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Handbrake failure after brake pad changed

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My son had his brake pads changed last week at a local garage.
We have a long narrow driveway on a slight incline. When my son came home on Friday, he parked up with the back of the car facing the slope and engaged the handbrake.
10 minutes later the car left the driveway, rolled approximately 80 metres down the drive, over the A38 and down the neighbour's driveway across the road, smashing into their front doors! 😲. The neighbours have been lovely about it.
Thank God it was late, the road was quiet with temporary lights right by our driveway slowing traffic down and no one was injured, but there's a sizeable insurance claim here for the neighbour's house and I'm not convinced that the car won't be written off as there's damage to numerous elements of the rear corner.
Having looked at the CCTV, the car doesn't move at all for 10 minutes but suddenly takes itself off at the same speed that I would reverse out! It just looks like the brake suddenly let go.
The neighbour has photos of the handbrake in the correct position after the accident. We just assumed that our son hadn't engaged it properly but he's just been told by someone that it can be quite common for the handbrake to fail after a pad change!
The neighbour has photos of the handbrake in the correct position after the accident. We just assumed that our son hadn't engaged it properly but he's just been told by someone that it can be quite common for the handbrake to fail after a pad change!
I've had a google and it does seem to be a thing?
If it's a fair cop, it's a fair cop but should we be asking the repair shop to check the handbrake and the garage potentially have some responsibility for this if it failed? This is going on a 21 year old's insurance policy as a driver's fault claim. Clearly it's not the neighbour's fault, but I'm not convinced now that it was entirely it's our son's fault either.
I think this post could potentially be one for insurance or consumer boards, but I'd like to know what people
think about potential handbrake failure after a brake pad change in the first instance.
think about potential handbrake failure after a brake pad change in the first instance.
Everything that is supposed to be in heaven is already here on earth.
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Replies
Whether or not the brake failed., your son was at fault: when parking on an incline, he should have left the car in gear. [Highway Code Rule 252]
I realise this is of no help whatsoever now!
When I've changed the brakes on my Clio, I did have to adjust the handbrake. The cable stretches over time, so when new pads are fitted the cable can stay slack when the lever is applied. This won't be an intermittent failure though, it would happen right away and you'd notice the handbrake doesn't engage.
In this case, while I note and accept your concerns that the insurer will just do the minimum, the insurer may have an interest in properly identifying the root cause if they can do so without great effort as it may give them a route to recover some of their losses. I doubt that would save your son's NCD or excess
As for "parking in gear all of the time", that is not bad advice.