cut it to the width of that whole. I left plenty of length to work with.

 

Then on half of its length i cut a groove and made it look like a barbecue skewer. You need that channel in the middle so you can insert it inside the button. The button has that cylinder inside that is connected to the walls of the button with some thin plastic. You can't insert the metal piece without it having that slit in it. 

 

I used an angle grinder with the thinnest disc i had. That was one of the two tools required for this.

 

Image 2: You start inserting the metal piece inside the button

 

Image 3: You insert the piece of metal as far as the slit allows you to.

 

Image 4: The legs of that metal piece come out of the hole under the button and then bend around coming back and then going back inside. Use a pair of pliers to bend it to shape

 

Image 5: This is how the legs wrap around and enter again into the button. This way you ensure it will never move or wobble.

 

Image 6: You bend the other part of the metal piece until it goes inside the cylinder of the button and looks like a launch pad. It has to have that angle so when it catches onto the lever inside the hand brake it doesn't let go. Don't make it to deep inside the cylinder or hook of the black stick inside of the brake lever won't reach. Don't make too short or the "launch ramp" will not press down onto the cylinder but onto itself and the button won't catch properly.

 

Image 7: This is how the lever inside the hand brake looks like. That's also the hook under it that will catch on the hook we built.

 

Image 8. Start pushing the button inside.

 

You do this by using the check at the beginning of the tutorial, pull out the black stick inside the brake lever, raise the brake lever as you would pull on the brake, first let go of the lever then of the stick but make sure it stays in place. To press firmly on the button now, without pushing on the black stick and thus releasing the brake you have to press down with your hand on the hand lever. That makes the black stick harder to push to release the brake. This way you can push harder on the button inside it without releasing the brake.

 

Image 9. Push it gently but firmly until one hook catches the other. WARNING: DO NOT FORGET TO PUT THE SPRING on the inside lever and BEFORE the button or you won't be able to take the button out again and the hand brake will not work without it!!!

 

Good luck and don't come knocking if you break something

 

p.s. in the images everything is in right angles, cause it takes forever to make something round in sketchup, but you get the idea.

Hi Lex131,

Thank you very very much for quick reply and the very detailed description and illustrations.

 

i will give it a try..

You are welcome!

 

I know it looks like a complicated contraption but it's actually very simple. I took no measurements, I just eye-balled it. The width of the piece is that hole under the button, and the length, i just made it long enough to cut off any excess at the end.

 

When you try to insert the piece you have to bend the two legs towards the whole of the button so when you push it inside it will go out through that whole and then you grab at the part that is sticking out of the hole and just pull it inside.

 

Good luck!

 

p.s. you can always buy a new one here: https://www.oemvwshop.com/5f0711333a-2zz-press-stud-brake-lever-trim-high-chrom-p294635/#gallery - but for me, with delivery (for two buttons worth 6 Euro total) it was over 25 Euro. And the little ramp that we improvised it is made of plastic inside that new button and it's also very thin. So guaranteed failure in the future. So i thought to myself - If i'm going to order two new buttons, I can do what I want with this one i already have. If it works then i don't order, if I completely destroy it, i've lost nothing - so I tried. At least this way I found out how you could check to see if the hand brake actually still functions.

Hi Lex131,

 

Thanks again.

 

I have ordered a new one (around 10€ delivery incl) just for backup.

 

You write that i should “pull out the black stick from inside the lever” to check the handbrake - could i pull it too far and break something or can i pull it all the way out?

You cannot break it. It's a metal thing that will not come out of the handle. You have to pull it like 3-4 cm out. Mine was extremely free inside there and it's slippery also, it's a bit hard to hold on to it and keep it pulled but there is no way you could break anything. 

 

That black stick connects with the button. The spring then pushes the button outside of the lever and the button pulls on the stick and keeps that tension constantly. When the button falls, the spring has nothing to push on, the button lets go of the stick so the stick falls back into the lever. 

 

When the hand brake used to work, remember - when you wanted to release the brake you pushed on the button = you pushed the stick inside and the brake was released. Now the stick is always inside = it's like the button is always pressed so the brake doesn't work.

 

That's why you need to use one hand to pull the stick out, as far as it goes (it's not elastic or something, it's very clear when you pull exactly how far it goes, you don't need to tense your muscles or something) and with the other hand raise the brake - you should hear and feel those clicking noises and the brake should work.

 

IF IT DOESN'T then a new button won't solve anything as something else is broken inside (maybe the cable broke).

 

Have a great weekend!

Thanks you so much lex131. I took your sketch, and modelled it in 3d, and printed it on my 3d printer - worked perfectly! I uploaded the 3d model here, for others to 3d print: https://www.printables.com/model/704088-handbrake-button-fix-skoda-octavia-mk-iii-2013-202