Mini Handbrake Failure!!!!!

[Antony08]

I am absolutlely furious. My 2008 Mini Cooper is 1 month old and it has rolled 200m down a hill into the back of a wall. I will take this story to court as this is absolutely unacceptable. I was at my friends house for about 40 minutes when his sister came running inside saying she had just seen my car rolling down the hill!! She said she had arrived home and saw my car sitting outside their house as fine as ever. As she locked her car and started walking inside the house, she said she heard my alarm go off, she looked to see what was wrong and she said the car out of nowhere edged forward slightly and then started rolling backwards down the hill landing into a wall 200m at the bottom. I of course freaked out when I heard this and saw my car sitting at the bottom of the hill once I had heard what had happened. I have two witnesses who saw the incident happen and saw that the handbrake was applied. I would like my car replaced and if not I will take this to the courts and every car magazine in South Africa. Your comments please.

[JAMIE1131]

should have left it in gear or park like it says in the manual! When brake discs cool down they contract, hence less clamping load and the car starts to roll.

[Antony08]

Whats the point in having a handbrake then?

[KillerByte]

The handbrake is supposed to assist with keeping the car stationary when parked. However, when parked on an incline you should also leave the car in gear and turn the wheels towards the kerb.

This isn't the first time a MINI owner has reported this 'problem', and you certainly won't be the last. However, unless MINI can find an actual fault with the handbrake you won't get much out of them I'm afraid, especially considering the R56 MINI handbook tells you to leave the car in gear on a slope.

[BRG/Blk Cooper S]

In San Francisco I believe you can be given a ticket for parking without having your wheels pointed the correct way (in relation to the curb) to stop the car being a runaway in the event of hand brake failure.
Last time I was there the majority of cars weren't Mini's.

Modern cars get more and more complicated and yet it seems people are less likely to read the manual thoroughly - personally I couldn't wait to get my hands on the manual and had it before I took delivery of my first Mini.............then again I'm a technical kind of guy..

It's in the manual,
It's in the highway code (at least here in the UK),
Any driving instructor worth their salt would advise on parking "in gear" when driving a manual vehicle,
It's common sense....

Really sorry that you've had this problem, hope the damage is not bad and you are back on the road really soon.
Your 'through the courts" approach on this one won't actually get you very far - safe control of the vehicle is not BMW's responsibility.

Cheers, Geoff.

[Darthbladerni]

I actually think that my driving instructor told me that. If parked on any sort of slope stick the car in gear and point the wheels towards the kerb. I do it anyway just incase.

[Mejy Poo]

Sorry but will have to agree with the others

I live on the top of an extremely steep hill and never fail to park in gear/reverse

I guess this will be a learning curve for the future!

Hope your car isn't too bad!

[Suj999]

At the end of the day Mini handbrake is really bad... I think it should come with a warning though!

something like "We are stupid, and don't know how to make a hand break like other car makers so for our stupidity please put the car in gear when parking!"

[DaFlake]

Yep, car should have been in gear.... Sorry to hear about your problems, but you are going to have a hard time fighting that and getting it replaced.

[JAMIE1131]

Quote: Originally Posted by Suj999 (original)

At the end of the day Mini handbrake is really bad... I think it should come with a warning though!

something like "We are stupid, and don't know how to make a hand break like other car makers so for our stupidity please put the car in gear when parking!"

I don't think thats very fair, Only two months ago I saw exactly the same thing happen to a friends brand new Audi, one of the worlds most technologically advanced car makers, at the end of the day if you fail to read/observe the instructions in the manual its your own fault when things like this happen. You could be putting people in danger and its likely the only person that will end up in court is the driver who failed to control his/her vehicle in a safe manner.

[KillerByte]

Quote: Originally Posted by Suj999 (original)

At the end of the day Mini handbrake is really bad... I think it should come with a warning though!

It is already in the handbook.

Quote: Originally Posted by Suj999 (original)

something like "We are stupid, and don't know how to make a hand break like other car makers so for our stupidity please put the car in gear when parking!"

It's not that they don't know how to make a handbrake. It's that some MINI owners don't understand that they're supposed to leave their car in gear when parking on an incline. As Jamie points out, this isn't just a MINI thing - you're supposed to do this with every car!

[Mike Clarke]

Quote: Originally Posted by Suj999 (original)

At the end of the day Mini handbrake is really bad... I think it should come with a warning though!

something like "We are stupid, and don't know how to make a hand break like other car makers so for our stupidity please put the car in gear when parking!"

piffle
the MINI handbrake is no better and no worse than that on the majority of cars

maybe the warning should be
"We know that some MINI owners are stupid, and don't know how to use a hand brake, just like some owners of other car makes. So to compensate for your possible stupidity please put the car in gear and turn the wheels when parking "

[Jim Ray]

Sorry about your MINI. We learned with our first MINI, the handbrake is purely mechanical, no power assist, and operates on disk brakes.

A token tug on the lever is not enough. If you want the hand brake to be effective, a very firm pull on the lever is needed. Sherry's right arm is larger than her left, and I attribute that to the daily handbrake workout.

The brake should be set with enough force that in order to release it, you must pull up on the lever while depressing release button. If you can push the button, and the lever falls down, you did not set the brake firmly enough.

[Darthbladerni]

as i said i do it automatically now as it was forced into me during my driving lessons ages ago. Force of habit really.

[Fonkarayiann]

I believe you. My new mini cooper s is totally destroyed from the second day...

...with the same way.

I also have to take the case to the court...