I'm away at the moment, due to get the train back tonight. Just had a call from MrsIHN saying she can't undo the handbrake on the car, which she'd driven to a local(ish) park to walk the dog this morning. I tried to suggest some things to try but by the time she called me her anxiety was beginning to peak so she decided to walk home. The upshot is that I get to try and sort it this evening (by getting the train to the next stop from the usual one, then walking half an hour to the car, anyway...)
The car is parked facing downhill, on a steep tarmac slope. When she tries to reverse hill-start to get out, the button on the lever won't depress. My suspicion is that, given it is a steep slope, she's hauled on the lever to put the brake on (rather than, say, leave it parked up in reverse) and now it's so tight that there's no slack to release the mechanism.
What are my options?
I bet she's parked kinda where the Tesla is in this photo (it's steeper than it looks on this photo too)
If she's right-handed, try with her right hand?
Don't focus on pressing the button, focus on pulling the handle up slightly before pressing the button.
Push footbrake hard when trying to release it?
You're married and the problem is mechanical = it's your fault anyway.
Pull up while pressing the button to take some force of the mechanism.
If it’s a mechanical brake, try pressing really hard on the footbrake and then try to release it? This will only work if the handbrake works on the same pads/shoes as the road brake.
Or, straddle the brake lever and pull up with two hands before pressing the button.
Good luck!
Sigh loudly
mutter FFS
but yes, pull up on lever and press button, don't focus on the button, focus on the pull up
tell her she lives in the car now.
DrP
Sigh loudly
mutter FFS
Oh, that's been done.
Burn the car where it stands.
Tempting. We've had it just over a year, and we bought a Jazz as we don't really care about cars and just wanted something that would supply minimal faff with maximum years of ownership. In that year and a bit:
- An Ocado driver took a chunk out the offside front wing
- MrsIHN put a nice gouge up the nearside front wing
- Something fell onto the windscreen whilst doing about 40 on a country lane, causing a hole like a gunshot and a totally shattered screen
- The RAC have been out to get it started in the morning as the engine flooded.
- Last week the wipers decided not to work, cue much faffing trying to check the fuse and eventually disconnecting the battery for half an hour, which reset whatever needed resetting and they worked again
- Now this.
I think it was built on an native American burial ground
Money on the handbrake is just on tight. Had something similar with the passenger door handle on MrsF's car. Daughter says it's hard to pull. Me walks over and just opens it. Nothing wrong. Just sprayed grease onto the lock just to keep them quiet.
If its a leaver put a piece of wood across back wheels width wise and smack the wood with a hammer, AA man did this to release a friends on Skye years ago. Better have someone sat in drivers seat if youre on a slope.
Brute force and ingnorance!
If all else fails, and it is a tight cable that cant be released then you'll need to get access to the adjuster nut. Usually under the back of the centre arm rest/console/ash tray thingy (depending on vehicle). Slacken her off a few turns and you should be able to unleash the fury, or the handbrake, whichever.
Have you got a 1/4 drive socket/bit set handy you could take with you, just in case you need to get to it?
Do a modern day enactment of the Sword in the Stone and marry whichever maiden can release the handbrake.
Ooh I know where it's parked and yes, it IS steeper that it looks. So make sure it's in gear before pulling up hard on the handbrake.
Ask someone who looks stronger to give her a hand with it
This is the sort of thing I get asked to help with by random strangers along with lifting heavy things in and out of cars and getting things off high shelves
I also used to get asked to directions all the time for some reason - bit less now with Google maps but still happens
Handbrake stuck on car - ideas?
More revs?
As others have said, it's likely been pulled too tight. It needs lifting further still to relieve pressure on the button, which is going to be tough if it's already as far as it wants to go.
Stick the car in reverse (lowest ratio gear) with the engine off to stop the car going anywhere. Get both hands on the lever and haul it upwards, the button should need hardly any pressure at all.
Failing that, get out of the car and shout "MAN!"
If its a leaver put a piece of wood across back wheels width wise and smack the wood with a hammer,
If you've got a handy piece of wood, you could possibly use it to lever the brake lever. If you can get it underneath and then lift an end...? Depends on the car I guess.
Would your Mrs like a sticker?
Has IHN sorted this?
People need tae know!
Came for the update, stayed for the injun joke...
Hurry up OP !
OP has done a Brian Harvey and run himself over whilst adjusting the nut under the arm rest and hammering timber under the wheels whilst straddling the handbrake all at the same time.
