Brakes: Parking Brake - Almost Non-Existant & dealer issues

[SonyVaio]

Thank you David and Arianne for your update and exlanation. At the end of the day as long as you are happy that is the main thing.

I do feel you have let the dealer off very lightly. It is obvious to everyone that your vehicle would never have passed the handbrake test on the MOT. The fact that you knew it was really bad and thus requested work on it then post MOT you couldn't even get the vehicle to hold on your virtually flat drive after only driving a few short miles home. I guarantee that had the vehicle gone to VOSA for a re-inspection the dealer would have been in a little bit of trouble.

Anyway! As your willing to put it behind you then I wish you all the best and hope you have great joy in your new XC60 when you get it. In the mean time just enjoy the XC90 the way it is supposed to be.

Take care,

[RoyMacDonald]

Thanks for the update David and Arriane

I don't agree with the previous post in some respects. The dealer can only be sure about the car as it leaves the workshop. That's why I don't like the delivery service because it's unlikly to be a mechanic who delivers it and may well not notice an issue like the function of the handbrake not being up to scratch.

It's unrealistic to expect things to never go wrong either. The car is serviced by people and sometimes mistakes can be made for all sorts of reasons. It's how the mistakes are managed and dealt with that's important.

That you are satisfied with the result and feel it is fair is all that can be expected from the dealer when something has gone wrong. There is nothing wrong with a compromise at the end of the day.

Thanks again and enjoy the car until you'r ready for the new one and don't forget to offer it to the forum first when you sell. ;-)

All the best.

Roy

[RoyMacDonald]

Maybe I should just add that the difference between a fail and pass on the XC90 is 14% efficency fail. 18% is a pass from reading the MOT testers forum. With a failing liner it could pass but using it few times between the test and delivery to your house could have rendered it virtually usless. When a cable goes it fails slowly at first but as the low friction liner gets worse the more energy is transfered to destroying the liner so increasing the rate to complete failure.

My 940 throttle cable was giving warnings long before it broke at 80mph in the outer lane of the motorway. I just didn't recognise them until retrospectivly assessing them. Still it's all drive by wire now, so that won't be an issue again unless I get a golden oldie.

Hopfully we'll all recognise the symptoms thanks to fuzzypicture, yourselves and John Cleland.

All the best.
Roy

[60041]

Thanks for letting us know the outcome, I'm glad that it worked out ok in the end.
It is unfortunate that your initial dealings were less than satisfactory, but at least the dealer admitted that they were not up to their usual standard and sorted it out.
I have dealt with Clelands for many years, not least because I had major issues with another main dealer, and have never had cause to complain; so it was disturbing to hear that things had gone so wrong for you.
The fact that you were able to speak face to face with the dealer principal obviously helped a great deal and proves that it is often worth doing business with a small, local, independantly owned firm rather than with a large multiple outlet company where you are just an entry on the weekly returns rather than a valued customer.
I was very impressed with the forum here - it really came up trumps, particularly Fuzzypictures valuable information as to the probable cause of the fault, it goes to show that there is a wealth of knowledge and experience here that is priceless.

[JimG]

I think there are a lot of useful points concerning the parking brake issues in this thread, including links to other threads with more information.

I'm thinking it maybe useful to have the thread as a sticky as parking brake problems seem to be a common topic requiring an urgent solution, usually due to a failed MOT.

If you agree, "thank" this post and I'll recommend it to the Mods.

Jim.

[bobdabuilda]

It's already there in the sticky xc90 articles thread Jim http://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=107096

[JimG]

So it is. It would be a shame to lose this thread though, it's got some good links; like the one to fuzzypictures post with a very detailed description on adjusting the parking brake.

It's just my OCD kicking in. There are so many informative threads on here that get lost despite reporting them to the mods for stickies or Articles.

I would like a more organised system where you could have folders on topics, and in those folders have a small number of useful, recommended threads on that topic. Again OCD.

I'll just bookmark them from now on and have my own system.

[Arianne]

Originally Posted by RoyMacDonald

Maybe I should just add that the difference between a fail and pass on the XC90 is 14% efficency fail. 18% is a pass from reading the MOT testers forum. With a failing liner it could pass but using it few times between the test and delivery to your house could have rendered it virtually usless. When a cable goes it fails slowly at first but as the low friction liner gets worse the more energy is transfered to destroying the liner so increasing the rate to complete failure.

Roy

Roy,

Your information about the MOT pass threshold for the parking brake / hand brake is very reassuring. In view of your post I feel it is only appropriate to share a little more detail which the dealer explained to me when we met up after the repairs had been completed.

At that meeting the dealer explained that our XC90 had been placed on the MOT testing machine again that very morning. No remedial work had been undertaken beforehand (parc ferme conditions then!). The parking brake was said to have passed the threshold - from memory the dealer said that the pass threshold for the MOT is something like 16% effectiveness. I found that hard to believe - I mean what is an MOT there for but to ensure the braking system is up to the job? But that's what the dealer said and that's what you have confirmed.

Being frank, the parking brake was truly a joke and apparently the MOT tester told the Technician that it would need attention (as part of the follow-on annual service work) because it wasn't good enough for the customer, even though good enough for the MOT certificate - and that's apparently where things started to go wrong because the guys started looking for the most common faults (1) the rear shoes, springs & discs, (2) the rear cables etc. They were completely unsighted on the front cable section but now recognise that they should have offered the customer more options for diagnosis before saying that it was a complete cable replacement.

The dealership has repeatedly stated that they would never let an MOT fail pass through and, on balance and taking into account their 6yr track record, I believe them. What they do accept is that passing the MOT is one thing but the standard that a car should leave a Volvo franchise dealership is much, much higher. And they missed that standard this time.

Your post has helped reassure me about what they said about the MOT test standard. Thank you.

David

[v_matt_v]

Very interesting thread and congratulations on winning with your dealer. You confirmed that the dealer's mechanics lasck in skills sometimes.

A word of caution though. I've seen quite a few MOT tests carried out on cars and if your car was rolling off the driveway it would not pass the MOT.

The way I see this is that the MOT centre told the dealer that the hand brake doesn't work and they should sort it out. At the same time the MOT pass was given.
The dealer took it to the garage replaced the usual bits, tried readjusting the handbrake. The job was probably done by some young inexperienced technician becasue it doesn't require master mechanic. When the car was lifted the mechanic put the wheel on and while tightening the bolts some resistance on the applied brake was noticeable, hence it was good enough to think that it works. Job done.

Usually MOT centres have "special" relations with MOT centres so that when the car failes at something it doesn't have to go back to be checked again - that's just my opinion...

If I may advise. Whenever the dealer (franchise or not) is replacing something ask them to provide original part so you can have a look at it. This way you know that the part was replaced and you see what failed.
Ask for it when you bring your car to dealer so that know that you want to have a look at the part and there is not excuse that you haven't asked for it and the part is in the skip.

One last think is regarding the dealer in Edinburgh. I had similar experiences with my car and the dealer in Edinburgh. I used them several times but unfortunately I won't go back there any more ...
They damaged an aircon pump in my car while regasing the aircon and they were not willing to investigate it at all. I had to replace the pump, dryer and regas it again.

The customer service in Edinburgh is appaling, however Eddie - master mechanic is a good lad. Unfortunately he's usually busy with a serious stuff and this means someone else was doing a job on my car ...

Matt