Chuffing 07 VW Passat Electronic Handbrake!!!

[Mr Red Barron]

In Aug, my 07 Passat Sport Estate got the dreade Electronic Handbrake Warning light come on. After spending over £400 replacing the brake motor and caliper on the o/s/r the n/s/r has now gone. Only this time it's gone whilst the brake was on and I can't get it off my drive!!

I've looked into it online and the sheer number of cars that have been affected by this is unbelievable. How can VW get away with not recalling this?

I've tried disconnecting the battery, trying to move the car forwards and backwards whilst trying to free the brake and i've had the wheel off to try and manually release the motor but don't have the correct tools or know how to release it. If I could just get it to move I could take it to my local VW specialist who can replace the motor........any one else suffered with this?

[Mr Red Barron]

Well...........it failed on Monday evening. Yesterday I had a recovery wagon fail to get it off my drive onto his truck and now i'm waiting for a specialst recovery wagon to come and jack the car up on skids so it can go to the garage. So 3 days and still no further to getting it back on the road. Angry isn't the word!!!

[Mr Red Barron]

gottans said:

Hateful thing the electronic handbrake, got called a 'traditionalist' by the sales bod at Audi when I implied they weren't exactly what I would call progress.

Considering how prolific these things are becoming I have very little idea of what to replace my car with when the time comes.

Something without an electric handbrake!! That's what i'm planning to do. I have lost all faith with VW so am looking to go Japanese with the next car. An Outlander or something similar.

Had a phonecall from the garage and suprise suprise, the caliper is coroded on the inside and isn't repairable. Exactly the same thing that happened to the other side in Aug. So now i'm going to have a massive dent in my pocket near the £500 mark to repair. (sigh)