Re: Parking brake suddenly engaging while driving!!!!!!!!!!!! (lowenhart)

Sounds like it may be the parking brake

Seriously though glad your ok

 

Re: Parking brake suddenly engaging while driving!!!!!!!!!!!! (minorthr)

Quote, originally posted by minorthr »

Sounds like it may be the parking brake Seriously though glad your ok

That gave me a chuckle....

but seriously WTF is this default to full lock?!?!

Thats dangerous.

Imagine in the rain...*pop* e-brake locks... thats a death waiting to happen.

 

Re: Parking brake suddenly engaging while driving!!!!!!!!!!!! (lowenhart)

Sounds like your emergency brake cable snapped or came loose somehow. That would account for the floppy e-brake handle. The locking of the rear wheels was probably a built in reaction to the broken cable.

How did your rear tires fair?

 

If your car is still in warranty, I'd demand 4 brand new tires too. Since you don't want to have mismatched ones you know.

 

Re: Parking brake suddenly engaging while driving!!!!!!!!!!!! (jclough)

Thats insane, who the heck would design it to do that?

The tires seem to be ok, I wasnt driving fast...maybe 20km/h in downtown traffic.

 

Re: (Husker Z)

Quote, originally posted by Husker Z »

If your car is still in warranty, I'd demand 4 brand new tires too. Since you don't want to have mismatched ones you know.

Yeah it is under warranty still, that is very true. Thanks for the headsup, I am going to check the tires. They are pretty much brand new with less than 2000km on them.

 

Re: (lowenhart)

wow. I occasionally forget to put mine down but I could drive about 20 feet before realizing i'm being dragged down. Does the parking break react differently at high speeds than I think? I guess thats how you drift, although not in these cars.

Glad you weren't rear ended as is the norm in these cars.

 

Re: (BeerEngineer)

Broken parking brake cable default:

Full brake: Accident waiting to happen

or

Full no-brake: Car rolls into traffic, accident waiting to happen.

I wonder what a safe way to have the cable fail would be?

 

Re: Parking brake suddenly engaging while driving!!!!!!!!!!!! (jclough)

Quote, originally posted by jclough »

Sounds like your emergency brake cable snapped or came loose somehow. That would account for the floppy e-brake handle. The locking of the rear wheels was probably a built in reaction to the broken cable. How did your rear tires fair?

Actually, quite the opposite. Something had to "pull" on it for it to lock the rear wheels. If it snapped, it wouldn't engage, and the handle would be loose.

 

Re: Parking brake suddenly engaging while driving!!!!!!!!!!!! (phuz)

EXACTLY what I was thinking...I remember when the pbrake on my dad's old delta 88 went the pedal was loose and you could not engage it.

 

Re: Parking brake suddenly engaging while driving!!!!!!!!!!!! (lowenhart)

First glad you are OK! Not a fun thing to happen.

As has been mentioned, a broken cable would only make it impossible to apply the brake, and no resistance felt in the lever.

Since the parking brake is a drum brake, I suspect that something went very wrong inside ONE of the drums. Are you sure BOTH wheels locked?

The only way I can imagine BOTH wheels locking is if something happen to catch the cable, while you drove over it, and in effect did the same thing as you suddenly pulling up the lever, but that is a real long shot!

 

Re: Parking brake suddenly engaging while driving!!!!!!!!!!!! (rogersampson)

Maybe its not even the parking brake. Is there anything else that could cause the real wheels to seize up? When you got it towed did the wheels turn freely or did they have to drag it up on to the flatbed with the wheels locked up?

 

Re: Parking brake suddenly engaging while driving!!!!!!!!!!!! (rogersampson)

Quote, originally posted by rogersampson »

First glad you are OK! Not a fun thing to happen. As has been mentioned, a broken cable would only make it impossible to apply the brake, and no resistance felt in the lever. Since the parking brake is a drum brake, I suspect that something went very wrong inside ONE of the drums. Are you sure BOTH wheels locked? The only way I can imagine BOTH wheels locking is if something happen to catch the cable, while you drove over it, and in effect did the same thing as you suddenly pulling up the lever, but that is a real long shot!

Pretty sure both are locked. The roads were clear, I doubt I ran over something, there was nothing hanging under the car when I looked either....this is strange, i'll definetely let you guys know what the dealer says

 

Re: Parking brake suddenly engaging while driving!!!!!!!!!!!! (lowenhart)

Do you have your exhaust bracket removed? Maybe, in addition to lobotomizing prop shafts, it eats e-brake cables as well? Where do the cables run under the car anyway?

 

Re: Parking brake suddenly engaging while driving!!!!!!!!!!!! (minorthr)

The fact that the parking brake lever was loose and not effective after this occured pretty much eliminates the service brake, locked wheel bearing etc. unless there are some very strange coincidences.

 

Re: Parking brake suddenly engaging while driving!!!!!!!!!!!! (rogersampson)

I had to replace my parking brake shoes not long ago. It definitely wouldn't be caused by a snapped cable. But maybe one of the springs holding the drum closed broke and one of the shoes jammed somehow inside the drum. I don't see how this freak thing could happen to both sides at the same time though. Didn't this leave skidmarks? Were there two or just one?

Both of my parking brake shoes had one pad that had "de-laminated" off of the shoe. I didn't know until taking off the rotor but maybe I was just lucky.
Good to hear this didn't cause you any human damage though!

