Fabia LE Comfort - grabbing brakes

[Raf75]

My  Skoda Fabia Mk IV is one year old now and the brakes have always been very grabby especially at town speeds.

 

I had the optional rear discs fitted when purchased and the brake pedal is like an on/off switch easily locking the wheels

at speeds below 30 mph and with no progressive pedal feel.

 

I mentioned this at the first service and the assistant said this was common and would get better after 20k miles !!

 

Anyone else had this problem ?

 

[nta16]

We had a hire 2023 VW SEAT Arona as a hire car recently with 10k-miles recorded and first thing I noticed on first drive was the brakes snatched at the end of pushing the brake pedal.  I'm not one to push hard on the brake pedal so this surprised me.  Later drives It seemed to go away then be at the start of the pedal push.

 

Though VW and Dealership I'm sure would never admit it (or VW's computer programmers) I think it could well be a computer programming error or of course the famous computer glitch (brain fart?).

 

You could look and see if there's any admitted 'Recall' (but I doubt it). - https://www.skoda-auto.com/services/recall-campaigns

 

On a tangent - with the hire 2023 VW SEAT Arona one of the first things I done was the driver checks including the car battery, I fully recharged it using my appropriate battery charger and glad I did given the car's use as a temporary replacement for my wife's 2015 Fabia Mk3.

 

I've copied and pasted this from a previous post I've put on Fabia MK4 forum. -

 

To save issues and hassles particularly look at your Owner's Manual about 'Functionality – Protection against discharge of the 12 volt vehicle battery' and '12 volt vehicle battery charging' as if the car battery gets too low the computer will punish you for your mistake and can cause all sorts of unexpected issues and this can be before or after you get warning messages or lights to tell you the car battery is too low for them.  Just because the car starts and the lights seems bright enough doesn't mean the battery is in a good state of charge.

 

If you let the battery get too low and/or too often you may not be able to fully recover it and it will need replacing a lot sooner than if given some care, (number one call of breakdown calls outs is battery related, almost always caused by owner/driver use/abuse/neglect).

 

Just driving the car, particularly if many short journeys often is now insufficient on modern cars with all their computers and consumer convenience items so preventative car battery recharges with an appropriate battery charger is needed, a lower amps charger is normally better than a higher amps charger (see VW instructions in Owner's Manual).

 

  

 

HTH.

[gumdrop]

Did you bed the brakes in, I had not heard of it until I bought my first disc braked car.

It builds up a "skin" on the disc so the small machine marks don't grab the pads. 

[Ootohere]

The only thing that they build is some cosmetic rust when it rains or you wash the car. 

No layer of anything once the newness is off the brakes.

 

As for the Bull Sh!t from who ever the service assistant at the Dealership and 20,000 miles.   That will be when they are saying the discs and pads need replaced.

@Raf75 welcome,  was that a Service Desk Receptionist that told you that or an actual Technician / Fitter?

[nta16]

I think it's most likely to be a computer programming error or computer glitch (brain fart) from my experience of the 11k-mile hire 2023 VW SEAT Arona and 45 years of driving various old and new cars.  In the last week I've had two different computer brain-farts from a 2016 Vauxhall, too many to count manufacturer's admitted to internment lane "assist" on a 2023 Ren-No! Nissan and my wife has told me whilst she was away this week her 2015 Fabia Mk3 told her of a fault with one of the (incandescent) DLR that just disappeared off dash and screen.  Thank gawd we don't have to rely on these computers and their programs for driving the car, oh no, wait  we do, wot could possibly go wrong (and be admitted to). :yikes:   

 

[J.R.]

Snatching brakes, is there any car problem that you will not blame on computers or a low battery and publish yet another treaty on battery charging complete with utter rubbish such as below?

 

On 25/04/2024 at 13:59, nta16 said:

Just driving the car, particularly if many short journeys often is now insufficient on modern cars with all their computers and consumer convenience items

 

It wasn't even true with the first Lucas alternators 50 years ago unless they were faulty, admittedly a frequent occurence, its certainly not true today when the smallest alternator you will find has a 90 amp output, a member actually plotted the charging graph after a cold start using live data with every single accessory switched on, heated rear window, heated seats etc, time to fully recharge? 45 seconds IIRC.

