Ford handbrake strikes again !

[[Tonko]]

*runs outside and puts handbrake on*
I have never used the handbrake in any of my auto's, just put it in Park and walk off..
Can they really take off? :S

[Jayden]

I put the handbrake on all the time in my auto EF. just a habit. Possibly aquired from the time when I forgot to put the handbrake on and left it in neutral by accident while standing infront of it. that only happens once :

I watch a wrx not so long ago roll down a driveway and into the letterbox, nobody was around either, weird. and if the brick letterbox wasnt there it would have literally flew into the house over the road.

[schmidty]

Originally Posted by Pinch

The handbrake on my BA only ever really works for about 2 days after the car is serviced. After that, you simply pull it all the way up for a slight resistance to rolling - not much else. For that crap effort you get a constant mechanical dragging noise coming from the handbrake drum as well. Driving past bystanders you just get weird looks, or knowing glances from other Falcon, and Commodore drivers (same component supplier???).

Maybe i got a freak car, or the utes are different, but the handbrake on my ute is brilliant. It's only ever been adjusted once, and it's got about 160,000km on it now and is one of the best hand brakes i've ever had on a car.

[Fantome]

I have owned four falcons over the last 13 years and not really had any problems with any of their handbrakes. The first one, an XF Wagon had a pull-from-under-the-dash type handbrake, the second an EF Wagon, had a foot activated park brake. The AU and BA have the usual handbrake and the BA has had the handbrake adjusted once (about 18 months ago) and no problems since.

[GT0132]

Originally Posted by Pinch

The handbrake on my BA only ever really works for about 2 days after the car is serviced. After that, you simply pull it all the way up for a slight resistance to rolling - not much else. For that crap effort you get a constant mechanical dragging noise coming from the handbrake drum as well. Driving past bystanders you just get weird looks, or knowing glances from other Falcon, and Commodore drivers (same component supplier???).

Same with my old EF and EL. Have the Ford 'pull up' handbrakes ever worked. Work has Falcons, and from EF on they have all had the same issue. I am getting sick of arguing about it at Ford service though.

No issue with the NC 'pull out' though - apart from feeling I am still in the 70's when using it!

Same with me....although my cars's now out of warranty....You'd think with all the BA owners with these problems there'd be a general recall...It is a safety issue afterall.

[Rodp]

Originally Posted by ozmale42

Same with me....although my cars's now out of warranty....You'd think with all the BA owners with these problems there'd be a general recall...It is a safety issue afterall.

I don't know what help it would make. I got sick of my handbrake on my BA being useless 3 days after a service so next Ford service I put it in, I had to !!PAY!! for a reco while it was still under warranty! It doubled its life though, lasted 6 days.

I use ultratune now it's no longer under warranty, they adjusted the handbrake without me even saying a word (I had given up by then) and it's been excellent for the last 5 days.

[Elks]

I have BA ute with 47K never been adjusted and is perfect.

My wife has a territory less K's but same works fine. Her previous BA & BF's also excellent.

My TS useless. my work car VE SS 22k useless.

must be a production rather than a design thing.

Although some years ago I had a prelude (A fine car) which I left parked out the front of our house and found 3 doors down in a neighbors fence! I'd left it in neutral (manual) and the hand brake not on tight enough.

[TheSneakiness]

My AU's handbrake was terrible. It would be fine for a day or two then you'd have to reef it on pretty good to make it hold.

[Jake F6]

Originally Posted by DanielXR8

All BA/BF Falcons should come with wheel chocks. In the case of FPV's these should be individually numbered and come with a certificate of authenticity.

Dan

LOL. Classic!!!

[Werd.]

Drove like 10ks with my handbrake on. Not sure if it works anymore rofl.

[Bobman]

A new Victoria Police BA XR Falcon pulled someone over on the Freeway, in Frankston one night, a few years ago. Apparently the handbrake was applied and vehicle in Neutral (was a manual). The car rolled down an embankment and was W/O.

Here's hope that the Orion will have a normal working handbrake.

[BammasAUIIIXR8]

I was working in my garage when I noticed my son fly inside and then saw my wife fly out the front door. When I looked at what was going on I noticed my XR8 parked conveniently in our communal driveway just in front of the neighbours fence. I had left the hand brake on and the car in Park but my son had decided to play with the gear stick. The hand brake didn't hold it on the driveway once it was taken out of Park !!!. Luckily the car managed to stop before hitting the fence. There is usually neighbours cars parked where mine was now sitting but they had luckily gone out for the morning. No damage done, but my son wouldn't come near me for about an hour !!! I'm sure he will never make the same mistake again so it was a cheap life lesson.

The handbrake was adjusted @ the next service but it feels like it is getting soft again.

Peter R.

[aUteChick]

My AU's handbrake is great :

[Sloth]

My EB almost ended up through the roof of someone's house one night.
I left it with the handbrake on and I guess stupidly, in neutral (Manual). It was parked at the top of a sloped driveway, where it was still flat. 30 minutes later (honestly that long) my car goes flying past where I was standing at the bottom of the driveway, scuffing the LH wing mirror against a wall on the way down and collecting the draw bar of a parked trailer head on.
If the the trailer didn't have wheel chocks put in the day before, the car and the trailer would have gone over a bank and through the roof of the house below. As it was, the impact meant the trailers back wheels were hanging off the edge. :
Scary, scary stuff, I'm always bloody careful now.

