Handbrake and/or Hill Assist Failure????

[jordyboy1988]

Hi all,

New to the forum, new to Ford and new to the Transit Custom. Got mine just over a week ago........ Everything was great first time Id treated myself to a Brand new vehicle.


Ill explain what happened step by step, if I miss anything please just let me know but any help would be appreciated.

I have a 64 reg transit custom limited 290 swb 155

So I come back from the shops and parked outside my house on the road which is on a hill. Not massivley steep around 20 degrees at a guess.
I park here all the time, sometimes when I just have to pop in sometimes over night.
My old van was parked here most nights for 2 years.
So I park the van get out and am talking to my partner who is outside the house with a client. We talk for around 1-2 minutes outside before the client leaves and we go inside. Van is fine.
So im talking to my partner inside for a good 15 minutes when I hear a thud and an alarm sounding!
I run outside to see my van has rolled APPROX 20 meters backwards and hit a parked car shunting it about a foot side ways.
My neighbour had seen my van rolling back and thought that I was reversing at speed!
I get inside the van almost crying my eyes out and find that the Handbrake is UP!
I double check and it is definitely up. I try to move it without pressing the release button to triple check and then try to pull it up, which I did by 1 notch but this was over tight in my opinion as I had to use force.

My rear doors are battered and so is the bumper.
The car It had hit wasn't actually that bad but still needs work.

I then had a thought. Around half hour before the incident while driving I noticed that the dash had a ! with a triangle around it. It said that hillside assist was unavailable, I hadn't turnt it off and I couldn't get rid of the message. I tried turning the van off and on again but it went and came back on.

Im wondering if there could be an actual failure and a link between what's happened or would most people say I didn't pull the handbrake up enough?!

I wonder if something could be wrong or why wouldnt it roll back straight away? it took at least 15 minutes before it happened and my neighbour said he seen it roll back quickly.
obviously I have a van and a car to fix and so if I can prove there's a problem I wont have to pay for damages thus affecting my insurance!!

Appreciate any input, if any more info is needed please let me know or if you just think I should tighten the handbrake more and stop wasting peoples time then again feel free.

Thanks
Jordan

[BRAVO9992]

As far as i know the handbrake still has a physical cable from the handbrake to the brakes, so unless that cable failed or BROKE it wouldnt be able to roll. But i maybe wrong mate.

The hill assist is electronic, but again as the handbrake was up that takes over from the hill assist so not sure where you can go with this unless you find the cable DAMAGED in some way.

Get the fault codes checked is your first option, then hope that this fault has a direct connection with your problem, but with the handbrake up i think its going to be hard to prove without the cable being BROKEN

[Mussels]

About enough time for the brake discs to cool down and contract. I've read about similar problems on cars a few times but the reason seems to be unproven.

[Sparkeselectrical]

Handbrake uses a physical cable to function, the hill start assist uses the abs system to electronically hold the brakes on, so no connection between the two

[BringTheRain]

We carry a lot of weight in our vans 1300 - 1500 payload vans and in the morning they are pretty much on the limit.

I have noticed the handbrake to be very poor indeed, i would guess the handbrake wasn't on fully and brakes have cooled

[jordyboy1988]

Thanks for all the replies!
The handbrake was up.....I had to use both hands to get it a bit tighter which you shouldn't need to do.
I'll let you all know how it goes.

[keeff]

Can you count how many clicks you get on the hand brake as mine was ok when new but now with 7000 on clock it is getting high. I will count tomorrow . You can try a test if you park on a hill again just put the hand brake on then put it in 2 nd gear. The lever will move in and out easy. When you return before doing anything else try gear lever if it is very hard to move out of gear it could of moved back on to the gears.
We have a electric brake on the wife's 4x4 and always worry about it holding.

[Marcob]

Any vehicle should always be in 1st gear or reverse when it's parked. The steering should always be turned appropriately as well.

[ake]

Any vehicle should always be in 1st gear or reverse when it's parked. The steering should always be turned appropriately as well.

Unfortunately people aren't taught this any more

[Smartalec]

Go to a Ford Dealer, there are brake overheat issues on the custom. get the brake light switch checked for installation and get them (FORD) to pay for the damage.

[Mussels]

If you are wondering how brakes can overheat when you are driving gently then remember the vans computer can apply brakes without the driver's input.

[Treespotter]

Why would it do that when driving gently?

[Mussels]

Why would it do that when driving gently?

At a guess if it's faulty. Don't know if that is the case but it's worth remembering.
If it detects one wheel slipping it will apply the brake to divert power to the other side. I don't know about the Transit but is my Jeep runs with a flat tyre it can cause big problems with the diff because the car thinks the wheel is slipping.

[Platinum123]

Hi mate just had the same thing happen to me did you get anywhere with ford when you contacted them ?

[Softlips]

Any vehicle should always be in 1st gear or reverse when it's parked. The steering should always be turned appropriately as well.

Unfortunately people aren't taught this any more

They are if my wife teaches them.