 

You can drive a modern vehicle with stop start in a city with everything switched on, the engine can stop and restart every time the car moves forward in queuing traffic and numerous junctions and traffic lights and the alternator will keep up.

 

None of which has anything to do with snatching brakes.

[wiilydog]

sounds like similar issue to golf mk7 owners with 288mm brake discs as the brake system was designed for 312mm discs but  to cut costs VW just replaced it with smallers discs and carrier leaving everything else the same, this caused the brakes to be very grabby. 

[nta16]

1 hour ago, J.R. said:

Snatching brakes, is there any car problem that you will not blame on computers

Yes - YOU.

 

1 hour ago, J.R. said:

low battery and publish yet another treaty on battery charging complete with utter rubbish such as below?

On 25/04/2024 at 12:59, nta16 said:

On a tangent -

 

 

Once again you show your total lack of understanding, the matter isn't all to do with the simple maths you spout.  Lots of owners have issues with battery state of charge and health, it's proven with statics, real world breakdown call outs, the issues and resolve on threads on this site and others and the situation has and will increase with newer cars, when you are driving newer car let me know.  Not everyone is you , thank gawd, not everyone does as you do, thank gawd, not everyone has your experience and knowledge (and pig-headiness, thank gawd).  Try actually reading and understanding what I put.

 

As I've put many times now I will continue to put this, either Report me, become a Moderator and restrict me, or buy the site or keep on moaning about it and bore us all with it.  BTW you've missed a few long, low, slow (wotever the wording is), I thought you were keeping a careful eye on me.  I'm still waiting for your site email to me.

 

Peace and love.

 

[J.R.]

There is no electrical, electronic or computer connection between the force the driver applies with their leg onto the brake pedal and the resultant force applied to the brake discs (or discs and drums) through the friction material up to the point where ABS cuts in during an emergency stop.

 

The discharged batteries that only exist in your imagination can not cause grabbing brakes period.

 

2 hours ago, nta16 said:

I'm still waiting for your site email to me.

 

You will have to translate that for me, I do not understand.

[Ootohere]

[nta16]

4 hours ago, J.R. said:

There is no electrical, electronic or computer connection between the force the driver applies with their leg onto the brake pedal and the resultant force applied to the brake discs (or discs and drums)

I never put that, but of course there can be, have you never heard of EBA for a start, perhaps if you had raced the decent Lotus 7 copy instead of the popular one you might have been more open to progress, you think I'm stuck in the 1970s yet you don't seem to have got pasted the 1960s.  😆

 

 

3 hours ago, J.R. said:

The discharged batteries that only exist in your imagination can not cause grabbing brakes period

That's in your imagination not mine - READ again, I never put that at all.

 

There are so many computer systems and programs related to and involving the brakes I defy even those that (part) write the computer programs to list them all.

 

Just because your outlook on life is through an excrement orifice doesn't mean you also have to talk out of it.  I gave up on bending over backwards to pacify you a good while back and later trying to give you answers and references, as I've put repeatedly before, read what I've actually put rather than just skim reading assumptions and do your own research rather than just trolling me as you are wasting your time trying to bully me into submission.

 

If you can't play nice with me please don't bother to play at all.  I've suggested an open form of direct communication to get everything off your chest but you prefer repeated sessions of playing silly buggers which is boring for me and others.

 

I can not help you ,and again I put, I no longer want or care to.

  

[Raf75]

On 26/04/2024 at 21:20, Ootohere said:

The only thing that they build is some cosmetic rust when it rains or you wash the car. 

No layer of anything once the newness is off the brakes.

 

As for the Bull Sh!t from who ever the service assistant at the Dealership and 20,000 miles.   That will be when they are saying the discs and pads need replaced.

@Raf75 welcome,  was that a Service Desk Receptionist that told you that or an actual Technician / Fitter?

Service Desk Receptionist !! Need I say more !!

[Raf75]

Thanks guys for the feedback.

 

Aim to try some different disc pads.

 

:Always found Ferodo to be a good replacement on my past vehicles

 

:And also found Main Dealerships to be totally useless when you want some simple information

unless you can get through to a time served mechanic which they never seem keen to allow !!

 

Cheers