Stalled/cut out in traffic = no brakes!

[Stripey]

On the motorway this morning, usual stop start traffic, my engine decided to turn itself off whilst I was still moving at about 5mph. This wasn't great being in a queue of traffic, surrounded on all sides as it meant the brakes didn't work.

The car had put itself in neutral with the engine now off as there was no resistance at all as it slowly rolled forward approaching the back of the car in front. No warning lights came on anywhere. All I could think of doing was putting the epb on but that didn't even work! Luckily the car in front moved forward slightly just as I was about to hit it at probably only 2mph. I rolled to a stop and I put it back into P, turned the key and it started fine and was fine for the rest of the journey.

Bit strange. Has this happened to anyone else? What could cause the car to do this?

 

[everlast556]

In US spec we still have a manual PB which is nice. But you lost all brakes when engine stalled? That's sounds very strange. Even with the engine completely off you should still have brakes. I would take your car to a dealership immediately.

 

[freshpots]

In US spec we still have a manual PB which is nice. But you lost all brakes when engine stalled? That's sounds very strange. Even with the engine completely off you should still have brakes. I would take your car to a dealership immediately.

Not true, if your engine is off and you use the brakes too much, your brake lines will fill up and the pedal won't even go down


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[everlast556]

Not true, if your engine is off and you use the brakes too much, your brake lines will fill up and the pedal won't even go down


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Huh, I thought it would be like losing power steering as in you would still have brakes but it would just be a lot harder to press.

Also, he said he was only going 5 MPH. It doesn't seem like he would of used the brakes too much to make the car stop at that speed.

 

[djust]

Brakes should have been able to stop the car at 5mph easily, that is very scary that the systems would allow those things to happen at all.

Gotta love a manual parking brake just for such an occasion.

 

[pcr]

And the Emergency brake did not work either ? Hard to believe that could happen.

 

[Stripey]

I too thought brakes would work but would just be stiffer to press the pedal. But I pressed the pedal and it wasn't stiff, felt normal but there was nothing there. Obviously stamped on the pedal to make sure!

So when you have no brakes and you're rolling in neutral, even on a flat road at very low speed it can take a surprisingly long time to come to a complete stop. Also, engine was in sport mode at the time so would've been in gear, unlike when coasting in Eco.

Rang dealer earlier and they confirmed brake servo would not work with engine off, but I would still expect there to be some braking from stepping on the pedal. They're going to have a look at it in a few weeks time although I'm fully expecting the usual 'theres no fault code so it must be fine' response!

 

[phaphaphooey]

Agreed that this thread makes me thankful that VW cheaped out and gave us a manual parking brake in the States.

 

[DannyScotland]

I would have thought the brake may have required some pumping to get you a little resistance in the brakes.

Regardless, very worrying and you do right by getting it to the dealer. I accept these situations ‘should’ never happen but it would be interesting to see how you can stop the car if the EPB doesn’t work either. My guess is that itself won’t turn on if you are going a few miles per hour?

One advantage for the good old handbrake I guess…

 

[everlast556]

Anyone have a very large, empty parking lot in which to try this on purpose? Get up to like 10 MPH, shut off engine and see what happens?

 

[James75]

Agreed that this thread makes me thankful that VW cheaped out and gave us a manual parking brake in the States.

Here we go...

 

[pcr]

Is this associated with the problem people report where the DSG disconnects drive when in ECO mode ?

 

[Stripey]

Not heard of that? However, it might be related if that's a common complaint. Although in my case it was accompanied by loss of brakes and the engine turning off. Mine definitely disengaged drive as it stalled because the gear number in the display screen disappeared..... It went from S1 to just S.

 

[phaphaphooey]

Here we go...

 

[Pyramid1]

Episodes like this are why I'm thankful we still get the manual parking brake in North America. As for why that happened, I can't say, but it's troubling nonethelesss..