Close Call!

[JohnEclass]

Heard a bang and then a car alarm.....then my wife shouts me something about car....I run outside thinking somethings happened to one of our cars

we live on a cul de sac at the first house on corner, outside a VW Jetta is parked in the side of a car parked on the opposite side of junction.... it belongs to one of the neighbors about 4 doors up from me.....all doors are locked only people on street are me and the family who own the VW golf with a VW Jetta parked in the side.

I run test all the doors, they are locked......I run up to neighbors, he's coming out of house on mobile...telling police his car has just been stolen.......I tell him it has just rolled down the hill only stopped by the golf opposite junction, all doors locked.

Handbrake failure??......He tells police and hangs up. He gets keys and parks it back where it started (with handbrake now on properly I assume :fail, as it has not moved again ....yet) Insurance details exchanged. My missus comes out and explains she had just looked out of spare room window and saw the Jetta hit the Golf.....thought the neighbor had been taken ill or something , but then noticed nobody in car!

All ok in end but if there had been a car coming along road or pedestrian, could have been a whole lot worse. Its usually a busy road.

Moral of this story....make sure you apply the parking brake correctly (Not so much of a problem with auto box in park)

 

[renault12ts]

...and leave the car in gear.

 

[cinek]

...and wheels turned to the kerb.

 

[Dieselman]

How is a crash classed as a close call, surely a close call is a near miss.

I once had a car roll away. The first I knew was the driver of the car that had do perform a sharp stop, knocking on the door.

I think I said, Bugger..

 

[flango]

My neighbour opposite did this his car ran off the drive and demolished our garden wall, 6ft to the left it would have been into the back of my volvo on the drive, if no cars had been on the drive it would have been through the front door

 

[Dieselman]

My neighbour opposite did this his car ran off the drive and demolished our garden wall, 6ft to the left it would have been into the back of my volvo on the drive, if no cars had been on the drive it would have been through the front door

One morning on the way to work, I remember seeing a DD bus that had gone across someones garden and demolished the corner of a house.

That's some pots of tea to make for people just popping in...

 

[davidjpowell]

I do recall a chap who parked an all drive Audi on his steep drive in the snow. Came out in the morning to find it across the road, handbrake still applied.

 

[219]

It still beggars belief that so many people regularly abandon cars relying only on handbrakes .

 

[LTD]

Hot brake discs and pads cooling down and releasing the brake pressure is the likely cause.

Another reason to buy an automatic.

 

[Giantvanman]

I was having a coffee with a friend, sitting outside a cafe, when a BMW 7 series pulled up. The owner got out and shot off. A few seconds later, I did a double take and reacted quickly enough to stop it rolling back into two parked motorcycles.
When the owner came out, I asked him to join me at the back of his car, asking him why my lower leg was braced against his bumper and his car wasn't where he left it.
But I left it is Park, says he. And it was.
A lesson to all who rely on Park and no handbrake.

 

[JohnEclass]

How is a crash classed as a close call, surely a close call is a near miss. I once had a car roll away. The first I knew was the driver of the car that had do perform a sharp stop, knocking on the door. I think I said, Bugger..

Close call as it could have been much worse!
But see you're point

 

[blondee]

My car did this once... I had a Smart Forfour (Not one of my finest moments!!) I went out to meet my Mum and her friends one Saturday night (Not drinking!). Came out the pub and had lost the car... It had rolled down the car park hill and just sat there. Thankfully behind where I parked was empty. Then later the same evening... I parked it up outside my house on the pavement & my neighbour rang me about 2am saying my car was lying in the middle of the duel carriageway & the police were pushing it out the way? The handbrake was on. Forgetting your handbrake once, ok! However why would I? Twice, on the same night... Weird. It never did it again but thought it was so odd.

 

[219]

I was having a coffee with a friend, sitting outside a cafe, when a BMW 7 series pulled up. The owner got out and shot off. A few seconds later, I did a double take and reacted quickly enough to stop it rolling back into two parked motorcycles.
When the owner came out, I asked him to join me at the back of his car, asking him why my lower leg was braced against his bumper and his car wasn't where he left it.
But I left it is Park, says he. And it was.
A lesson to all who rely on Park and no handbrake.

I'll use Park only on the flat , but on an incline always Park or whichever gear would move uphill + brake and wheels turned .

 

[219]

Hot brake discs and pads cooling down and releasing the brake pressure is the likely cause.

Another reason to buy an automatic.

Hence why Mercedes , and a few others , use drums for the parking brake : as they cool down they contract and tighten their grip , if anything .

 

[jay1983]

The multi story car park at media city in salford is a regular for cars rolling down the ramps. When it happens there are tail backs up to the roof.
I refuse to park there anymore as i have been caught in it twice.

 

[John]

I remember looking out of a window once late at night to see a car further up the road start moving on its own.

It was obvious the handbrake was no longer holding it but instead of watching it hit something - I rushed downstairs and outside, by which time it was moving quite quickly and had gone some way, but I easily managed to stop it (it was a MK1 Vauxhall Corsa).

The nice young teenage lady (I was 20 at the time mind) was chuffed I'd stopped it before hitting anything.

Unfortunately, she wasn't that chuffed.

 

[Meldrew2]

I've used P for years without a problem, but then I rarely park on hills or slopes. I'll use the foot operated parking brake when parked on a slope, but prefer not to asmy left knee is not good.

Fortunately nobody hurt - things could have been far worse.

 

[Dieselman]

My car did this once... I had a Smart Forfour (Not one of my finest moments!!) I went out to meet my Mum and her friends one Saturday night (Not drinking!). Came out the pub and had lost the car... It had rolled down the car park hill and just sat there. Thankfully behind where I parked was empty. Then later the same evening... I parked it up outside my house on the pavement & my neighbour rang me about 2am saying my car was lying in the middle of the duel carriageway & the police were pushing it out the way? The handbrake was on. Forgetting your handbrake once, ok! However why would I? Twice, on the same night... Weird. It never did it again but thought it was so odd.

Hot brake discs and pads cooling down and releasing the brake pressure is the likely cause.

That is exactly what happened on my first XM. Front disk brakes for the parking brake, about 2 hours later, off it went.

I always applied the brake a bit harder after that.

 

[artyman]

Wasn't there a Citroen that suffered from failing handbrakes a few years back. I've only had it happen to me once, an old Vauxhall Victor 101 parked outside my grandparents went for a little jaunt down the road until it mounted the pavement and stopped against the wall.

 

[E270 Owner]

Google "hand brake recalls" most manufacturers have problems, well those that are honest enough to admit it