Modified by Geisler14 at 7:00 PM 4-24-2008

 

Re: Parking brake suddenly engaging while driving!!!!!!!!!!!! (Geisler14)

Had a defective shoe on the parking brake of my Supercrew that seperated the lining from the shoe, got jammed and drug in the drum. It wasnt enough to lock the wheels of a 1/2 ton 4x4 but it made a smelly mess that smoked a bit by the time I figured it out. This only happended to one wheel.

 

Re: Parking brake suddenly engaging while driving!!!!!!!!!!!! (lowenhart)

well...the dealer called me today to tell me that one wheel had seized. The internals of the parking brake in the rotor has jammed. Something broke along with the cable and pieces of it were jamming the brake locked somehow.....they are replacing the right rear rotor, shoes, pads, cable, and whatever is broken inside underwarranty. BUT my advisor said that I should change everything to new on the left rear as well to match the other side for obvious reasons which Volvo does NOT cover.

i argued with them for a while and they said its policy and they cannot replace the driver side as it is not broken. So now I have to pay for 1 new rotor, pads, and 1.4hrs of labour....to the tune of around $500 ..s this the norm????

To top it all off, they ran out of loaners and they arranged for a local rental company to provide me with a car and all they had was a Civic

 

Re: Parking brake suddenly engaging while driving!!!!!!!!!!!! (lowenhart)

Appears that you don't have any choice here. Unfortunately, it does make sense that VOLVO would cover only one side. For $500, I'd replace the other side just for piece of mind and ensure that both sides are the same age and pedigree, so to speak. Don't know how old your rear pads are, but if there is a silver lining, perhaps you were near that time where they needed to be changed anyway. If so, you could mentally subtract that price out of the cost you're paying. Sorry, dude. Scary event.

 

Re: Parking brake suddenly engaging while driving!!!!!!!!!!!! (lowenhart)

The explanation of the failure makes sense. The need to replace the components on the other side makes no sense to me. If Volvo feels that is the "right" thing to do, are they not willing to do the job "right".

I would not change out the components on the other side. The service brake is completely different from the parking brake. What little wear difference there may be on the new shoes in the replaced parking brake, versus the unaffected one would be negligible.

 

Re: Parking brake suddenly engaging while driving!!!!!!!!!!!! (rogersampson)

Oh...and they couldn't tell me WHY this happened. The advisor said its hard to tell as parts are broken...keep in mind this happend when I was in motion. I would understand if it happened when I tried to disengage from park, but I am still concerned as to why this happened and more importantly how to prevent it from happening again.

 

Re: Parking brake suddenly engaging while driving!!!!!!!!!!!! (lowenhart)

My parking brakes broke apart on the way to work too; the broken off pieces got hung up. Apparently, this is not so uncommon in the R. The district rep happened to be in the shop, when my car was brought in, and he said that he had seen this before.

The thing that makes me angry is that I had brought the car in only the day before, complaining of the "thunk" in the rear wheels when I backed up and difficulty moving the car (like backing over a speed bump)... they sent me home, because they couldn't find anything wrong. So the next morning I had to wait for over 4 hours for the wonderful Volvo towing (Texas) to scratch my front end.

If you live in an area where they salt the road, then it's more likely that this might happen.

Modified by Artemis_II at 5:49 AM 4-26-2008

 

Re: Parking brake suddenly engaging while driving!!!!!!!!!!!! (lowenhart)

Quote, originally posted by lowenhart »

Oh...and they couldn't tell me WHY this happened.

Well then they're idiots.

Things like this have been happening to cars with integrated drum (rotor hat) emergency brakes for years.

The emergency brake shoes have metallic linings. If the inner part of the rotor hat is wet (or humid) when the e-brake is applied, the shoes will start to bond. If the vehicle is parked for days (or even weeks), this bond will be very strong.

When the e-brake is subsequently disengaged, the linings remain corrosion-welded to the inside of the rotor hat. As the vehicle is put into Park/1st gear or Reverse, drive line torque is sufficient to break the bond between the shoes and rotor hat.

Unfortunately, drive line torque is sufficient to shear the brake lining from the shoe. The lining usually comes off in big chunks (sometimes in one complete piece). It rattles around and is ground to dust over time.

The drive line torque can also weaken the bond between the brake lining and shoe without breaking it. When this happens, the lining falls off during driving.

 

Re: Parking brake suddenly engaging while driving!!!!!!!!!!!! (RearWheelPaul)

Quote, originally posted by RearWheelPaul »

Well then they're idiots. Things like this have been happening to cars with integrated drum (rotor hat) emergency brakes for years. The emergency brake shoes have metallic linings. If the inner part of the rotor hat is wet (or humid) when the e-brake is applied, the shoes will start to bond. If the vehicle is parked for days (or even weeks), this bond will be very strong. When the e-brake is subsequently disengaged, the linings remain corrosion-welded to the inside of the rotor hat. As the vehicle is put into Park/1st gear or Reverse, drive line torque is sufficient to break the bond between the shoes and rotor hat. Unfortunately, drive line torque is sufficient to shear the brake lining from the shoe. The lining usually comes off in big chunks (sometimes in one complete piece). It rattles around and is ground to dust over time. The drive line torque can also weaken the bond between the brake lining and shoe without breaking it. When this happens, the lining falls off during driving.

Very common on this car for the binding to happen, Paul. However, this is the first on here I've heard of this happening to anyone. Thoughts?

 

Re: Parking brake suddenly engaging while driving!!!!!!!!!!!! (Needsdecaf)

The lock-up of the rear wheels due to parking brake failure is new to me.

The bonding of pad to rotor hats isn't. I've seen it dozens of times.