Handbrake failure after brake pad changed 17 August 2022 at 12:07PM edited 17 August 2022 at 12:13PM in Motoring 27 replies 731 views

Doozergirl

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! 

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.  

Car_54

I'd be inclined to leave it to the insurers to pursue (or not) the garage.

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]

m0bov

Was the handbrake adjusted? Extra travel? The car needs checking over by an appropriate engineer.

biscan25

Ah man, unlucky, but as @Car_54 states, the car should've been in gear. Handbrakes fail all the time, so it's prudent to leave the car in gear incline or otherwise.
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.

Doozergirl

Car_54 said:

I'd be inclined to leave it to the insurers to pursue (or not) the garage.

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]

The highway code says hill.  This isn't a hill.   When I say slight incline, I mean slight incline.   This is my car in the same place right now. 

You can use the roofline of the neighbouring house as a guide for level.  

The job is with the insurers but I know what they can be like on doing the minimum - they pay up and move on because they're not the 21 year old with an excess to find and the difference in premium change between a fault and non-fault accident.  

I'm trying to work out how relevant this is because I'm struggling with this being a coincidence.   At the moment I think that we should be asking the repair shop to at least assess the handbrake.  

Doozergirl

biscan25 said:

Ah man, unlucky, but as @Car_54 states, the car should've been in gear. Handbrakes fail all the time, so it's prudent to leave the car in gear incline or otherwise.
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.

With you, apart from 'handbrakes failing all the time' - how do you notice that a handbrake hasn't engaged if the car stays still and your perception is not that of being on an incline? Can you tell? 

Yorkshire_Dangermouse

Presumably both front and rear pads changed ?

Grumpy_chap

Doozergirl said:

  At the moment I think that we should be asking the repair shop to at least assess the handbrake.  

It does not sound like a coincidence but, but if you ask the repair shop, given they have a vested interest in "it's all OK", do you think they'll find anything other than "it's all OK"?

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

Car_54

Doozergirl said:

Car_54 said:

I'd be inclined to leave it to the insurers to pursue (or not) the garage.

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]

The highway code says hill.  This isn't a hill.   When I say slight incline, I mean slight incline.   This is my car in the same place right now.  If it's a hill then we all need to be parking in gear all of the time.  

Well, clearly it is enough of an incline for the car to run away.

As for "parking in gear all of the time", that is not bad advice.

Doozergirl

Yorkshire_Dangermouse said:

Presumably both front and rear pads changed ?

Dug out the invoice, it was rear.  Pads, discs and a calliper.  

Doozergirl

Car_54 said:

Doozergirl said:

Car_54 said:

I'd be inclined to leave it to the insurers to pursue (or not) the garage.

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]

The highway code says hill.  This isn't a hill.   When I say slight incline, I mean slight incline.   This is my car in the same place right now.  If it's a hill then we all need to be parking in gear all of the time.  

Well, clearly it is enough of an incline for the car to run away.

As for "parking in gear all of the time", that is not bad advice.

Evidently, but not clearly enough that it's an obvious fault because rule 252 needed to be followed, is all.  

But yes, it isn't bad advice.