Passat B6 Electronic Parking Brake

[Iainrugby]

I have B6 Estate which is an improvement on the old model. The electronic parking brake is confusing me though. Generally I understand it and am able to set off with automatic disengagement. Three times in the last month however this did not work and the green warning light came on instead, nearly causing people to pile into the back of me. I have no idea what I have done differently to cause the green warning light to come on in the first place. I have tried various combinations of brake, accelerator, clutch etc. in the drive, but no green light appeared. Anyone any ideas?

[JBlues]

This once happened to me and I have no idea why.

Do you have the Auto-Hold function fitted?
Did you take your seat belt off at any point?

[Gaz the Cab]

I read something about probs with the handbrake on one of the other forums, dont have time to search now but its there somwhere if you look.

[Iainrugby]

Yes, belt on, just standing at traffic lights, all as normal. As fas as I can see the only way to get the green warning light on is to press the button, only the button, no brake pedal, accelerator etc.

I rang the dealer and they booked the car in for "erratic" brake performance. I'll let you know what they find....

[Iainrugby]

Update........dealer found nothing. The next day it happened again! I rang them and they offered to book it back it. We agreed that this was probably pointless so now I'm writing a diary of events. This week around 4 times. Mostly on the way to work, which is less than 40 minutes.

[Iainrugby]

Update.......OK for about 3 weeks, then it started again. I just keep on making a note of the occurrence ready to show to VW.

[Roy]

It's happened to me too and it has very nearly caused a couple of rear end shunts at the lights.

There's a switch or sensor to detect when the clutch has been depressed, I think part of the problem is that this detection point on my cars clutch pedal is much lower than the point at which you can engage gear, so if I don't make a consious effort to depress the cluch fully before engaging 1st the handbrake doesn't auto release :mad: .

Apart from this I really like this car.

Roy

[Roy]

On the subject of the parking brake, why on earth did vw put the button over there :mad:

Surely the logical place would have been on the centre console near the gear lever. I wonder how much work would be involved in setting up a switch on the console wired in parallel with the dash mounted switch ?

Roy

[JBlues]

I always thought that shoving it over on the right-hand side was a bit odd too given that a 'noraml' car has a hand-brake on the left. I think the Audi A6 has the same system and the button for that appears on the centre console......or have I dreamt that?!

My car is back in again today for parking sensor testing....oh joy.

[blackie]

I have had nothing but problems with my electronic parking brake. I've got a 55 TDI and I've had a variety of problems ranging from the brake not engaging to it not disengaging. I've taken it back to the dealer and they can't find anything wrong.

The messages I get are 'Engine failure' and 'brake failure' appear on the OBC. This was one ting when the car was stationery and I was trying to pull away, but something entirely different when it comes on when I'm driving along!

I was convinced that each failure would write an entry to the OBC fault log and the dealer could just download it and find the fault, but no, far too logical that. It turns out that whenever the car writes a fault to the log, if it's an intermittent fault, as it is with me and some of the other guys on here, the car will delete the entry if it finds that it's been working ok a few times as it thinks that the fault has been fixed! What a loud of rubbish!

Like I say, it's one thing seeing the fault appear on the OBC when you're stationery and the brake not disengage, but something totally different when you see 'brake failure' when you're in motion. I've told the dealer that I want to give the car back as this is just the latest in a catalogue of faults. We'll see what happens...

[Roy]

Might be an idea to take a piccy of the display and show them to the dealer just so they know your not making it up!

Roy

[blackie]

Good idea Roy. To be fair to the dealer, they've now said that the next time this happens, they will send their senior technician straight out (providing I'm within 15 miles of the dealership) and hook up a laptop to view the fault straight away.

[Iainrugby]

Roy, I'll try the clutch thing tomorrow. But to be honest, I think it's totally random. I can spend 10-15 minutes trying various things in the drive but nothing happens. Now I wonder if the seat belt engage switch is doing what it should do, but presumably my seat belt warning light would come on.......mystery.

On a separate note, oil warning light came on at 3500 miles! This is owrse than my old 130TDI, which I seem to remember came on at around 10000 miles.

Iain

[Roy]

Iain, a collegue of mine has similar problems with his 55 1.9 TDi parking brake. The dealer has told him to 'buckle up' before he switches on the ingnition. He seems to think this helps so I thought I'd pass it on.

Roy

[blackie]

The only difference buckling up before switching on makes is it allows you to pull away without touching the button. If you don't, and start the engine first, you must put your foot on the foot brake and then press the parking brake to release - that's the only way to do it.

