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Electronic Parking Brake Fault

slthomas

New member
Location
south wales
Hi All

I am new to this so please be patient. I have an issue with my MK7 golf where I have an error on the dash complaining about the electronic parking brake. This started last November and been to the garage on a number of occasions for this issue.

I have not seen my car for the last 8 weeks as it has been in Milton Keynes with vw technical team and they still have not identified the fault. They are now trying a new wiring loom.

I have seen other posts relating to the same issue so this is not new to vw technical!

Has anyone else come across this? if so how did yours get resolved. I have contacted VW finance to reject the car but they are refusing. How long does an issue have to be with the car before they give up or accept the rejection. :(

I have lost all confidence in the car and the VW brand. After this experience will be looking for a vehicle with a manual handbrake.
 

Golfdriver

New member
Location
Fife
EPB not holding

I have a similar problem. Intermittently, when driving off from stationary, having been parked on a hill, instead of the usual smooth disengagement of the handbrake as the clutch engages, the car rolls back (or forward). So far, I've hit the brake quickly enough to prevent a collision but I feel it's only a matter of time before I have an accident with this 11 month old dangerous car. Needless to say, the car's been back to the dealership countless times but both they and VW seem unable to resolve the problem. I'm sick of the car and wish I'd never bought it.
 

GolfPilot

Ready to race!
Location
Burton on Trent
Had this on my first Mk7. Message on the screen saying 'Fault: Electric Handbrake' or something similar. It was very intermittent.

Went to the dealer a few times but they never cured it. So far no problem with this one!

GP
 

Ian91

Ready to race!
Location
UK
VW will lose future sales

Looks like VW have a number of faults with the EPB and auto hold, dealers and VW UK just fob you off. Looks like they haven't tested it fully in pre production, they will lose a lot of future customers if this problem is not sorted.
 

ChrisK

Ready to race!
Location
Bristol, UK
Looks like VW have a number of faults with the EPB and auto hold, dealers and VW UK just fob you off. Looks like they haven't tested it fully in pre production, they will lose a lot of future customers if this problem is not sorted.

Trouble is hundreds of thousands of us are not having problems but that said every car can have niggling faults that no one else suffers but what amazes me is why even the so say VW technician can’t find these faults when the cars are presented to them.
 

Ian91

Ready to race!
Location
UK
Trouble is hundreds of thousands of us are not having problems but that said every car can have niggling faults that no one else suffers but what amazes me is why even the so say VW technician can’t find these faults when the cars are presented to them.

With my car The "senior" tech guy at my dealership tested it with me and did find that the car jerked significantly forward When pulling away on the flat and said he would get to the bottom of the problem. After he could not find a fault with diagnostics/abs he contacted VW UK at Milton Keynes and they suggested getting hold of the exact same model and testing that one, he did and it did exactly the same so it was diagnosed as a characteristic of this model. This makes me think VWUK know there is a fault. So unless I can fined a Golf GT tsi DSG 150PS with the 2015 engine, that does not do this, I just have to accept that all of these particular engined Golfs have this problem. I must add I tested Golf SE and Golf SV and the early model Golf GT DSG with the 140PS engine Golf and the auto hold operated fine.
 

pcr

Ready to race!
Location
Shropshire
I would argue that although all cars of a particular type do it, it is still a fault, and to call it a characteristic is just VWs way of fobbing you off because if they fix one, they may have to fix them all.
 

Ian91

Ready to race!
Location
UK
Yep, I seem to remember a problem on the Mk6 with the DSG on certain models and in China they extended warranties on the DSG drivetrain to 10 years.
It could well be a software issue which they cannot solve but it would be step in the right direction if they acknowledged there is a fault and not treat customers like idiots.
This is my fourth golf in 12 years, so perhaps I am a loyal idiot!! As I still enjoy driving Golfs.
 

giggle pin

New member
Location
Manchester
My sister in laws G7 rolled off after parking & hit a wall (thankfully not a person) after displaying the EPB fault message on a number of occasions which the dealer failed to diagnose & VW UK failed to acknowledge.
The car was sold as she has children, no confidence in the car & no desire to kill anyone, she said if she sees it on Watchdog after burying itself into a bus queue she will notify VOSA.
If anyone in the UK is having this issue notify VOSA about it & they will investigate and demand a recall on the model if they deem it dangerous.
 

Ian91

Ready to race!
Location
UK
Changes to auto hold thro VCDS

Interested to know if anyone has adjusted the hill hold assist thro VCDS - to rectify the auto hold snatching when pulling away?

VCDS can be used to change the "feel" of the auto hold (called Hill assist in the module controller).

It's done this way:
(1) From the list of module controllers, select 03-ABS Brakes
(2) Once the ABS Brakes controller screen opens, select 10-Adaptation
(3) From the channel pull-down menu, select Hill-start assistant
(4) In the New value box, adjust the setting accordingly (default: normal)
(5) Click Do it! tab, then click Add to Log tab to save a copy of the change, then click Go Back tab and exit the RT software

I've attached a screen shot of the Adaptation channel for reference (the original picture comes from the Stemie.de site)

(Original post from DV52)
 

Golfdriver

New member
Location
Fife
Should be a recall!

After over a year of problems with an intermittently-holding electronic handbrake (and who needs a handbrake that works only intermittently?) I've now been invited to have a software update to "improve the release characteristics" of the EPB. In other words, to stop the handbrake releasing when it shouldn't. When a car is liable to roll backwards when the driver is attempting to drive forward, it's a major safety issue. For a year, I've been told my driving style was at fault and Milton Keynes technicians described the issue as "pilot error" - when they must have been aware of the problem (otherwise why issue this software update?) In my opinion, if VW were a responsible manufacturer, it would be releasing a safety recall. And I thought I could trust this manufacturer...
 

Ian91

Ready to race!
Location
UK
After over a year of problems with an intermittently-holding electronic handbrake (and who needs a handbrake that works only intermittently?) I've now been invited to have a software update to "improve the release characteristics" of the EPB. In other words, to stop the handbrake releasing when it shouldn't. When a car is liable to roll backwards when the driver is attempting to drive forward, it's a major safety issue. For a year, I've been told my driving style was at fault and Milton Keynes technicians described the issue as "pilot error" - when they must have been aware of the problem (otherwise why issue this software update?) In my opinion, if VW were a responsible manufacturer, it would be releasing a safety recall. And I thought I could trust this manufacturer...

Interested to know how you get on, the EPB works ok on my car the problem I have 11 months on, is the auto hold, still not releasing cleanly.
I had similar response with the auto hold, being told by VW UK/Milton Keynes Techies that it was a characteristic of the 150 PS 2015 petrol GT model.
 

LeGti

Ready to race!
Location
France
Got hold of some VW EPB training material if it's of any interest to you. The words are French but the technical drawings are universal ;-)

I've begun collecting the part numbers required to backdate EPBs to manual. It's really quite involved to say the least. And the unknown hurdle remains: can VCDS take care of the software?

Keep you posted,
Ben.
 

LeGti

Ready to race!
Location
France
Double-post, sorry.
 
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