General How does the handbrake work!

[chrisdoublel]

Okay this is so confusing, sometimes if the handbrake is on and you change to drive or reverse the car will let you apply acceleration and it will automatically remove the handbrake but other times it refuses to remove the handbrake and you have to manually do it by pressing down then brake peddle. This is not great for control on hills. What am I missing?

 

[the green vanper]

Hello,

Stupid question: have you checked in the owners' manual?

 

[chrisdoublel]

Hello,

Stupid question: have you checked in the owners' manual?

That's a good question and no I haven't but that's because I bought it second hand and it didn't come with one. However I have done some googling and someone mentioned needing the seat belt clipped for it to work. I will try that to see if that's what was happening the few times I noticed this behaviour

 

[the green vanper]

When it automatically releases the handbrake it could be called 'the launch procedure', used by some other producers to achieve the maximum performance on start.

Seatbelt clipped? You mean you're driving sometimes without the seatbelt on?

 

[gazz_bee]

Okay this is so confusing, sometimes if the handbrake is on and you change to drive or reverse the car will let you apply acceleration and it will automatically remove the handbrake but other times it refuses to remove the handbrake and you have to manually do it by pressing down then brake peddle. This is not great for control on hills. What am I missing?

Seatbelt definitely needs to be fastened for the handbrake to auto release. Not just a Fiat thing, my Mini is exactly the same. Incidentally, you don't get a printed manual from new, only a pdf. I think it's available to download on this site.

 

[chrisdoublel]

When it automatically releases the handbrake it could be called 'the launch procedure', used by some other producers to achieve the maximum performance on start.

Seatbelt clipped? You mean you're driving sometimes without the seatbelt on?

Ha ha yes and no. Now I think about it, this has only happened when moving the car in my driveway, which is on a bit of a slope. I probably should have realised what was happening before but there's no warning to say what's happening. Maybe "please put on seatbelt before driving" would have clued me in.

Seatbelt definitely needs to be fastened for the handbrake to auto release. Not just a Fiat thing, my Mini is exactly the same. Incidentally, you don't get a printed manual from new, only a pdf. I think it's available to download on this site.

Oh thanks for the info, I didn't know that