Ford Transit Faulty Handbrakes

ButterflyJak

Bought a new Ford Transit flatbed in December 2015. It is parked on our driveway every night or when not in use which is on a hill. 22 June 2016 it was parked for 1hr 40 then decided to roll down then driveway crashing into my sons car. We have all this on cctv, you can see when the handbrake is put on from the movement of the truck when it was parked up to after it just went.
Ford looked at it and said that it meets their spec! Never tested it for hot/cold. Mechanic there told us that the brakes can get hot, swell up and once cooled down release, but not able to put that in writing, but it has happened before.
Now my husbands insurance Gladiator have been quick and good, have written off my sons car and paid him, there is some damage to the truck which needs to be dealt with. They will not take it further and claim back from Ford. Ford will not talk to us, just said to go through your insurance.
This could have been a child walking along the pavement or crashed into the neighbours house if my son wasn't parked there. Can't believe this isn't going to be claimed from ford or investigated.
I don't see why my husbands insurance should suffer through no fault of his own.
Any suggestions please.

Norman_Castle

Leave it parked in gear.

xyz123

Have you tried to make written complaint to ford head office with CCTV evidence included on disc!? Sometimes written complaint gets better attention than a verbal one at local dealer...

Nobbie1967

That's unlucky, but TBF, it was through the fault of your husband as he failed to take standard precautions when parked on a hill of leaving in 1st gear/Park or turning front wheels into kerb if appropriate. I thought this was well known, but maybe not.

http://www.theorytestadvice.co.uk/highway-code/search.php?search=uphill

I doubt you'll have much luck with Ford if they have tested it and found it to be within spec. They will just argue that it wasn't applied properly and you failed to take standard precautions.

Hopefully others will see this post and learn from it. Doesn't help you though

Retrogamer

This is why i always park with the handbrake on and also in gear. Handbrakes can fail and it is rare, but leaving it in gear gives an extra safety net. Park with wheels pointed towards kerbs or similar if possible as well.

AdrianC

All recent Transits - full-size or Custom, van or chassis-cab, FWD or RWD - have disc brakes on all four wheels. BUT the handbrake remains a drum, on the inside of the "bell" of the disc.

So, as the brakes cool and contract, the handbrake is pulled on TIGHTER. If they were pads on the disc, then - IF INSUFFICIENTLY APPLIED - they would slacken off, just as any disc parking brake on cars do, too. But that's not a huge issue on rear-wheel parking brakes anyway, as rear brakes tend not to get that hot compared to fronts.

If Ford have tested the handbrake and found nothing wrong with it, then Occam's Razor says that it simply can't have been properly applied. Insurance.

EdGasket

Weren't you taught to leave it in gear when parked on a hill? That is/should be standard practice. Not Ford's problem but your own.

bigadaj

EdGasket wrote: »

Weren't you taught to leave it in gear when parked on a hill? That is/should be standard practice. Not Ford's problem but your own.

Many people don't.

I always do on an incline but have frequently had annoyed exchanges with others who don't and have had a shock when starting and not depressing the clutch, though you'd have thought that they'd have checked to see if it's in gear anyway before starting.