Yaris Handbrake

[allymac]

Couple of days ago (before we had 12" of snow, just a light dusting), I parked my Yaris 1.3 MMT on the drive which has a slight upward incline. Handbrake on, ignition turned off, I got out of the car then opened the rear passenger door to get out my bags. Suddenly the car started rolling down the drive with me chasing after it! Luckily I live in a cul de sac. My immediate thought was that I hadn't put the handbrake on or even if I did, not all the way.

However, I got into the car and drove up onto the drive again, put the handbrake on fully, turned the ignition off and then sat there to see what would happen. After around 20 seconds, it started rolling backwards. All four wheels were turning, it wasn't that the car was sliding off the drive with the wheels static.

I called the Toyota dealership from where I got the car but they had never heard of anything like this and could only assume that "something must have frozen up."

Anyone else had this happen?

[andycam06]

i hope you are leaving the car in gear now?

no, the exact opposite happened me, over the summer the woman left the vitz in direct sunlight for 2 days and the handbrake locked one side and wouldnt budge for the day.

bring the car into a garage, cable may be snapped in the cold, how was it preforming up till this happened?

[Cyker]

Freaky... only thing I've had close to that was when the handbrake cable snapped on my old Fiesta!

I actually have the opposite problem with my Yaris! Sometimes the rear drums bind overnight and when I release the handbrake, it doesn't disengage properly and I get the horrible you're-driving-with-your-handbrake-on grinding sound for a second before it releases!

Have you had a mech check the rear drums? Maybe they're worn or some debris is fouling the contact area

Also, I can't remember if the Yaris handbrake is cabled or hydraulic, but if it's hydraulic the fluid would be worth checking too...

[allymac]

I did ask the dealership if I should leave it in gear and if so, which gear but they said it shouldn't be necessary. They did offer to take a look at it but could not do this for 2-3 weeks, which is helpful!

i hope you are leaving the car in gear now?

no, the exact opposite happened me, over the summer the woman left the vitz in direct sunlight for 2 days and the handbrake locked one side and wouldnt budge for the day.

bring the car into a garage, cable may be snapped in the cold, how was it preforming up till this happened?

[alfiejts]

My daughter said that her Yaris handbrake didn't hold fully on some of the steep hills in Sheffield. I put it down to a young girl not pulling the brake on as much as a hefty bloke would, but I mentioned it to out local dealer in Blackpool when we put it in for its 2-year service.

Before that, I'd taken the drums off and dusted them out, in case that helped and also checked that the handbrake came on with the correct number of clicks, as per the handbook, which is did - but none of that made any difference.

Anyway the service tech did say that he had found that the mechanism needed to be adjusted and she should see a difference - and she did - for a while it did hold on the Sheffield hills - but gradually it has gone a little worse again and doesn't always hold.

Anyway, bottom line is that the drums don't get taken off at the 1 year service, so the car was as it was deliverd from the factory and when they did the 2 year service and found it needed adjusting, that was the first time anyone would have touched the brakes since it was delivered.

So the issue wasn't down to anyone "fiddling with it", it had been like that since manufacturer....

So - it seems that the Yaris handbrake may not hold as well as you might hope and also that it might benefit from profession adjustment at a dealer service - certainly worth a mention....

[Cyker]

Best to park it in-gear to take some strain off the rear drums on a steep hill anyway.

If I'm parking on a fairly steep hill, I always leave it in 1st gear along with the handbrake (Remember to put it in 1st gear AFTER you turn the engine off and BEFORE you let go of the foot-brake! ), and steer the car toward the kerb in case it does let go; That way it'll just roll into the kerb instead of down the hill

[mrpj]

"I did ask the dealership if I should leave it in gear and if so, which gear but they said it shouldn't be necessary."

It shouldn't be necessary but the MMT section of your vehicle handbook does advise to leave in gear on a slope. As there is no "P" position as with a proper auto 'box their recommendation is "R" if parked front downhill, "E" or "M" if front uphill. I use "M" because it shows 1 on the display.

Just keep the brake pedal pushed, apply the handbrake then select appropriate gear before stopping engine.

[allymac]

Thanks for the advice.

A further development: I was looking thru the handbook today for tyre pressure figures and whilst looking thru the index, found 'Cold Weather'. Turned to that page and lo and behold, it says "do not use your parking brake when there is a possibility it could freeze. You're supposed to put the car in E or R gear and block the rear wheels. "Do not use the parking brake, snow or water accumulated in and around the parking brake mechanism may freeze"

I have never heard of this before and neither has my local Toyota dealership. I had a Toyota Corolla for six years before the Yaris and never had any problem. Seems I have to go and find a couple of bricks...

"I did ask the dealership if I should leave it in gear and if so, which gear but they said it shouldn't be necessary."

It shouldn't be necessary but the MMT section of your vehicle handbook does advise to leave in gear on a slope. As there is no "P" position as with a proper auto 'box their recommendation is "R" if parked front downhill, "E" or "M" if front uphill. I use "M" because it shows 1 on the display.

Just keep the brake pedal pushed, apply the handbrake then select appropriate gear before stopping engine.

[Peter Sale]

Interesting to read this as I have had two types of problem with the handbrake on my 1.8SR:

Freezes on so much in the cold weather that sometimes I can hardly move off from cold. Maybe this happens more with discs on the back than the usual drums. The resultant bang might wake the neighbours so now I always try to park in gear with the handbrake off. At least you can't start in gear when half asleep !.

Bought mine as a 1 year old ex-T car and the handbrake was ok if you live in the flat part of the country - fortunately where I live - but near useless on a steep hill. At the last service I asked them to check and got the usual 'It's fine sir' Turns out they had only checked the number of clicks in the workshop which of course isn't anything like a steep hill. Asked them if they could check it to MOT standard by using a rolling road which they agreed to do. Then they found that one side was hardly working. Since they stripped it down and cleaned it is much better. At least they didn't charge.

Peter