A6 Electronic Parking Brake

[GLOVERGLOBAL]

I have a 2006 A6 Avant. Very intermittently the brake will not release. I know that you have to have the seatbelt fastened and the clutch must be released and the throttle pressed. I know I can go to manual if necessary but I feel that it should work. My 'Audi centre' tells me that there is nothing wrong with it. Even the specialist from Audi Technical at Milton Keynes, who checked it today will apparently report nothing wrong when he files his report on Monday. To date they tell me that I am doing something wrong but after driving for nearly 40 years I do not see what I can be doing wrong every once in maybe 100 times of activating the brake. I have had it release after applying more throttle but also has it refuse. Rest assured that the brake holds remarkably well ( I have had the car on 4000rpm in first gear on a steep slope and it holds while you burn out the clutch). I have threatened to reject the vehicle and would appreciate any comments as to similar incidents or tell em what I am doing wrong. having said all that I would still have another one. Apologies for the lonfg rant but it is very frustrating when you are told you are wrong.

[RickB]

I have had the same thing with my late 2005 saloon. I don't think it's a car error, for me I think it's driver error (with me).

Again sometimes slightly up or downhill it won't autorelease, but I've just got used to hitting the foot break and pressing the button on the odd occaision that it does this.

[GLOVERGLOBAL]

Thanks Rick. I originally thought mine was to do with the elevation of the road but it has also happened on the flat. Have you notified Audi? Is it still happening even very occasionally?
Regards

[RickB]

Funnily enough it happened again last night, on the flat.

I am going to trawl through the manual today and see what the official version of how it works says.

The car is in the dealers for tyres on Tuesday anyway so i will ask them about it then.

I just though it was me not using it correctly. May well still be this but now i know to ask at least!!

Thanks.:beerchug:

[GLOVERGLOBAL]

Your dealer will probably tell you there is nothing wrong and you are not using the brake as intended, which I found to be insulting. Now that I have had your response and have told my dealer there is at least one more out there, I think they may be starting to believe me. I have had the clutch position switch and the centre console switch changed and a full check of the electrics carried out but they still tell me nothing is wrong. Please keep me posted, I think there are a lot more out there but people either think it is their fault or ignore it and go manual. Like all intermittent problems, it never happens when the dealer has the car.

[PhilR]

I've head it on both my 2.0 TDi A6's (an 05 manual and an 07 Multitronic). The 05 car stuck on at a roundabout and eventually released very slowly. The Audi Assistance guy said that a fault had registered but it seemed to have corrected itself. That was the only time it happened on that car.

It has happened 3 or 4 times (in 6 weeks!) on the 07 car, and I have resolved the issue with putting the car in neutral and trying again. I think it happens when I stick it in gear too quickly after putting the seatbelt on....but that's only a guess.

Good luck with Audi.....I have had a similar experience with them insulting me by suggesting that the paddle shift will only go up a gear if it's got enough revs......thanks for the driving lesson Audi!

[gazza57]

I can only echo what Globalglover said here, in my experience dealers just aren't interested in getting to the bottom of the majority of issues, especially if they're warranty related.
This is not a phenomenon restricted merely to Audi, but does not preclude them either.
My wife suffered the indifference of one particular dealer when she returned with an auto choke problem after buying a brand new car.
The car would run for ten minutes or so after a cold start and then cut out every time the clutch was depressed.
"You're not giving it enough revs"
"It's your driving style"
were amongst the colourful and imaginative responses she received.
After discharging the battery due to numerous starts, she had to continually bump start it on the run after each time it cut out.
They had the car overnight and ran it from cold and then said we could find nothing wrong, and shortly after driving it away she had the same thing occur again and back to the dealers bump starting again.
The inference was as she was a girlie and couldn't possibly know her a*se from her elbow she finally lost her temper and told them that she was not going to go away so they better start sorting her out or else.
She had to start the car in the forecourt and physically demonstrate to them that the fault was there, something she had done before.
They replaced several temperature sensors, a vac hose and finally the pull down unit before the fault disappeared.
They had no bloody idea they just kept replacing things till the fault went away.
It was only because she stood up to them that they bothered at all, my advice to you is take it back and rattle their cage big time, tell them you've paid good cash for a car and want the problem sorted.
My experience of the dealers is that it doesn't matter a tinker's cuss how many people have the fault, they will avoid doing anything that costs them money especially recalls.
Remember Audi TT Instrument Pods!
Gazza57

[PhilR]

Would you believe that it's just happened twice to me on my driveway...put the seatbelt on, put it in reverse and it wouldn't give. Put it in neutral, same again. Tried a third time and it released.

It's happened a lot more in 6 weeks on my new car than it did in 2 years on the other one.

One for Audi to sort out.......though I'm sure it will be my fault

[GLOVERGLOBAL]

Mine has been no problem for a while now but today it let me down. In a conversation with Audi Customer Services yesterday I was advised to call the Audi Assist helpline as soon as I got to my destination, next time it happened . They are sending a technician today to try to find a fault code as I have only driven it home and it may still be registered on the diagnostic system. Watch this space. If your dealer does not believe you, refer them to Heritage Audi Salisbury. They will be able to confirm I have reported the issue but may not confirm it is a fault. Like all motor manufacturers they do not want a recall if they can avoid it.

