[skyrepsol]

A few weeks ago, I had my 07 SI parked outside of my gf's house on the street. The street has some what of a slope but it is not very noticable. After I parked the car, I had to move some bags, etc. into my gf's house and I took several trips in a 15-20 mins span. I was say it was around the 30-40min mark after I parked my car, some kids in the neighborhood came and knocked on the door and showed me what had happened........MY CAR APPARENTLY ROLLED DOWN THE STREET, MADE A TURN AND HIT A TREE!!!!!!. I was so rediculously mad at myself at first about what had happened. I initially thought I had forgotten to pull up the e-brake. BUT, I never had a bad habit of not pulling it up and also the slope of the street is some what steep enough for a car to immediately start rolling if the e-brake wasnt pull up(I tested it with multiple other cars). When I saw my car after it had hit the tree, the e-brake was completely down.

So, this has me thinking about contacting Honda and see if they would be responsible for something like this. I'll take this to court if its necessary...but the only thing that worries me is that Honda can say that I didn't put my car into 1st gear when it was parked. So my question is, weather if the driver of a manual car is required to put the car in gear when it is parked. Helpful suggestions will be very appreaciated! Thanks!


(I just got my car back today and everything seems fine. But the overall cost came up to about $5000+ worth of damage.)

 

[siracing17]

you got any pics?

 

[radiocontrolhead]

I think the manual does suggest the driver put the transmission in first when parking the vehicle.

Question: Were you able to pull the E-brake to hold the car after the accident or was it non-functioning.

 

[blueice1984]

that sucks! but honda will not cover it. no way to prove you pulled your e-brake up.

 

[effNsi]

wow that sucks. i dont know if it is required to leave a car in gear but i have made a habit of it. my question is how would the hadle go back down????? anyone know if this is possible????????

 

[skyrepsol]

that sucks! but honda will not cover it. no way to prove you pulled your e-brake up.

Well, technically I can prove that I pulled it up. Because if the e-brake was never pulled up the car would have immediately started to roll. There are plenty of witnesses around the neighborhood at the time.

 

[skyrepsol]

you got any pics?

Sorry no pics, this happened like 3 weeks ago and I was just visiting home for the weekend. At the time I was so depressed about this whole thing I could barely get myself to even look at my car. So I never got around to take any pics of it before I left for school again.

 

[r a y]

I dunno about you guys but when i was in drivers ed, they taught us to leave the car in gear ESPECIALLY if theres even a little slope. I know some drivers that don't trust the e-brake at all, and always leave the car in gear.

Sucks what happened bro!

 

[siracing17]

see i always use the e brake and rarely put it in gear because i always forget its in gear and when i turn it on it stalls and jerks forward

 

[jrotax101]

dont you have to press the clutch in to start it..?

 

[DTNguyen107]

a bit off topic and on topic.

I have always refer the "e brake" as the "parking brake".

How did this "e brake" ever came in? Does it mean emergency brake? Doesn't really work like one.

 

[siracing17]

yea its emergency brake

 

[siracing17]

dont you have to press the clutch in to start it..?

yea but then i take it out immediatly and it just kicks forward

 

[Si Speed 317]

It's known as both an emergency brake and a parking brake. Either way, it's the same thing for us.

 

[smokenrowboy]

1) You actually didn't pull the e-brake up. You have no hard evidence that you did. Saying that you thought you used the e-brake doesn't do any you any justice. Witnesses can only say that they saw your car roll down the hill. That's it.

2) You didn't pull the e-brake all the way up. The e-brake fulfills its maximum braking capacity when pulled ALL the way up.

3) You wore your e-brake using it for whatever purpose (braking, powersliding, etc.)

4) Your e-brake cable was not tightened properly (loosened) and was not serviced as recommended by Honda.

5) Your rear brake shoes were worn.

6) Did you even test to see if your e-brake worked after the "accident"? If it does, then you forgot to engage it before you left your car. Your fault.

7) Leaving the car in gear is a safety measure against a malfunctioning e-brake. You should ALWAYS do it, flat surface or not. This way people can't push your car away, your car won't roll down a hill on its own, etc. Worrying about stalling when starting your car is such a N00B reason to not leave it in gear. You drive a manual car. Deal with it.

I don't mean to bash, but I honestly don't think you have grounds to start a lawsuit. And if you did, I don't advocate starting one. American's and their exploiting of the suing system is so corrupt nowadays.

Anyway, gl with the repairs! :thumbs:

 

[SIg]

dang that sucks i always had a feeling our e-brake was not that good. when i had my car serviced they told me my parking brake was loose and they tightened it for me. but even so, it still felt a little loose. sucks that had to happen but you should start leaving it in gear.

sorry for the threadjack but, what's the difference between leaving it in 1st or 2nd gear? most people i know leave it in 1st gear but i was taught by my father to leave it in 2nd.

 

[Si Speed 317]

^ well the lower the gear, the harder it is to move it. It's a much larger gear. Reverse is great to leave it in because it's the lowest, but no need for that constant stretch.

1st would be ideal IMO.

 

[SnowyHessh]

http://www.civinfo.com/forum/bugs-faults-irritations/7930-all-members-civinfo-handbrake-failure.html

I hope this is useful to you. Civinfo is the forum for the 8th Generation Civics in Europe (they're so spunky looking), but apparently they've had a lot more occurrences of a parking brake failure that you are describing.

If you also search on the forums for "parking brake", you'll find a similar issue which I've seen first-hand. If you park in neutral with the parking brake applied, it's possible on vehicles equipped with rear-disc brakes that the rear discs will cool down, after extended driving, and the discs will physically contract, or reduce in size. This can cause a fully-raised parking brake to not function properly, and the vehicle can roll slowly, but still... roll.

I did a few months of food delivery, and I left the car running, but always turned the wheels to / away from the curb to prevent something like this from happening. In fact, I was so paranoid of my one and only car rolling, I delivered food with a wheel-chock in my trunk so if I was parked on an incline not against a curb (like a steep driveway), I would block one of my wheels with the chock. It's a bit excessive, and I never had a parking brake problem, but I thought it was worth the trouble.

I will admit though, I tried driving off with the chock in place and I foolishly stalled... heh.

 

[SIg]

^ well the lower the gear, the harder it is to move it. It's a much larger gear. Reverse is great to leave it in because it's the lowest, but no need for that constant stretch.

1st would be ideal IMO.

ooh alright thanks i guess i should start using 1st gear

 

[TJ213]

wow, that sucks, unfortunatly I don't know if you have much of a case against Honda.


I don't know about the law where you are, but in PA I know the manual says that you have to turn your steering wheel so if your car's braking system fails it hits the curb (It was the one question I got wrong on the permit test, thats why I remember it)




I try to leave it in gear, my dad pulls the e-brake up pretty far on his car, but had his s2000 roll out of a mall parking lot into the street once, the police had to push it back and hold it there until he came back. That was enough to convince me to not always trust the e-brake. (I wish I was there though, it would have been hilarious to see a blue convertible rolling into the street w/o a driver)