A few have had this, rolled down into their garage, down hill etc. i even caught mine inching back on my drive one day and i caught it before anything happened.

I don't care what anyone says, but imo the A1's handbrake is not up to its job.

There have been too many coincidences now.

Have a search on here for handbrake and you will find more info.

 

This has happened a couple of times now
Might be a good idea if the mods could group together these handbrake fail post so this can then be raised with Audi

 

A few have had this, rolled down into their garage, down hill etc. i even caught mine inching back on my drive one day and i caught it before anything happened.

I don't care what anyone says, but imo the A1's handbrake is not up to its job.

There have been too many coincidences now.

Have a search on here for handbrake and you will find more info.

yeah, had a look for it on here after the incident last night... looked at a few other places on the internet as well, and there does seem to be a few of these instances about. Also covered now on Honest Johns website as of Feb this year. I suspect Audi will remain un interested as that would mean admitting something was wrong!

 

As posted on here before...... The handbrake works on the rear pads and the pressure on the pads when the handbrake is lifted by itself is not always enough to stop the car rolling away. Audi state to leave the car in gear in the handbook so as soon as you told them you didn't they washed their hands of the problem. It has been posted before that to get maximum holding force it is best to press on the foot pedal while lifting the handbrake lever. There is a noticeable higher position to the handbrake lever without any extra force needed to pull it up.

 

As posted on here before...... The handbrake works on the rear pads and the pressure on the pads when the handbrake is lifted by itself is not always enough to stop the car rolling away. Audi state to leave the car in gear in the handbook so as soon as you told them you didn't they washed their hands of the problem. It has been posted before that to get maximum holding force it is best to press on the foot pedal while lifting the handbrake lever. There is a noticeable higher position to the handbrake lever without any extra force needed to pull it up.

Guess very difficult to prove that this issue caused your damage. Audi won't want to assist. I find with them the only way to get what you need is by royally kicking off. :roll:

 

As posted on here before...... The handbrake works on the rear pads and the pressure on the pads when the handbrake is lifted by itself is not always enough to stop the car rolling away. Audi state to leave the car in gear in the handbook so as soon as you told them you didn't they washed their hands of the problem. It has been posted before that to get maximum holding force it is best to press on the foot pedal while lifting the handbrake lever. There is a noticeable higher position to the handbrake lever without any extra force needed to pull it up.

Guess very difficult to prove that this issue caused your damage. Audi won't want to assist. I find with them the only way to get what you need is by royally kicking off. :roll:

I fully intend to, as for Audi stating to leave the car in gear, well thats as good as saying somthing is wrong and the product isnt right in my opinion. May as well say ' carry a brick with you to put under the tyres when you park'!!!

 

I have never had to pump the brake before engaging the handbrake on any other car i have owned (I now do this on my A1).

The rear brakes are tiny and the handbrake/rear brakes squeaks when someone gets into the car on a slope (It has been on 4 A1's i have noticed this)

Whoever designed or gave the go ahead on the handbrake/rear brakes needs a slap and a P45

 

Does this problem affect s-tronic with transmission set to P?

 

Thats a very good point TheWrongun . You cant leave the auto in gear so I presume I'd better start pumping my footbrake when i apply the handbrake ????
I shall see what happens in the auto if you leave the handbrake off - is there a transmission lock as on slush boxes ?

 

I always leave mine in gear as my drive is on a slope , next doors Mazda has done this twice and ended up in the middle of the road.

 

I have never had to pump the brake before engaging the handbrake on any other car i have owned (I now do this on my A1).

The rear brakes are tiny and the handbrake/rear brakes squeaks when someone gets into the car on a slope (It has been on 4 A1's i have noticed this)

Whoever designed or gave the go ahead on the handbrake/rear brakes needs a slap and a P45

It shouldn't be necessary, but it does depend on the type of brakes you have. For example, if all of your previous cars either had massive discs on the back or drum brakes (which need less pressure to apply) then you may not have needed to use the press-foot-brake-while-applying-handbrake trick.

Does this problem affect s-tronic with transmission set to P?

The S Tronics certainly have an advantage with their P position.

It depends how you define the problem though. If the problem is that the car rolls down slopes when parked on a hill, then no this won't affect S Tronic owners because the P position physically locks the front wheels so that they cannot move without seriously damaging the gearbox. However, if you define the problem as the handbrake not gripping the rear wheels very well, then I imagine the problem exists on all A1s.

 

Usually for disc brake hand brakes there are separate pads within the drum/hub of the rear brakes, I'll check if this is the case on the A1 but if it is then pumping the pedal has no affect on the handbrake, you are just pressurising the main brake system.

 

All of my last cars, including the A1, would use the main brake pads for the hand brake. And on my A1, that is very obvious when you apply the hand brake - you can easily pull it further if you have your foot firmly on the brake.

