30th Aug 2007, 06:12

Same thing happened to me.

Today I received a sticker from vauxhall asking to be put on the drivers visor essentially telling me to leafve it in gear.

Which I have always done since mine rolled into my neighbours house.

30th Aug 2007, 09:15

I have just received a letter from Vauxhall explaining the correct method to apply the hand brake on my Vectra, they have also supplied me with a sticker to put inside my car to remind me to leave it in gear; I contacted the Customer Care Department who assured me that it was not because of possible fault with the brake, I asked them why they felt it necessary to single out Vectra owners; after speaking to their supervisor they informed me that they would notify all Vauxhall owners starting with Vectras because of the amount of complaints that they have had. My car has also rolled down my drive 1 hour after beign parked and caused quite a lot of damage; I did feel at the time it was my fault, now I am not so sure. It does seem like they are trying to cover up something.

3rd Sep 2007, 07:50

My wife's Vectra (53 plate 2.2DTI Elite estate) rolled down our drive last weekend (1 Sept 2007). It had been parked for half an hour and the drive is steep. Fortunately our neighbour was there and my wife had forgotten to lock the car, so he was able to stop it.

We have both had the handbrake release itself with a very loud bang a few seconds after applying it, but this is the first time its released after a long delay.

We are also three years in to trying to get an intermittent fault fixed on this car: the CAN bus connection to the front passenger door fails in hot weather, which results in the lock, window and mirror not working. Anyone know the cause?

David.

8th Sep 2007, 12:01

We have had the same problem with our Vectra handbrake and at first thought it was because the handbrake had not been pulled on properly. We were in a queue of traffic waiting for the traffic lights to change when there was a thump and off went the handbrake. Luckily my son, who was driving the car at the time, reacted quickly enough to use the foot brake to prevent the car rolling onto the car in front. Very scary.

After that incident, every time the handbrake was used we heard an unusual noise as though there was some clanging of wire. (this was the same journey on Sat 25th July) This noise has gone and so far we have not had any more trouble. But the notice from Vauxhall has made me quite nervous.

Sylvia.

10th Sep 2007, 15:04

I have always exercised conscious care in engaging the handbrake. However, on the 24th June, I was extremely distressed and bemused when one hour after parking my 06 Vectra Estate 1.9 DTI outside a school, a member of staff came in to say that my car had rolled down a small incline and crashed into her parked vehicle. The handbrake was now clearly in the down position. I covered the cost without complaint, have parked in gear ever since, but have remained 100% convinced that I had engaged the handbrake fully before leaving my vehicle. Today an unusual letter received from Vauxhall, outlining "parking procedure" alerted me to a possible explanation for the accident and finding this site has been a revelation. I have now lost confidence in the handbrake system of a car which was otherwise a joy to drive and am concerned about future risk. I intend to contact Vauxhall tomorrow.

14th Sep 2007, 12:28

Finally I saw it happen... All by itself.. it was off.

I have an 07 Vectra with the same issues, and yes I got my sticker.

This morning I reached my destination and applied the handbrake, ensuring I heard each and every faint click as I applied it. I took my hand off the handbrake lever, and lo and behold, before taking my foot off the foot brake, the handbrake lever dropped down to the off position. My local dealer denies any knowledge of this issue, but has offered to replace it for safety's sake!!!, I smelt a fish so thought I would look on the web. And what do you know... All of it!

Does anyone know if a collective assault has been made to the manufacturer and documented evidence been sent to VOSPA?

Or an address to send it to?

21st Sep 2007, 15:45

In July our 07 Vectra rolled down a street. Luckily a tree stopped it, so no one was hurt. It needs a whole new shell; we are still waiting for it to arrive. When I complained, I got the same letter as the others with the sticker. Something has to be done. This should not be happening this day and age. If you wish to contact me, please text your telephone no to 07933023789 and I will phone you.

22nd Sep 2007, 05:29

Letter from Vauxhall undated received on 20 September 2007.

"As the driver of a Vauxhall Vectra...Recently, our Customer Assistance Centre has received a small number of enquiries..." This is totally misleading - firstly the word recently means "happening or starting from a short time ago". Did this web site start only recently!!! Now the phrase "small number". Well I know that sometimes people on here post an additional comment, but there are 43 comments posted and a lot of them are new shocking experiences with the handbrake. How many inquiries have vauxhall actually received? It then goes on to say "...Vauxhall and VOSA (The Department for Transport Vehicle and Operators Services Agency) engineers have jointly carried out a range of tests which have not identified any deviations from the handbrake mechanism specification..." What exactly is this saying? Well the handbrake mechanism complies with the specification. It misses the point - is it not the specification that needs to be checked? If you want to tell me your story please e-mail me at lawcontractor@hotmail.com. I would be interested to build up a catalogue of faulty handbrake instances where the handbrake was on but the car still rolled. Mine did and the police arrived at the same time as I got to the car. One officer took the keys from me, unlocked and opened the passenger door. He then went straight to the handbrake and the officer said to his colleague "The handbrake is on"

Dave Jacobson

lawcontractor@hotmail.com