Parking Brake

[jlforlife]

So my parking brake decided not to release last night just as i was leaving a friends house in a -20 weather. I tried manually releasing it in the trunk and still did not work.

Any tricks at all? I havent towed it yet since it was going to take 4 hours for the tow truck to come. So i told BMW assist i will phone them this morning instead and have it towed. Thank God i was not in a remote area.

I have had some issues with my X. The brakes whistles when i stop, and i mean really loud whistle and the delear told me its normal - BS

stereo sound like crap although i have a premium sound. Steering wheel makes noise and now this. I only have 7000km on it. I really love this vehicle but why!!

[brojor]

I have premium sound and it sounds great. The clarity and punch are similar to what I get from large B&W speakers in my family room. There must be something seriously wrong if your system doesn't sound good.

I'm wondering if the extreme cold had an impact on your parking brake. With all these problems, you should not let the dealer/BMW off the hook.

Is there a "lemon law" in Alberta? Not saying that's your situation, but in MA, I believe if you bring the same substantial issue (not exactly sure how that's defined) to the dealer 3 times and it remains unresolved, you can get the car replaced.

[jlforlife]

thanks for the reply brojor,
i dont know if we have a lemon law. I will find out. BMW asist said tow truck will take 6 to 7 hours.
I even wonder how they can tow it if the tires are siezed by the parking brake.

[rh71]

This parking brake issue we've heard about a few times is getting worrisome. Is this an '08 model that you just picked up the last couple months? That would mean it already has the latest updates too and it's still happening.

[Tango22]

I'm getting worried too. This is the second time in a week that I've read about this issue on the forum. I think I may avoid the parking brake when I get my X5 unless I park on some sort of incline/decline.

I'm curious to see how many people actually use their parking brake. This could be a serious issue with the vehicle and most folks wouldn't even know it because they never use the parking brake.

[rufusdedog]

You have to really pull on the cable with the tool to release it. If I remember right, it's about 3-4 inches of cable that will pull out.

I just got my parking brake failure fixed at the dealer. They have no idea why it happens, they just reconnected the cable and cleared the code.

I still can't believe this is something that won't happen from time to time due to poor engineering. Why would they include a tool, specifically designed to release the brakes after they fail, in the trunk?

[pb48]

Originally Posted by rufusdedog

You have to really pull on the cable with the tool to release it. If I remember right, it's about 3-4 inches of cable that will pull out.

Yep, it takes a bit of strength to get it to release. Maybe you should try pulling harder.

The last time mine got stuck the dealer said it might have had something to do with the cold - it was -17 that night, with another X5 being brought in for the same problem.

[jlforlife]

i use it alot, maybe thats why. Honestly i think its one of the best parking brake technology BMW introduced. I like the fact that you can just sit in traffic set the parking brake and just relax. but it seems like the engineering finish sucks.

I have the latest software(PDC and camera).

I have had this problem before which i just released it manually from the trunk and it worked. Not this time though. This time the cable is not firm at all.
Its back at the dealer now. I will not use it anymore, unless i really need to.

[rufusdedog]

It was about 50 F when mine malfunctioned. Temperature probably has something to do with some failures, but not all. Would love to see if there's a TSB from BMW on this.

[jlforlife]

you are right!
last week it went to -50 and it worked fine