[Bob9109]

I have to agree with everything that has been said about the electronic handbrake....personally I find it a pain and hardly an improvement over a traditonal handbrake. A word of warning though be careful if you stall and try to re-start....it happened to me today and I almost came to grief with cars coming up behind at speed. You cannot re-start as quick because you have to release and then press in the key fob quickly whilst at the same time trying to set the handbrake....it's going to take some tiem to get used to....so beware.

I am also having problems with the boot lid opening on its own when I am away from the vehicle....does this ring a bell with anyone? The dealer's response is to switch the binary code off!!!:confused:

[Roy]

Yes, the handbrake is a fine piece of pointless technology, still, I'm sure it gives the German programmers hours of fun! For me it's just a spoiler:mad:

Re- restart time following a stall, yes, it extends what was a 5 second recovery using a traditional key to at least double that interval :mad:

Re- boot opening. I've seen several post on this and the consesus is that the button is getting depressed when in a trouser pocket. I can believe this as the range on the remote is vast compared to any previous car I've owned. I've not had it happen but I usually keep my key in a jacket pocket.

Roy

[Bob9109]

Roy, thanks for your thoughts. I have raised it with VW Customer care today and they are going to query the dealer on what they intend to do about it? Will let folks know, if an when, I get a response.

[Iainrugby]

Roy, I think you're right with the clutch pedal which HAS to be fully depressed. Usually I think I do this, but on those odd times when trying to set of quickly but sitting in neutral, the clutch leg must be too eager to touch the carpet! Since I've been making an conscious effort, not prake release problems.

Do you reckon it should be possible to shift the sensor / switch slightly?

Cheers

Iain

[Roy]

Do you reckon it should be possible to shift the sensor / switch slightly?

Cheers

Iain[/quote]

I'm sure it must be adjustable, however as the clutch wears the biting point changes so you would have to readjust several times over the lifetime of the clutchplate. You can actually find the switching point easily enough. With the ignition off, put the car in 1st, turn on the ignition, press and HOLD in the start button - the MFP will tell you to depress the clutch, do so slowly , at the switching point the car will start, mines about an inch off the floor but the biting point is about another inch or so higher up.

VW have deliberatley set the switching position near the end of it's travel becuase it's the only safe place ie. there's no way for the ECU to know the 'actual point of engagement' or 'biting point'.

Roy

[mmcnorwich]

I had the same problem. It is caused by having revs on whilst depressing clutch to engage first gear. Try it. It locks the auto release when pulling away. I am convinced however that mine has locked on when i definately haven't had any throttle on.

[John E]

I had the same problem. It is caused by having revs on whilst depressing clutch to engage first gear. Try it. It locks the auto release when pulling away. I am convinced however that mine has locked on when i definately haven't had any throttle on.

As the owner of a 2001 B5 Passat, I am smugly amused by the problems B6 owners are experiencing with the electronic parking brake. To me, it appears to be a pointlessly complex technological "solution" in search of a non-existent problem. The sole argument I have heard in its defence is that, when integrated with the ABS system, it will stop the car more quickly than the traditional handbrake.

Do any of you B6 owners find anything good to say about your electronic parking brake, or would you have preferred that VW had given you a traditional lever on the center console?

[Roy]

I had the same problem. It is caused by having revs on whilst depressing clutch to engage first gear. Try it. It locks the auto release when pulling away. I am convinced however that mine has locked on when i definately haven't had any throttle on.

I haven't noticed that but it would be crazy if they had programmed the system to look at the revs, I mean, take a hill start, it's normal driving technique to apply revs, if you don't and it's a steep hill you'll stall as the rollback torque overcomes the engine idle torque!

I'll check to see if my car is 'rev sensitive' and let you know.

The more I think about this friggin handbrake the more I realise it's a system designed for Automatics. I was pricing an '06 Sport last week and the salesguy was praising the Auto Hill Hold option saying it was a gift at 35 quid, I told him no thankyou and that I'd pay 10 times that price for a normal handbrake to be fitted! - No joke I would!


Roy

[Carle-End]

I had the same problem. It is caused by having revs on whilst depressing clutch to engage first gear. Try it. It locks the auto release when pulling away. I am convinced however that mine has locked on when i definately haven't had any throttle on.
I have just had my Passat in the garage for this fault, which they could not reproduce. I tried mmcnorwich suggestion several times and found it to be correct, Thanks for that I have let the garage know.

Geoff

[davidlandy]

never driven one of these new passats with the button handbrake but it looks to me that it could effect clutch life - a nice little earner for vw there then!

