Handbrake

[Catherine]

Not sure if I have a problem with the handbrake in the Vectra. When I went to open the armrest I caught the rear section of the handbrake and it dropped straight to the floor.
This is not a first as I had the same thing occur with a 54 Plate 1.9 Diesel Club Vectra that we had on loan last year.
Is this a known or common problem?

[Sparky]

I had a simliar situation. I applied the handbrake, (as per the manual where you have to raise the arm rest!!! ? ), and just got out of the car and it slipped off the rachet going to the floor. Since then I now leave it in a appropriate gear when parking.
Went back to the dealer and it was agreed to replace the whole assembly (this is all one assembly, no manual adjustment in normal practise).
I know there is a common issue with the handbrake making a cracking sound as it adjusts up and VXL know about this, but there is no way this car should have jumped off the rachet by itself.
I have also heard of 2 other incidents where the handbrake failed (not on VXR's) but I understood this was put down to driver error.
I would guess the Vectra/Signum product manager will be aware of this but if not any chance Stuart/Dougie could let them know.

[Catherine]

Thanks Mark. I took the car into the dealer yesterday and they looked at me with a puzzled look when i raised it with them.
In fairness the VXR only did this last Thursday, the Diesel I had on many an occassion late last year had it happen frequently.

[VXR55]

my old 3.2 gsi managed to run out of my mates steep drive and ended up sitting in the middle of a road.the handbrake was on full but i had forgot to leave her in gear.vauxhall claimed never to have heard of any problem and their advice was to park with the wheels pointing to the kerb. this was after paying extra for the 19 inch wheels of course.in fairness they did put new calipers and discs on the back but the handbrake was still not as good as my fathers identical gsi. in have heard of 3 other cars running off when the owners claimed to have had the brake on full and they all collided with something.i was lucky that mine didnt hit anything.the odd thing is that all the cars run off backwards

[Sparky]

There are too many claims starting to appear now. Hopefully this will start to get looked at.

[Catherine]

Dealer has reported no fault found and no technical bulletin on the Technical website therefore there is no problem.

[Sparky]

OK so now I am getting a little fed up. The vectra came off the handbrake rachet yet again last night after the whole assembly has been replaced. So VXL say , no known problem, hello, 2 people on this site have a problem. Back to the dealer AGAIN!!!

[rpdjpd]

Same problem

Last friday i was parked on pretty level area, was getting something from the boot when the handbreak "came undone". I put this down to "maybe I didn't pull it enough" but after reading this, might go get it checked??
Not too concerned as I leave the car in gear when parked.

[Andyuk911]

Not had a problem with it