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I was parked on a slight downhill snowy slope this afternoon waiting for Mrs ON to return to the car. Suddenly without warning the car started sliding down the slope, I stamped on the foot brake and fortunately the front wheels found grip and the car stopped. I dread to think what would have happened if I had left the car with Mrs ON, there must have been snow under the rear wheels. One to watch out for, it really was a slight slope.
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Slippery slopes and ice.
Had my first real lesson on that when going to school on the bus aged 13 or so, the long hill not that steep that decends from Southborough into Tonbridge, long before the by pass.
Severe black ice, resultant heavy traffic jam, the bus could just about stop with normal brakes, but once he engaged the handbrake the vibration of the engine would make the bus slide very gently down the hill, but was OK when he turned the engine off.
In those days it was OK to talk to the driver, and he explained carefully to me what was happening and why.
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Caught one of our bulk tipper drivers out in the icy weather last February. Parked on a slight downward slope (nearest thing he could find to level) with the body half raised and blowing feed into a silo; he was standing at the offside rear of the lorry operating the controls when he noticed it moving away from him.
He had the presence of mind to lower the body, then went to the cab, opened the door, shut off the engine (stops the feed blowing over the yard when the pipe breaks) and moved clear. Lorry came to rest when it hit the side of a barn about twenty feet way, damaged the ribs on the body side where it hit a girder, snapped the pipe off the silo but no other damage apart from a rather shaken farmer!
As GB says it's engine vibration that causes it; when blowing feed it's at about 1200 rpm.
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I've seen a lorry that was stopped in a snowy jam, slip 90 degrees SIDEWAYS on the camber.
No fiddling with brakes is gonna stop that!
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>> I've seen a lorry that was stopped in a snowy jam, slip 90 degrees SIDEWAYS
>> on the camber.
It will happen that way of course when the lorry's loaded, as the weight will pull the back end round; trust me it's a most unpleasant experience, being totally unable to do anything about it except pray that no-one's in the way!
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Happened to me on Boxing Day - X1 parked facing downhill on the drive - In laws MINI parked facing up about a yard apart. In the afternoon there was a sudden thaw, I looked out of the window and the X1 had moved down-slope to within a foot or so. I had cleared a patch for it to park on but reversed the back wheels onto the snow - resultant snow had melted and car rolled/slid forward (h/brake, gear on) - could have been expensive..
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Alas in this case there was. 79 I think it was, we had all been stopped for about 30 minutes. Then the lorry starts to slide sideways ending up leaning on the car on the inside lane (it was a dual carriageway) and then pushing it into the gutter whjere they ended up locked in a nasty mess.
Surreal.
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>> I stamped on the foot brake and fortunately the front wheels found grip and the car stopped.
Front wheel drive? I take it you don't leave the car in gear when parked?
Never ceases to amaze me how many people rely solely on a bowden cable to stop their tin box from rolling away (ok, I know the handbrake cable didn't snap in this instance, but the rear wheels still behaved as if it had done)
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>> >> I stamped on the foot brake and fortunately the front wheels found grip and
>> the car stopped.
>>
>> Front wheel drive? I take it you don't leave the car in gear when parked?
>>
>> Never ceases to amaze me how many people rely solely on a bowden cable to
>> stop their tin box from rolling away (ok, I know the handbrake cable didn't snap
>> in this instance, but the rear wheels still behaved as if it had done)
>>
Did they? I thought he slid.
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...I thought he slid...
Brother lost his Honda Civic for a few yards in the recent snow.
He was stuck on a hill and had jumped out to see what was afoot.
If all the tyres lose grip in those circumstances it doesn't matter how you've left the gears or brakes, the car's away.
Fortunately for brother's no claims bonus, the Civic came to halt of its own accord (ho-ho) without hitting anything.
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I've had that happen twice, fortunately on a rural road with no other traffic around.
In each case, I was brought to a halt trying to get up an icy hill, but lost traction and ground to a halt. Then I found that even with the footbrake hard on, the wheels simply slid back down the slope. The car very slowly spun round several times as it slithered back down the hill, and stopped at the bottom facing the way I had just come.
