Jammie Dodger Posted October 18, 2009 Report Share Posted October 18, 2009 My parking brake on my manual 2.4 SX seems really poor. :angry: It does not hold the car on an incline unless it is pulled right up hard and the car left in gear. Anyone else had problems ? or comments ? What is your parking brake like ? The car has only done 3200 miles. Cheers, Jon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wyoram Posted October 19, 2009 Report Share Posted October 19, 2009 I haven't put mine to a real test, such as on an incline. But mine seems ok. Although I hardly use mine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inuvik Posted October 19, 2009 Report Share Posted October 19, 2009 I haven't noticed any issues with the parking brake. I've used it on inclines a few times and haven't had any problems with it holding the vehicle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OhareFred Posted October 19, 2009 Report Share Posted October 19, 2009 My parking brake on my manual 2.4 SX seems really poor. :angry: It does not hold the car on an incline unless it is pulled right up hard and the car left in gear. Anyone else had problems ? or comments ? What is your parking brake like ? The car has only done 3200 miles. Cheers, Jon [/quote Next time your at the dealer for service, tell them to adjust it. Easly fix. The cable may be loose of the shoes themselves may need adjustment. I know you have 4 wheel disks, but on some makes there are small shoes inside the rear rotors that are for the parking brake. Not sure what Dodge uses though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rozwell911 Posted October 19, 2009 Report Share Posted October 19, 2009 Interesting that everyone here has a parking brake handel. my parking brake is located on the floor, far left side of the pedal assembly....Maybe that is a differerence from a manual and automatic trans?!?! Any ways, i have had no problem. It uses the rear pads as the parking brake...wonderful grip on all accounts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wyoram Posted October 21, 2009 Report Share Posted October 21, 2009 BTW mine is also the foot pedal too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OhareFred Posted October 22, 2009 Report Share Posted October 22, 2009 Interesting that everyone here has a parking brake handel. my parking brake is located on the floor, far left side of the pedal assembly....Maybe that is a differerence from a manual and automatic trans?!?!Any ways, i have had no problem. It uses the rear pads as the parking brake...wonderful grip on all accounts. No, I have a foot pedal as well. I just took it for granted thats what was meant. Sorry for the confusion! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rozwell911 Posted October 22, 2009 Report Share Posted October 22, 2009 No, I have a foot pedal as well. I just took it for granted thats what was meant.Sorry for the confusion! Its no big deal I thought it was just another interesting quirk that these cars have, nothing more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crunkfrunk Posted October 22, 2009 Report Share Posted October 22, 2009 well if you have an automatic it is likely to be a foot pedal beacuse you don't have a clutch that needs to go there, it would be pretty akward to have gas, brake, clutch, and parking brake all on the floor. what I don't like about parking brakes is that the only pressure holding it engaged is the amount that you pushed it with, when you press the brake pedal with the car running it applys hundreds of pounds of pressure to the pads verses the lets say 50 lbs you can push on that pedal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rozwell911 Posted October 22, 2009 Report Share Posted October 22, 2009 well if you have an automatic it is likely to be a foot pedal beacuse you don't have a clutch that needs to go there, it would be pretty akward to have gas, brake, clutch, and parking brake all on the floor.what I don't like about parking brakes is that the only pressure holding it engaged is the amount that you pushed it with, when you press the brake pedal with the car running it applys hundreds of pounds of pressure to the pads verses the lets say 50 lbs you can push on that pedal All cars, even the BMW's and Minis i deal with here are like that actually. All cars use a special locking (atleast they should) device that effectivly doubles the force directly applied at the brakes. BMW's all have seperate brake shoes for strictly parking brake only. The locking device is located between each shoe pad. it clicks like a racetet each with each click of the hand brake, but each time it it locks into place it travels roughly twice the distance of the parking brake handle, kinda how a pully system helps 1 person lift 500 pounds by them selves, it functions in a similar way by appling twice the force each click to lock into palce. Mini is the same way, only the mechanism or lock is the parking brake handle itself. with 2 cables going to each side of the rear brakes (minis do not use seperate shoes, they use the caplipers on the rear of the car, so in essence, your pads will ware slighlty more than usually in the rear). This system is not quite as good as the seperate shoes IMO cause the lock loacated in the brake handle cannot