My hand brake had never failed me until that night and hasn't since, so its always been a bit of a mystery that my car rolled off a flat area after half an hour, with a good handbrake. :togo:

My car sustained 2ks worth of damage but could have been a lot worse. The LH side was so close to the wall (mirror crushed back) I couldn't fit my fingers between them. It took ages to drive out without scratching the paint.

[ebxr8240]

Its in the adjustement...The shoe / band needs tightening...
Some lassy mech's only adjust cable....

[BigJamo]

Originally Posted by DirtyHarry

How the engineers ever expected this stupid system to work is completely beyond me.

I have never asked them personally, but who would get a ST8 answer from them anyways. Cost cutting was the option I would say.

I dont take mine to a service mechanic for just that reason & my handbrake has never had problems, go figure.

[Charliewool]

Originally Posted by BigJamo

I have never asked them personally, but who would get a ST8 answer from them anyways. Cost cutting was the option I would say.

I dont take mine to a service mechanic for just that reason & my handbrake has never had problems, go figure.

Hope you haven't left your handbrake for nearly SIX years big jamo? Why would you dig this deep if no h/brake problem?

[ebxr8240]

Sheesh thread mining !!

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by ken2903

I'd assume that there is some kind of safety feature that stops it from engaging when the car is moving at 40k's to stop ******* from killing their gearboxes.

I've accidentally smashed a car in park at around 50km/h and it survived (well it survived me driving it back to the dealership where I was working).

What happened from then on is anyones guess.

Made one hell of a grinding noise when the lever made it to R then P and the front wheels locked up.

[duaned]

slightly off Ford, I recall parking my TN Magna in a friend's driveway on a main road and of course a slight slope heading toward the main road. You guessed it, I left it in neutral, hard the handbrake on but it rolled onto the middle of the main road and stayed there for about 2 hours until I went to leave! No one knocked at the door, but if people used their horns is was to no avail as we had the music cranking! Funny stuff, but their also was a serious side to it! Moral of the story is I never trust the handbrake, even as good as it maybe!

[Joe5619]

OMG.. This article & topic is 6 years old!!!

[Addz08]

Originally Posted by schmidty

Maybe i got a freak car, or the utes are different, but the handbrake on my ute is brilliant. It's only ever been adjusted once, and it's got about 160,000km on it now and is one of the best hand brakes i've ever had on a car.

Same here, had my ute 6yrs, and its never been adjusted, an holds no problem at all...

[last fairlane]

Well regarding Falcon hand brakes
Ive had my AU Fairmont for 10 years now and never had an issue with the hand brake
the wife has a Territory Ghia and no issues either
we also have a BA Ghia now that handbrake didnt work very good
I took it to my local mech and he adjusted it up and its now perfect
and that was done about 3 years ago
the only thing that doesnt feel 100 percent is when you park on a hill
the car lifts up on one side a bit when the H/B is applied but the Terri doesnt
do that it stays level
it feels a bit like a front driver does
but it works perfect
maybe the ones with faults were Friday/Monday cars

[Feathers]

Mine holds ok when the car is facing downhill, though if I have to park it, it's always in reverse and with the wheels turned to the curb.

If it's facing uphill, forget it. I stopped in the driveway at work one day to open the gate, and found getting out was a bad idea, until I'd moved back to a place where the ground was flat, to park.

[madmelon]

Originally Posted by Werd.

Park apparently doesn't hold the car. I've noticed if you put it into park at 40ks or so it doesn't engage and just makes a whirring sound, so maybe these sensors or whatever it is are innacurate and causing the gearbox not to hold the car?

A transmission parking mechanism should be much more than strong enough to hold a car at maximum GVM on a very serious slope. If engaged above ~3km/h, the parking pawl is designed to ratchet to prevent the wheels from locking. Minimal damage occurs in this mode- indeed, the faster you're going, the less damage should theoretically happen if it's inadvertantly engaged. Don't take that as a free ticket to slap it in to park at speed though.

I work in transmission design with a group of guys who designed the old BTR 4 speed and have seen all the ins and outs of parking mechanisms.

[superpursuit83]

I adjust my own handbrake and it works all the time My ute and the BFXRT

Just have to do it properly.... wheels and hub off, measure, clean adjust and reassemble.

Ford service must be cutting some corners.

[madmelon]

To address the more apparent problem- if your handbrake doesn't hold the vehicle, your car isn't roadworthy. Get it adjusted instead of continuing to potentially put people's lives in danger- it's not difficult and it's not expensive. If you don't take responsibility for maintaining your vehicle then you shouldn't be driving it.

[superpursuit83]

Originally Posted by last fairlane

Well regarding Falcon hand brakes
Ive had my AU Fairmont for 10 years now and never had an issue with the hand brake
the wife has a Territory Ghia and no issues either
we also have a BA Ghia now that handbrake didnt work very good
I took it to my local mech and he adjusted it up and its now perfect
and that was done about 3 years ago
the only thing that doesnt feel 100 percent is when you park on a hill
the car lifts up on one side a bit when the H/B is applied but the Terri doesnt
do that it stays level
it feels a bit like a front driver does
but it works perfect
maybe the ones with faults were Friday/Monday cars

This sounds like one side is not adjusted as well as the other. No big eal, just further adjustment next time.

When I adjust my HB I drive down road and gently apply HB and you can feel wich wheel is getting the most HB Effect. Some days it has taken me 6 hours to get the HB right!

[Bossxr8]

Now that the FG has a self adjusting hand brake, is it a case of these problems no longer being an issue or not?

[Franco Cozzo]

The rule we used to go by was no more than 6 clicks, it would hold the car at idle in drive and reverse on a flat road.

Anymore than 6 and she needs adjusting.