E-Brake Failure? Anyone else?

[jxausa]

My Mazda 3 just rolled backwards down a hill...with the e -brake on. There is no way this a co-incidence that the exact same thing happened to my friend, whose house i was parked outside of, and she just so happened to have a mazda 3 too.

Anyone else? i know mazda wouldn't have this posted anywhere on their site.

 

[chuyler1]

Perhaps you and your friend need to pull up on the eBrake a little harder...or put your car in gear to be safe.

Additionally, if you passed your driver's license written test, or you read your owners manual, you would know that you are supposed to turn your wheels towards the curb when facing down hill and away from the curb when facing uphill to prevent your car from rolling should the ebrake not hold it.
(RTM)

Welcome to the forums btw!

 

[uclap5]

^^^ pretty much covered all I had to say about the subject.

well, maybe also you should check if it was properly tightened to spec (certain number of clicks, dont have a clue what it should be on the 3, check the manual)

 

[jxausa]

thanks

but no thanks...

gee why didnt i think of that? i was looking for some honest replies.

Perhaps you and your friend need to pull up on the eBrake a little harder...or put your car in gear to be safe.

Additionally, if you passed your driver's license written test, or you read your owners manual, you would know that you are supposed to turn your wheels towards the curb when facing down hill and away from the curb when facing uphill to prevent your car from rolling should the ebrake not hold it.
(RTM)

Welcome to the forums btw!

 

[neoturner]

You can always adjust it tighter to see if that helps. I've never had a car roll on me like that. Just make sure your brakes don't drag too much after.

 

[three]

Mine does that also but mine does it because i made the mistake of letting my girlfriend drive the car to the store and she drove the whole way there and back with the ebrake up. (FRIKEN IDIOT) didnt even have 2 oil changes and was already changing the brake pads and rotors. I think that maybe my cable is stretched kuz it still doesnt grip well with the ebrake, maybe ur cable got stretched somehow or can our cables get stretched?

 

[splitvizion]

i felt that the ebrake on my three was not all that great either. Although I used to live a huge ass hill and that probally wore it out a little sooner than it should be. I just make sure the car is in gear.

 

[icspots]

Like they said: leave the car in gear, make sure the brake is all the way on, and turn your wheels.

that being said I've heard of it happening to someone over at the mazda3forums awhile ago. Sometimes with the brake on gravity just proves a little too strong. that's why you should always leave the car in gear. It's unlikely to happen then. If it makes you feel better I think their car rolled into a lake.

On a funnier note I know someone that was parking a Squad truck, turned it off, set the brake and walked away. They get about 30 feet from it when they hear a screeching, and turn around to see it roll down the hill (very not steep btw) and push two cars over an embankment and into a shallow ravine. The truck was off, in neutral (yes, it was supposed to be in neutral) with an air brake set and it still rolled away. They actually had to reproduce it doing it for the powers that be to rule it not his fault.

Incidentally this was the truck

 

[bbrich57]

Cars w/4 wheel disc brakes are notorious for having weak parking brakes... at least the ones that I have owned, mostly Volvos, or are familiar with.
They usually either rely on mechanically squeezing the rear pads to the rotor, or the rotor "hat" is enlarged and acts as the drum that contain a small set of shoes.
Neither seems to work as well as a full drum system. But which would you rather have? A good brake system on the street (4 wh discs,) or a good parking brake (drum.) Until the engineers come up w/a better solution, I'll take the former every time.