Electronic parking brake failure

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pvcpro

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Hello,

Just wondering if anyone can offer some advice please?
My wife went to start the car this morning and there was a loud screeching noise, then a yellow symbol lit up with a message saying parking brake failure, the car won't drive and feels as if it's stuck in parking brake mode.

Garage can't look at it until Tuesday and would be charging us to come and collect it so just thought I'd ask here to see if there's anything I could possibly do before then, I'm suspicious that it's something to do with battery power because recently there has been messages appearing saying increased battery discharge, also for some reason the lights switch themselves on to full beam, it's a dial to the right of the steering wheel and quite often we will notice it has turned clockwise to full beam and it's definitely not us turning it.

Thanks
 
Someone could be knocking the switch with a knee as they get in and out? I can manage to do it in my 1 series.

You should check battery voltage first.

You can get a hand held diagnostic tool that will let you put the parking brake into maintenance mode i.e. it winds it out. If you choose to try yourself make sure to chock the wheels first. :cool:

There may be cheaper obdII interfaces that work with a phone app that may do the job as well.

No doubt the usual candidates will come on and tell you chapter and verse;)
 
Never played with an x6 handbrake so cant tell you offhand.
But should be info in the owners handbook.
Try connecting another power source (jump leads) to if you suspect it is a battery issue
 
The engine does actually start so do you think I should leave it running for a while to see if it recharges the battery a bit?
 
If the engine starts I suspect the battery is probably ok. Not definitive but without a meter its probably man enough to do the job.
 
Old Salt said:
If the engine starts I suspect the battery is probably ok. Not definitive but without a meter its probably man enough to do the job.
Click to expand...
agree with this, but charging system may be a bit weak and lower voltages may cause issues.
might be worth just connecting another battery just to see if it helps release the handbrake. But does sound unlikely.
any info in your owners handbook to help release the brake?

releasing the handbrake to allow you to drive it is different to it having attention and finding and sorting any issues with it or the electrics.
 
If you've had battery warning on your dash prior to this problem, you're experiencing my same issue of a few months ago.
It was the battery.
Car would start and drive normally, but all sorts of errors appeared one ofter the other, including epb that could not be released.
My battery had enough power, but there must've been something inside it gone wrong.
A new battery cured it immediately without having to reset anything.
Mine is an Audi, but problem seems same.
 
I’ve had similar problems with a Cavalier once and my Evoque too. A new battery cured it both times. If the battery is four years or more old, I’d change it as a matter of course. For the mount of money left in the battery that you’d lose by changing it early, it wouldn’t be worth risking the aggro a non-start on a big automatic away from home. In my case, more so if wifey and the dogs were in it on their own at the time!
 
There is a section in the handbook on releasing the handbrake, It says to use a screwdriver to pull up on the steel wire loop in the boot, I tried it but nothing happened.
 
I just tested the battery with a multimeter and it's at 11.79 v
Is that the problem?
Should I buy a charger and try charging it first before buying a new battery?
 
Not sure how old it is but it was in the car when we bought it and that was just over 4 years ago
 
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