exerhrt enough force IMO as the lock located inbetween the shoes directly on the BMWs. Mini does this as a cost saveing messure. They are still extreamly safe with this design, but i feel the BMWs is a better one....but if you think about it, with a 50000 car vs a 25000 car, id expect the best in the 50000 car. Our cars should be of a similar set up or design...I have dilibratly left my car on nurtral on a 30 degree incline and just use my parking brake to hold the car....it works IMO very well. I do not recomend anyone else try that, becasue it is dangerous, but i obviously cannot stop you if you do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jammie Dodger Posted October 22, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2009 Thanks for all your replies Guys, I am in the UK and have a manual journey with the handbrake between the front seats (ratchet pull up handle). It is not holding well but I have 'Dodger' booked in for a service on 31 Oct and they will be looking at this then. As most of you are in the USA and have auto vehicles, I understand why you have a left side foot parking brake. Cheers from Wales, Jon B) Any comments from UK manual owners welcome,... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soksrus Posted November 12, 2009 Report Share Posted November 12, 2009 Hey JD I have a 2.0 CRD UK spec which I purchased in April. I had no problems with the parking brake UNTIL I had it serviced last week. At the service, they tightened the handbrake so you could only pull it up 2 'clicks'. After that, the first time I parked it on a hill, it stayed there quite happily for about half an hour then for no apparent reason, it started rolling down the hill, ending up hitting another car about 20 yards down the hill. From the damage to both cars (the other was a Corsa), it is evident that the Journey wasn't travelling more than a couple of miles an hour - so the handbrake must have been still partially engaged. In the last 2 days, the handbrake has moved from only going up 2 'clicks' to 4 'clicks', so seems to be slipping rapidly. I'm taking mine back to the dealer, coz I think there is a problem here. My bet is that the dealer will say there is no problem, but I think different - if the handbrake was OK, it should have either (1) held the car on the hill or (2) started creeping almost instantly. We'll see what happens.... Soksrus salstring 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jammie Dodger Posted November 14, 2009 Author Report Share Posted November 14, 2009 Interesting - I hope the damage was slight...... My dealer adjusted my handbrake on 31 Oct but I'm still not impressed. Its just not good in comparison to my wife's VAUXHALL. It does not roll off the drive now but I do leave it in gear every time now - just in case. Jon... Wales salstring 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cloudy Posted November 16, 2009 Report Share Posted November 16, 2009 Interesting - I hope the damage was slight......My dealer adjusted my handbrake on 31 Oct but I'm still not impressed. Its just not good in comparison to my wife's VAUXHALL. It does not roll off the drive now but I do leave it in gear every time now - just in case. Jon... Wales my uk journey also has a poor handbrake, i park mine on a drive on a steep incline. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soksrus Posted November 19, 2009 Report Share Posted November 19, 2009 Hey JD Well having been into the dealer, they say there is nothing wrong with the handbrake - they even took it to an MOT test centre to see if it would pass (which it did). However, they haven't commented on the fact that the handbrake has gone from 2 'clicks' to now about 6-7 'clicks' in a couple of weeks.....naturally they are blaming me as "there are no records of any handbrake issues with this model registered on the Dodge UK system" They have asked me to monitor it for a couple of weeks and report back (not much good when the car is only going to be on a flat drive or in an airport carpark for pretty much the whole time!!). Even though the damage was only to the cars' bumpers, when you add labour the bill is around £1,100..... I'll keep posting with updates as they come Soksrus salstring 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jammie Dodger Posted October 7, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 7, 2010 my uk journey also has a poor handbrake, i park mine on a drive on a steep incline. Leave it in 1st gear or reverse recommended .... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soksrus Posted October 7, 2010 Report Share Posted October 7, 2010 Leave it in 1st gear or reverse recommended .... Not being funny JD, but in this day and age you shouldn't have to resort to that. I remember doing it my Mk1 Escort 20 years ago, but things should have moved on. Having had my UK Journey for 18 months now, it's been serviced 4 times (I'm a high mileage driver!), and each time they have to fiddle with the handbrake. Make no difference whatsoever, aside from being a bit more difficult to set properly for the first week. Even then, it still won't hold on a proper hill. Sorry to say, but I can't wait to ditch the car and go back to something that works properly..... S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