[PhilR]

Unfortunately Heritage Audi are the dealer that I bought the car from (as they had it in stock)......and I'm not impressed with them. I tend to use Southampton Audi as they tend to be better in my experience. Will be interested to hear what your Audi Technician says.

[GLOVERGLOBAL]

The technician could not find any fault codes but at least he believed me. I also showed him that you could release the brake without being in gear. All you do is have the seat belt on, dip the clutch and rev the engine and the release works which could be awkward if you did not expect it. The Technician thought you had to have your foot on the brake pedal and you don't.

There is a new flash code engine update just released. I live in hope it will cure it.

[tygertyger]

I have a 2005 manual A6 which is now approaching 54000 miles and agree the parking brake does not release on occasions.

I have found two things help:

1. Give it a few revs (not many) and find the biting point of the clutch. Depress the clutch slightly and then pull away as normal.

2. On the occasions when it is not going to release, forcing it with loads of revs will just make it worse! Start again by making sure you depress the clutch ALL the way down, give it a second or two and try step 1. Patience seems to be the key, not speed and revs.

[Jum]

This is not just on the older cars, mine is on an 07 plate.
I have intermitently had the same problem and had to go through the foot on brake and release switch (which is fun on a hill).
I have now found that if you are holding the car on the clutch you can also release the parking brake without touching the foot brake.
Is this what you are ment to do?

[GLOVERGLOBAL]

Yes, you do not need to have your foot on the brake. What you do need to know is that you can release the brake when you are not in gear. As long as the seatbelt is on, if you depress the clutch as if engaging gear, touch the throttle and lift the clutch the brake will disengage. If you are on a hill and have not gone into gear by mistake you could roll back.

[billez]

OK, my comments on this item are to do with the electronic brake but not getting it off, it's getting it on. You flick the switch on and then have to wait for the light to come on to tell you if it's applied. If you switch off and remove the key this light isn't there. So why is it that with nearly everything on an A6 being automatic the bl**dy hand brake doesn't automatically engage when the car is switched off, key removed and locked.
Can anyone give me a reason why you would not want the parking brake engaged when the car is parked?

[alogbe]

I have recently bought a 2007 A6 Avant and have been struggling for a few weeks with the wretched "electro-mechanical" brake, which I think is an invention of the devil. It works quite well for an uphill start; the problem is simply moving off from a level position, either forwards or backwards.

I think I have found a reliable way to release it, although it's not what the book says: push the button down and keep it pressed down while you blip the throttle.

I like the car generally. But if this is Vorsprung durch Technik you can keep it.

[a8 tech]

OK,there is a solution to this and its been about for a while.Software versions 0040 and below suffer from this and also the clutch and brake switches can also play up and throttle pedals need to be correctly adapted and see open throttle to full throttle positions

[alogbe]

Can anyone give me a reason why you would not want the parking brake engaged when the car is parked?

As a matter of fact, I can, although it's a highly local one. In Valencia (Spain) a standard method of street parking is this: the first cars to arrive park at an angle of about 45º to the kerb, and when there are no more spaces, the next ones park in a straight line parallel to the kerb, thus blocking the exit of the first ones - except that the cars are left in neutral with the brake off, so that they can be pushed out of the way.

Of course, it only works on straight streets in a flat city, but Valencia is like that.

I found this out by accident when I was one of the 45º lot and thought I had been blocked by one of the others, until I casually leaned on it and - hey presto! - it moved.

If you accidentally leave the brake on in that situation, which people sometimes do, you may incur the wrath of a local driver, with consequent damage to your paintwork.

[why.the.dots]

I have this maybe once a month, usually when I try to set off quickly because I've just noticed that the lights are green.
If you think like a German and do everything in a controlled manner then all works well.

I have a friend with a VW Passat he has the same 'feature' on that.

It's not a fault just a **** poor idea.

All because they could work out how to have an arm rest and a hand brake.

[audipersempre]

Should have gone with Mercedes solution for having a handbrake and arm rest!!

[David Churchill]

The problem still lives! Anyone found the solution yet? I DON'T mean a work-around with extra blipping, revving, gearshifting. I want the dealer to nail it so it won't happen again. Symptoms: sometimes won't auto-release, has also once released too soon on a slope.
If this happened during MOT testing, would this be a failure?
Audiyadrivethisthing:1zhelp:

[no1mechanic]

the best place i found for diagnostics on audi's and vw is

IGS

Unit 5 Stanstead Road
Boyatt Wood Industrial Estate
Eastleigh
Southampton SO50 4RZ
Telephone: 02380 629606
Fax: 02380 629329

[SMAGSMITH]

OK,there is a solution to this and its been about for a while.Software versions 0040 and below suffer from this and also the clutch and brake switches can also play up and throttle pedals need to be correctly adapted and see open throttle to full throttle positions

Hi All. First post so go easy on me. We have recently bought a 2007 a6 avant and are having this problem too. So if there is a solution as suggested by a8 tech, then how do I get it? All I know about car is how to drive them, so if the answer is technical, then please use "mechanics for numpties" language

Cheers
Smag

[MFGF]

Whenever the parking brake fails to auto-release on my car, it is invariably because I haven't fully depressed the clutch pedal before trying to pull off. If I dip the clutch pedal to the floor and try again, it works fine. It takes a little getting used to, but after a while it becomes second nature to ensure the clutch pedal is pressed all the way in before starting off.

Cheers!

MF.