"Parking brake Service Required"/blinking parking light
 

Hi
I got into my 2008 Volvo S80 2.5T (Auto) today, and when I started the engine, I noticed the red parking light on the dashboard was blinking, instead of being displayed as steady.

When I tried to disengage the handbrake with the lever, whilst in P, nothing happened (usually there is a small noise of the electronic handbrake disengaging).

2 messages are now being displayed on the dashboard:

"Parking brake - Service required"
"Park assist syst - Service required"

The engine starts fine, but the hand brake is locked, so I can't drive/move the car.

Any ideas? Is there anyway to temporarily disengage the handbrake, so I can drive it to a dealer for repair?

Had exactly the same problem here.

Local garage tried to fix it by just swapping parts, first the control unit then the swich on dash.


None worked.

It was the pads ! I had even asked them to check this first .

To wind the pistons back and release the handbrake , you will need to get under the car , and put a 12v supply onto the unit, this will then at least release the brakes so it can be driven to the garage.

Hi Bob

As it turned out, I brought it to my local Volvo dealer. The ECU unit that controls this was not communicating with the rest of the system, and was deemed faulty. This was replaced - all sorted.

ECU cost: €200
Labour: €325

....Costly, but its working now, and they did a full valet on the car......

Good to hear,

As you say , the brakes lose contact with the ecu ! FFS it's a parking brake :D

I had the same unit changed at first , the fault went away for a week , then came back.

One rainy morning at 7am when I was off to see a client :)

Then they went for the dashboard switch , worked for a while.

I got slightly aggrieved when it happened again , that's when they finally saw the pads were worn beyond any use at all.

Fingers crossed for you