micaxe Posted October 17, 2010 Report Share Posted October 17, 2010 Thanks for all your replies Guys, I am in the UK and have a manual journey with the handbrake between the front seats (ratchet pull up handle). It is not holding well but I have 'Dodger' booked in for a service on 31 Oct and they will be looking at this then. As most of you are in the USA and have auto vehicles, I understand why you have a left side foot parking brake. Cheers from Wales, Jon B) Any comments from UK manual owners welcome,... Hi Jon, here in OZ, we don't get manual journeys, but our handbrake is the same, opposite side of console,& have to pull it up to your armpit!! yes it's near useless!!!!. Lucky the park also helps to hold on a slope, but it's the poorest handbrake i've ever had. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malnik Posted October 19, 2010 Report Share Posted October 19, 2010 Yes, UK here and its not good. It works but requires a lot of force and being on the wrong side of the centre console, it seems I pull it sideways as well. I also seem to have the opposite problem as well, it sticks. Not the designed in stick on for a few seconds, mine is a stuck on when you leave the car and return after a few hours/days. Been back and apparently its fine according to my dealer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karlos swagger Posted May 18, 2011 Report Share Posted May 18, 2011 My parking brake on my manual 2.4 SX seems really poor. :angry: It does not hold the car on an incline unless it is pulled right up hard and the car left in gear. Anyone else had problems ? or comments ? What is your parking brake like ? The car has only done 3200 miles. Cheers, Jon My parking brake has the same problem, i've got a manual 2.0 dodge journey RT and the handbrake is useless. when i get in the car it runs through the handbrake. our drive has a decline towards the road and we park the car facing upwards, a few months back the car rolled through the handbrake and into the wall causing obvious damage to the rear. I've taken the car back to the garage and they state they is nothing wrong with the hand brake yet when they sent a cheif technician round, he stated within a minute that the handbrake was faulty and i spoke to the head service manager and he explained that everything would be repaired as it was their fault, they never rang again so i took the vehicle back and they wont refund and they have told trading standards and the finance company that they is nothing wrong with the car. This car was bought brand new in late september 2010 and has been back and to the garage about 10 times, the turbo blew by mid march, the car stalls very very easily, lacks power and a few times i've been driving down a hill at about 30mph and the engine has cut out. this car has done 4000 miles and i'm going to have to go to court to sort out the refund as the garage refuse to do anything as they is nothing wrong with the vehicle and they cant accept it has dangerous safety issues salstring 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
salstring Posted June 21, 2012 Report Share Posted June 21, 2012 Gosh this sounds familiar! My handbrake on my 2010 Dodge Journey failed recently, it rolled backwards down our drive and crashed into the garage. The dealer took it in and when they delivered it back said they had adjusted the brake. Later when I tryed to get them to repair the bumper they said nothing was wrong with it, it had passed all the tests fine and they had never adjusted it. Customer services just back up this later story, so I am not sure where to go next.... I am not prepare to leave it, as if they haven't adjusted it the car is still very dangerous. The incident was at the end of a hot day a couple of weeks ago.. not sure if the temperature makes a difference Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lorianstuart Posted October 22, 2012 Report Share Posted October 22, 2012 I have had my Dodge Journey 2.0D SXT 3 years and have had plenty of problems, the handbrake itself now needs replaced as the pawl part that engages with the ratchet is damaged and it is just out of warranty. The car has only done 25000 miles, The Handbrake has never been that good as you could always hear the movement when you got out of the car. The quality of the parts needs to be questioned. The other problems i have encountered are the premature wearing of the discs and pads all of which i have had to replace myself at my cost, another part that needed replacing was the ball joint passenger side front this was baddly worn and hanging off . Car will intermittently miss fire and the dealership cant find the problem. These are just some of the problems i have encountered so far. A car of this age and mileage should not have these problems. So any one with one should be aware that the handbrake can fail at any time, after all it had just passed its MOT and then suddeenly its failing.The customer sevice is a joke i have opened a complaint with regard to all the issues that i have so here s hopeing but i wont hold my breath. I am going to look at getting the handbrake mechanism checked out if you have any suggestions please let me know. Thanks Stuart Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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