20th May 2008, 10:49

My husband & I have found this site very interesting, as we have had a handbrake fault, which in turn ended up with our car being across the road, into a roadsign and a fence.

We had a recall letter for our 55 plate vauxhall vectra, as the handbrake needed checking. I booked it in on the Wed afternoon. It took an hour, I then went to go and collect the key. The receptionist, whilst on the phone, handed me the car key and the stamped letter, and said thank you. (That was it!)

I took the car home on the Wed. Didn't use it the Thur, then on the Fri (as I am A childminder) took 3 children out in it for the day. Parked up for 3 hours, no problem. Loaded them back in, went into town, Parked up again for about 2 hours, went back home. Once again no problem. 2 Hours later, went to supermarket, once again parked up, no problem. Came home, parked up, took 1 lot of shopping out, went back for 2nd lot of shopping, shut boot, locked car. Okay fine... 20 minutes later went back to car to take car seats out; it wasn't on my drive! It was across the road, rolled back, up a 6 inch kerb, and rested with boot against a neighbours fence and a roadsign, with just 4 ways flashing. What a shock/horror!

My husband was insistent I hadn't put handbrake on, although I knew I had, because if I hadn't, it would have rolled back on me, whilst emptying the boot. After 20 years of driving, I knew I had put the handbrake on.

My husband took over, rang our local Vauxhall dealer, who said the car should have been left in gear, and there was a sticker on the visor, that we should have seen, but was not pointed out on collection of the car key, as receptionist was too busy talking on the phone. They said they would get in touch with Vauxhall head office who said they would ring back (what a suprise; they didn't). We rang again the next day. This time, we spoke to Head Office, whom told us that our local branch hadn't rang them, and someone in authority would get back to us. (Once again, they didn't.) It is now Tuesday, and we are still no further. We have since found out the head office is in Canada. We are still waiting for feedback.

What a coincidence; there was nothing wrong with the car before the recall. How many drivers in the country can honestly say they leave their car in gear, every time?

10th Jun 2008, 08:07

My 04 plate Vectra SRi rolled down a slope into a wall a couple of days ago, handbrake still in the "applied" position. Thankfully the wall was only a couple of feet away from where I had parked, and there was nobody walking between the two at the time, but I am infuriated that I will have to fork out just over £300 for repairs unless I choose to go via my insurance (not really an option, as at 22 years of age, my premium is high enough already without losing my no-claims discount...).

I've created a Facebook group, as it seems to be a good way to get media coverage at the moment, seeing as the Watchdog coverage and so-called "investigations" by Vauxhall have led to nothing (I'd be happy to demonstrate the problem for them). Feel free to join and pass the link around to anyone you may know who has suffered the same kind of problems - http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=48264740423&ref=mf

alandavidhutchinson@yahoo.co.uk

20th Aug 2008, 11:25

My vauxhall vectra rolled down a small hill last week, with no-one in it, crashing into a £14.000 BMW. The police were called & confirmed the handbrake was fully on. Thank goodness no-one was injured. The car was my pride and joy, excellent condition with low mileage. My car is now a write off & my insurance company will only give me minimal payment, not enough to buy an equal replacement. I am now without a car, I need it for my work. I have just found this web site which has been very helpful & I am now trying to pursue this matter with vauxhall. If anyone can help with any ideas as to what my next course of action should be I wold e very grateful. Ken.

29th Aug 2008, 14:02

I drive an 07 plate Vectra, my driveway slopes downward. Advice from Vauxhall is to park the car in gear, which I always have done by habit (I always firmly apply the handbrake). After the car has been parked a while, I have noticed, if I get into the car and dip the clutch the car starts to roll down the drive!

My theory is that Vauxhall handbrakes only hold whilst the mechanism/pads/disks are hot. When they cool and contract they release!

2nd Oct 2008, 15:29

Hi, we have a 2007 Vectra that has drove away down our drive and crashed itself into our garage, clever cars!!!.

Spoke to Vauxhall, they are not interested. My other half refuses now to go near the car. Vauxhall have advised me how to park funny, how can you complete a hill start, how do you park in traffic on an hill. Are Vauxhall waiting for some major incident before they take action. Last Vauxhall we will ever own.

17th Nov 2008, 17:17

I too had a handbrake failure last week on my 54 plate Vectra, which I bought from my local Vauxhall garage. I live on a steep hill with a equally steep drive, therefore I always leave it in 1st gear when parked. I was shocked to hear my car alarm sounding a few minutes before it crashed into the garage causing hundreds of £ worth of damage, both to the car & garage. The car had been parked for nearly 2 hours when it occurred & thankfully it was at night so my little girl was not playing in the garden, as she could have quite easily been behind the car.

I find it hard to believe that after all this time the handbrakes have not been sorted, & are still putting people's lives at risk. It was only after telling a friend about the events of last week that I was made aware of the problem, as they had received a letter last year. The dealers did not inform me of any potential problems, & there is no little sticker in the care or hand book, but I do not know what else I could do to prevent it rolling down the hill.

One very miffed driver.