mine is pretty loose as well...but ive heard that its a real PITA to adjust them on our cars.

 

Don't most people put there 6MT G's into gear when you park it? I never leave my car in neutral and rely on the hand brake....You have to put these cars into gear first and then use the hand brake....best safety measure...

jdm4eva

 

I agree. Why take a chance- just put the car into any gear and you will be secure even without the parking brake.

 

Excellent find!

 

I think the e-brake works fine, never had a problem. I always throw it into gear whenever I am parked on a slope to prevent such accidents as yours.

 

Those are my feelings exactly.

 

In a perfect world, yes that is what a parking brake is suppose to do. But you have to consider the system that is employed. It's just a basic cable holding the rear brakes with no hydraulic pressure. This is why parking brakes should NEVER be relied upon to hold a car on any sort of incline. I don't care how hard you engage it, it's not a given that it will hold. Brakes work with friction and they work far better when they're heated. 70% of your braking power comes from the front brake SO that means when you engage the parking brake, it is quite possible that the rear pads/rotors are still relatively cold and that cable actuated system might not pocess enough force to totally hold the car. This could be especially true if the car was just started, rolled out of the garage, and then stopped on an incline.

As in this odd and unfortunate case, I would have to side with the dealer. It's really not their problem because the car should always be in gear with the e-brake applied.

 

i put mine in 1st now after nticing that the ebrake was not really holding all that well.

this is my first MT in a number of years so I do not recall what I did in the past.

 

Your absolutely right dude. It's like leaving a Automatic car in Neutral and pulling up the handbrake.

jdm4eva

 

I have the same problem, I have to pull it up all the way to keep it from rolling, or put it in gear, usually both. I recently got a brake job (not at the dealer) and I asked them to fix this, and they told me that the parking brake is self-adjusting. I didn't quite understand, but he said you pump the foot pedal until you get good pressure in the lines, then you pull the e-brake handle several times. Doing this over and over tightens the parking brake. He made the comparison to training a muscle, it takes time to get stronger. This idea seems crazy to me, but I am trying it anyway.

 

Hey I never heard this before, it's almost like e-brake on steriods.....

jdm4eva

 

The two brake systems are completely independent of each other. Hydraulic vs cable. Caliper/pad/rotor vs shoe/drum. There are no shared components so they can't have any effect on each other. As for the "training a muscle" comparison, whoever told you all of this needs to train his mental muscle a little more.

 

Honestly the 5AT's have the same problem even though it is a foot e-brake. if it's not pushed down far enough same issues. Just don't notice as much cuz it is in park, but if you are working on the dash or something in neutral with any kind of incline gotta have the p brake all the way down. I also forget to disengage sometimes and it takes a while to notice cuz there is such little stopping power in that p brake unless it is engaged all the way

 

he probably just wanted to see the driver looking like a chicken pumping the pedal and pulling the hand brake lol

 

Whenever parking i always pull my hand brake and then put it in gear so it doesn't rest on the transmission.