Is the hand/e brake fail safe?

[SRRAE]

Hi, Is the electronic handbrake / e-brake fail safe?
Ie. is the default of the brakes actually and the electronics hold the brake off?

My fanbelt has snapped AGAIN. The garage is a few miles away, although the steering is tough Im more worried about the battery. As it wont be charging I don't know if will last getting there and whether, should the battery get too low, would it cause the hand brake to come on.

 

[NHN]

2 miles should be fine unless you've run already with no charge, question is why has it snapped twice, tensioner issue?

 

[desertstorm]

Handbrake won't come on if the battery runs low. If you are concerned about getting to the garage on the cars current battery level borrow a charger if you don't have one and charge it up. I would be more interested in why your fanbelt is snapping. Especially if it's not the first time you may have some kind of issue with the tensioner or the one way clutch on the alternator.

 

[SRRAE]

Handbrake won't come on if the battery runs low. If you are concerned about getting to the garage on the cars current battery level borrow a charger if you don't have one and charge it up. I would be more interested in why your fanbelt is snapping. Especially if it's not the first time you may have some kind of issue with the tensioner or the one way clutch on the alternator.

The garage is probably more like 10 miles, plus I drove a mile or so back after it snapped. Also when I got the car a service report said the battery is only 60% good, so I think I am pushing it too much.

All this started when I got my cambelt changed about 2 years ago. I was told the tensioner and fan belt needed replacing too, which was strange because both were replaced when I bought the car about 6 months earlier.

Less than 6 months after the cam, fan and tensioner was changed the fan belt snapped. I returned it to the place which did the cambelt and they said the alternator clutch was faulty. The fixed the alternator pully and replaced the fan belt and tensioner again. It's been just over a year since and it's gone again. I'm taking it somewhere else.

I look after most of my own cars and never has a fan belt snapped. The Audi is the only car I've taken to a garage to have these services done.

 

[NHN]

Honestly fan belts are quite reliable tbh, so yes I'd be concerned about few things, but it's hard to question if it's the garage at fault or an outstanding issue on the car they didn't see.

Ask them what they're prepared to do or goto a well known vag garage.

 

[SRRAE]

Honestly fan belts are quite reliable tbh, so yes I'd be concerned about few things, but it's hard to question if it's the garage at fault or an outstanding issue on the car they didn't see.

Ask them what they're prepared to do or goto a well known vag garage.

Original work was done from a known VAG garage which I thought would be best to use even though it was 30+ miles away. This added quite an addition to my costs getting it towed there after if first snapped. I wasn't happy about the £30 charge for a brand of belt I can get from my local motor-factors for £12.

Thanks for everyone advice.

 

[NHN]

Yes but you have to go pickup the belt, that's time used & they have to spend time to order, maybe collect who knows, it's a minor thing tbh out of this all, but I understand what you mean, problem is & I come across this all the time, no offence, just generalising, but people, possible clients don't realise just because the can buy something from XXX for such amount, there are other things involved in the requested work, pickup, install, equipment etc that all takes time also, plus travel, fuel, etc etc, all relative & some people just don't take this into consideration at all.

Anyway that's not helping your situation, just pov's.

I would be looking for a pulley jamming or not turning flat so to speak, as belts generally snap for only few reasons, obstacles, tension or something getting momentarily stuck.

 

[rum4mo]

Maybe for anyone looking for specific info on the electric handbrake later on, just one thing to understand in the context of this thread's title, the electric handbrake is operated by an electric motor winding out the parking brake pad against the disc.
It is not some heavily spring loaded item that gets released by a solenoid powering down - and so is always "fail safe" if all power is lost, if all power is lost the electric handbrake will not operate to go ON or to get taken OFF if currently ON.

 

[PenttisHSR]

or to get taken OFF if currently ON.

That's why you need a little torx driver in the toolkit, so that you can take the motor off the back of the caliper to release the handbrake.

 

[CarbonMike]

Take a charged 14.4v or 18v battery from a battery drill and 2 lenghts of cable with you.

Instant booster pack so you can power up the car and put the handbrake on or off.