If this issue is a serious one, perhaps contacting Watchdog might be an idea? There is a series currently running and they have dealt with brake issues on cars before.

 

Agreed.

Two previous cars I owned had rear discs and the handbrake just applied pressure to those rear discs. If I pulled the handbrake on as hard as I could, then pressed the foot brake down (engine on of course), I could always pull it up another 2 or 3 clicks because the power assistance applies much greater braking force than the handbrake alone.

At the end of the day though, a hand brake is meant to be put on by hand and it should hold the car pretty well on its own without requiring Hulk type strength. The manual doesn't explicitly say you have to press the foot brake, so you shouldn't have to.

S Tronic owners won't notice this problem as you have to put the gear selector in P (which mechanically locks the front wheels) before you can lock the doors.

 

Usually for disc brake hand brakes there are separate pads within the drum/hub of the rear brakes, I'll check if this is the case on the A1 but if it is then pumping the pedal has no affect on the handbrake, you are just pressurising the main brake system.

Volvo did/do a rear drum/disc combo where the handbrake applied the drum brake only

but i don't think modern cars (especially small ones) have this set up anymore

i have always left my cars in gear when parked up, and when in the garage - just in gear without the handbrake on (to prevent sticking)
when more and more cars went on to rear discs instead of drums i heard loads of stories of cars rolling off
but only a few weeks ago a newly qualified driver told me i shouldn't be leaving my car in gear (his instructor said you shouldn't) - so after a quick slap, i explain why you should

 

Embarrassingly, his instructor was right.

More accidents are caused by people forgetting their car is left in gear when engaging the starter motor, than are caused by cars rolling down hills.

Again, something automatic owners don't need to worry about.

Edit: Or A1 owners for that matter.

 

You need to press the clutch to start A1

 

My previous BMW 130i had a separate handbrake from the main calipers; it meant that when you engaged the handbrake and took your foot off the brakes the car would nudge forward (or back) a few inches as it took up the lash in the system; it never moved though (and I had a very sloped drive). In the handbook there was a recommendation to gently apply the handbrake when moving every so often to keep it free.

Many years ago I adopted the practice of preloading the handbrake by pushing the footbrake before applying the lever. I never leave cars in gear (unless on a ferry or parked on a REAL slope) and have never had a car move. That's 24 years over dozens of car makes and types.

 

It's an easy habit to get into. You have to stop the car with the foot brake anyway, so you just pull the handbrake on before you take the foot off the brake and turn the engine off.

 

Yeah my last car was a Beemer, I and potentially BMW are in the Stone Age re disc hand brakes by the sound of it.

 

Embarrassingly, his instructor was right.

More accidents are caused by people forgetting their car is left in gear when engaging the starter motor, than are caused by cars rolling down hills.

Again, something automatic owners don't need to worry about.

Edit: Or A1 owners for that matter.

not according to the highway code and common sense & experience

252

Parking on hills. If you park on a hill you should

park close to the kerb and apply the handbrake firmly
select a forward gear and turn your steering wheel away from the kerb when facing uphill
select reverse gear and turn your steering wheel towards the kerb when facing downhill
use 'park' if your car has an automatic gearbox.

 

Right but you assume most people have common sense

Anyway, I was just citing a statistic (that I mostly made up)

The highway code is right and the instructor needs a slap because people SHOULD have enough common sense to check their car is in Neutral before starting (or press the clutch). I've always done this.

Also a runaway car can do much more serious damage than lurching forward a foot due to being left in gear and starting it. I guess it's better to have a lots of bruises than a single fatality. Modern cars also prevent this happening so as they slowly replace older cars this will become a non-issue anyway.

 

Mine has started 'popping' out. It's applied correctly, loud pop in car and handbrake has been released. Once is perhaps human error on application of handbrake, 6 times in last 4 weeks is a problem! Car being booked in.

 

It might be the ratchet not engaging properly. Either pull the handbrake up without pressing the release button at all (noisy, but this is the safest way to apply it and doesn't cause any harm). Or, pull the handbrake up while pressing the button, release the button, then pull it up one more click.

What you're looking for is that "click" at the end of applying it. Ideally you should actually pull it up a tiny amount more (not another click, but sort of half way between) to make sure the ratchet is freely resting against the locking mechanism.

If it still pops off after applying it like that then the ratchet will need replacing.

 

To keep all those intereseded up to date, after a letter to the dealer, their owners and Audi, I received a call from the dealership, very apologetic about the way this had been handled, A1 dropped off this morning to undergo repairs which Audi will be taking care of... Given a very nice new A3 TDI while mine is away! Fair play to the dealer, they very quick to want to put the situation right.