TBH, my daughter learnt in a clutch assist, electronic handbraked car, and had trouble pressing the handbrake button on the old Aygo we had at the time for her and my son to use - just didn't have the arm/thumb strength - and it's not a heavy vehicle - was a doddle to drive.
.... the handbrake undid. Easily. Like, entirely normally.
So, who knows. Anyway, all sorted.
When you get home there'll be a jam jar to open. Obviously the hard part will already have been done for you.
sounds to me like your being profiled by mrs IHN for a new car with an electronic handbrake.
.... the handbrake undid. Easily. Like, entirely normally.
So, who knows. Anyway, all sorted.
Without wanting to be disparaging, maybe your Wife just doesn't have much upper body strength?
I occasionally would get a lift home from uni by a girl I was in halls with, who lived nearby.
She was very slim and it was a bit of a running joke how weak she was; always needing help opening jars etc. and it wasn't just a 'woe is me, I'm a weak feeble girl' type thing; she genuinely had very little strength.
At least once per journey she would stick the handbrake on at a set of lights and immediately exclaim that she'd probably pulled it on too far to release. She'd then have to use both hands to get the handbrake off.
Not often, but every now & again she would be unable to release the handbrake & I would have to do it for her. And it would never be any harder than 'pretty easy' to release. I had a skinny runner physique at the time, so it wasn't like I was some kind of ripped gym bro.
In your Wife's case, it was probably just a case of pulling the handbrake on a little further than normal.
“- Something fell onto the windscreen whilst doing about 40 on a country lane, causing a hole like a gunshot and a totally shattered screen”
A gunshot?
sorry, I couldn’t resist😂😂😂
At least once per journey she would stick the handbrake on at a set of lights and immediately exclaim that she'd probably pulled it on too far to release.
As with many other things the handbrake should be just tight enough.
At least once per journey she would stick the handbrake on at a set of lights and immediately exclaim that she'd probably pulled it on too far to release. She'd then have to use both hands to get the handbrake off.
To be fair, if you've put the handbrake on "as far as it will go" then that's as far as you can make it go whether you're the superwaif in question or Geoff Capes. "Further" is still going to be effort.
Should have got a car with drum brakes eh
I bet she drags the handbrake on without pressing the button too.
Ah you see I always used to press the button when applying the handbrake. But now I don't and let it ratchet in. Rationale being that it will be fully ratcheted in rather than on the cusp.
Not saying either way is better than the other
Not saying either way is better than the other
Ratcheting it on is recommended by many manufacturers now; some drivers struggle to coordinate releasing button and lever and the handbrake is then set too loose
I bet she drags the handbrake on without pressing the button too.
If she does she follows the guidance from many manufacturers that's existed for over 20 (and probably more like 30) years.
It's just a ratchet mechanism.
Far more chance of it missing/not fully engaging a tooth when releasing the button than by pulling it up.
As with many other things the handbrake should be just tight enough.
I've owned at least one car where the manufacturer disagrees. Fully on for parking to the limit of lever travel.
I bet she drags the handbrake on without pressing the button too.
Like you're supposed to you mean? Of either of those two mechanisms, the button release is always the weaker, the ratchet is, to all intents and purposes, indestructible, you'll wear the handbrake out more by pressing the button in and holding it, than if you just pull up. I've no idea why we were all taught to do this - noise?
Despite many old wives (husbands?) tales I would be astounded if holding the button in, or not, made the absolute blindest bit of difference to anything beyond one way being quieter than the other. Remember all those common handbrake lever failures we've all had over the years? Me neither.
Fully on for parking to the limit of lever travel.
If you leave it in a low gear (or Park in an auto) then the handbrake probably isn't needed at all under normal circumstances. Certainly not nipping it up to within an inch of its life. The only purpose it really serves is for people who can't be trusted to leave it in gear and people who can't do hill starts.
I've no idea why we were all taught to do this - noise?
Probably. It's akin to slurping soup, rattling through the ratchet like a tommy gun is just uncouth.
Were we all taught it, really? Or is it something we all picked up off our grandfathers?
I've no idea why we were all taught to do this - noise?
Mechanical Sympathy, I think. I often equate 'noise' with damage, so slamming a door, or scraping a table across the floor just feels like its wearing or breaking something, even if it's not really. Hence, hold the handbrake button in without even thinking about it. In a familiar car, you get a feeling for whether the brake is on or not anyway.