[snapdragon]

I am also having problems with the boot lid opening on its own when I am away from the vehicle....does this ring a bell with anyone? The dealer's response is to switch the binary code off!!!:confused:

There is a video on youtube of this!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xn51nrXjpAo

[vettriano]

whoopee, i now realise ITS NOT JUST ME!!:beerchug:, i have owned 3 passatts in the last 7 years , all has been well untill my latest 07model fitted with this infernal electronic handbrake , im relieved to see a number of us are having the same problems , mine sticks on , sometimes does not activate , then will work trouble free for several days before repeating itself with the same probs , been to dealer who reports CANT FAULT IT !!!, IS IT SOME SINSISTER PLOT TO DRIVE US ALL INSANE ? . we cant all be wrong or operating the control incorrectly or can we ??. i have now lost confidence in this device and resort to holding vehicle on clutch on hillstarts due to danger of stalling via handbrake release not working . this is last vw passatt i will purchase till design is changed . :mad:

[Argonaut]

On the subject of the parking brake, why on earth did vw put the button over there :mad:

Surely the logical place would have been on the centre console near the gear lever. I wonder how much work would be involved in setting up a switch on the console wired in parallel with the dash mounted switch ?

Roy

Its probably over on the right to avoid a passenger or driver pressing it by mistake when searching for radio/aircon/hazard etc etc?. When mine occasionally:confused: "sticks", I press the footbrake and the button at the same time and it disengages.

[Spiceman]

Hi,

Just took my B6 to France, and the parking brake was a pain in the butt! Kept
disengaging and displaying a fault; you would have to leave it for hours to reset!

Dealer not interested unless it is actually doing it!

My friend has just had his 55 B6 lock up and the battery had to be disconnected to get it to the dealer.

I can see this being a device to haunt the B6.

:(

[Argonaut]

Hi,

Just took my B6 to France, and the parking brake was a pain in the butt! Kept
disengaging and displaying a fault; you would have to leave it for hours to reset!

Dealer not interested unless it is actually doing it!

My friend has just had his 55 B6 lock up and the battery had to be disconnected to get it to the dealer.

I can see this being a device to haunt the B6.

:(
Check with your dealer. There is a fuse that can be removed to disengage the brake,rather than undo the battery. .

[Wiseman]

We have had our SE TDI estate since June 06. On four occasions the car has rolled away when parked. The first 2 or 3 times we thought it was because we had not checked that the light had come on but on this last occcasion, the light was definately on. Fortunately, no harm was done on the first 3 roll backs even though it rolled out into the middle of a busy road on one of them. This time, it destroyed a bollard and left us with £600 worth of damage to the car. We are still grateful that nobody has been injured or killed even.

VW will not accept that there is anything wrong with it. We also have the problem with the release when pulling away.

We had the problem where the windows would open for no apparent reason when the car was parked. Again, to start with, we thought it must have been an oversight. We started to check all the windows every time we parked it. We established that it DID do it on its own one day. Trouble was that it was pouring with rain. The dealer fixed it in the end.

It seems to me that a car that can open the windows when it feels like it is just as capable of releasing the brake when it wants a change of scenery.

I think they need to look at this before somebody gets killed

[kenney]

Just to let u guys know, there is a new software update for the control unit,which is supposed to cure different faults,this has to be done on-line with the factory.

[kenney]

SORRY i pressed the wrong button

[kenney]

Just to let u guys know there is a new software update for this control unit,it is supposed to cure different faults,this has to be done on-line with the factory

[PeoplesMan]

We have had our SE TDI estate since June 06. On four occasions the car has rolled away when parked. The first 2 or 3 times we thought it was because we had not checked that the light had come on but on this last occcasion, the light was definately on. Fortunately, no harm was done on the first 3 roll backs even though it rolled out into the middle of a busy road on one of them. This time, it destroyed a bollard and left us with £600 worth of damage to the car. We are still grateful that nobody has been injured or killed even.

VW will not accept that there is anything wrong with it. We also have the problem with the release when pulling away.

We had the problem where the windows would open for no apparent reason when the car was parked. Again, to start with, we thought it must have been an oversight. We started to check all the windows every time we parked it. We established that it DID do it on its own one day. Trouble was that it was pouring with rain. The dealer fixed it in the end.

It seems to me that a car that can open the windows when it feels like it is just as capable of releasing the brake when it wants a change of scenery.

I think they need to look at this before somebody gets killed

Would you not have left the car in gear from the first time onward ?

I have always been told to leave her in gear with the handbrake on ( Fail Safe )

At the end of the day, if you trust a computer with the securing of your vehicles mobility then it is going to flop.... I'll be sticking with the good old cable approach for a long time yet....

[Bob9109]

I do sympathise....this handbrake is not one of VW's best ideas...I took a look in an Audi the other day and smiled when I saw it still had a 'proper' handbrake!!! Personally I will be looking for other than a passat next time round...maybe Honda or Audi....

Come on VW get it right!!!