Electric Parking brake fault.

litmus paper

hello all, there seems to be a fault in the electronic parking brake which replaces the traditional handbrake, in my volkswagen passat 2006.I went to few mechanics in town and no one really knows whats the story. Has anyone ever experienced this problem and please advice me what should I do. The brake seems to be working fine, its just that there is a warning light in the dashboard display. thanks.

DaveJac

I think these are the worst idea ever, anyway is the handbrake light on constant? check your break fluid first off, did you replace rear brake pads recently? the light can come on and would have to be turned off, id say bring it to someone with a good computer and get it plugged in and find out exactly whats wrong

bazz26

I think VW have a software upgrade for the electronic handbrake on the Passat. 2005/2006 Passats are plagued with problems including the electronic handbrake. My uncle had a 06 Passat and had to have a software upgrade done by the dealer on the handbrake. So it might be worth ringing a VW dealer to see if there was a recall on them.

I totally agree though they are a silly feature and another electronic component in modern cars to go wrong whereas the conventional handbrake is a simpler design and does it's job. If it ain't broke don't try and fix it.

shedweller

A lad in work had the same problem so we researched it. I found this:http://www.passatworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=278836
It seems to be the usual turn it of then turn it back on solution. As is usual with electronic stuff these days!
I'm all for these kind of thing but could they just make it reliable??!!

bazz26

Ah, the old IT solution, reboot it...

pajo1981

Electronic HB with autohold it great when driving in traffic. Also, not having a hb frees up a lot of storage space in between the seats.

alfabren

i had a similar problem, i took to ace auto electric in finglas they have a vw diagnostic system and pluged it in while i waited it turned out to be the switch cheap enough to fix.

mickdw

Dealers are fitting new switches & doing software upgrade if car is out of warranty by even a year in most cases I hear. In this case, I think taking it to the dealer might be a cost efficient enough solution. They will have seen a thousand of these faults and should be a quick fix.

frank gooding

The lads in MKW motors have the gear to do this as well. They can do upgrades on your car systems too.

www.mkwmotors.boschauto.co.uk/MKW-Motors/Home

They sorted out my brothers Passat 08.

This seems to be a common fault suprised most mechanics havent heard of it.

litmus paper

Thank you all for your comments.

Fourcandle

alfabren wrote: »

i had a similar problem, i took to ace auto electric in finglas they have a vw diagnostic system and pluged it in while i waited it turned out to be the switch cheap enough to fix.

Same thing just happened overnight on my 07 Passat. Main VW service centre advised that its the control unit, an electrical fault, and will be EUR680. New switch and s/w update will also be done and new pads that needed doing anyway.

supersparkz

Good old VW making things far more complicated than they ever needed to be.:D:D:D