I believe the correct thing is to engage either 1st or reverse, depending on which way one happens to be facing at that moment, and let it drive at idling speed down the hill. That way there is till a tiny chance of getting a little bit of steering response. It's scary, because one's instinct is to try not to move, not to drive faster down the hill.
The worst moment of all is bumping to a stop sideways against a kerb, or firmer ground, because the car's momentum even at 0.1 mph can turn it right over.
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>> Did they? I thought he slid.
Regardless the rear wheels slid or the handbrake could have given way, the car was only being held from moving by the rear wheels.
As the car wasn't in gear the front wheels were still free to turn until he applied the brakes.
Last edited by: VxFan on Tue 11 Jan 11 at 11:22
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>> >> I stamped on the foot brake and fortunately the front wheels found grip and
>> the car stopped.
>>
>> Front wheel drive? I take it you don't leave the car in gear when parked?
>>
>> Never ceases to amaze me how many people rely solely on a bowden cable to
>> stop their tin box from rolling away (ok, I know the handbrake cable didn't snap
>> in this instance, but the rear wheels still behaved as if it had done)
>>
I normally leave the car in gear with the handbrake on when parked on a slope, I was in "waiting mode" rather than parked.
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In the bad weather that hit Glasgow a few weeks ago, when I was driving along London Road the car was sliding with the camber and when I came to a stop at the junction before the M74 the car slid sidewards into the kerb (didn't turn over fortunately!)
There are loads of clips on youtube of vehicles in the snow and ice, we will all have seen the hill in America one, but there are various others that really show how you are in the hands of the gods when you have no grip at all!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZjwR3c8yMM&feature=related
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>> Front wheel drive? I take it you don't leave the car in gear when parked?
>>
>> Never ceases to amaze me how many people rely solely on a bowden cable to
>> stop their tin box from rolling away (ok, I know the handbrake cable didn't snap
>> in this instance, but the rear wheels still behaved as if it had done)
>>
Whilst leaving a parked car in gear is a good habit, it might not have made much difference here, depending on which wheels the handbrake works on. Some fwd cars have the handbrake work on the front wheels and most rwd cars have the handbrake work on the rear wheels.
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Had the handbrake and gear engaged didn't stop the X1 trying to go snowboarding - learnt a lesson, chock the wheel next time.
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>> Never ceases to amaze me how many people rely solely on a bowden cable to
>> stop their tin box from rolling away
The cable isn't the problem - many motorcyclists rely on it to stop!
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Other than on a very steep hill, I never leave my car in gear.
In 23 years of driving have never had a car roll away from me.
Mind you I have never had one of those Vauxhalls with the known problem........ :)
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"The cable isn't the problem - many motorcyclists rely on it to stop! "
All bikes for as long as I can remember have hydraulic brakes, front and back.
Some have cable clutches though
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Lots still have rod operated drums at the rear.
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...Lots still have rod operated drums at the rear...
One of the old push bikes on the farm had rod operated brakes.
I can't recall if they worked well or not, but cable brakes are much lighter, and I imagine cheaper.
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I formed the opinion that rear rod operated bike made for easier maintained as regards wheel removal and chain adjustment on a bike - and probably more reliable than an exposed cable.
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...Lots still have rod operated drums at the rear...
To which I would add in the case of a motorbike there is foot operation so you have plenty of power to operate the system.
And the rear brakes don't have to do a lot, do they?
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No, you're right - but on the RT you just use the front brake and the computer sorts out which brakes are applied, in what order and in what proportion - rather strange when you ride a conventionally braked bike occasionally.
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What happens when you want to slide it on its side under the blades of a helicopter gunship like Pierce Brosnan or Tom cruise then? No good having linked brakes then is it? Seems like a design flaw to me.
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Never thought of that - not mentioned in the manual, typical lack of attention to detail...
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>>the computer sorts out which brakes are applied
And if it goes wrong? You switch it off and switch it back on again - oh damn, there's a brick wall! ;>)
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Dunno, I suppose there's some override - being German. Interesting article in Motorcycle Sport a few months ago - they reckon that all the technological advances come out of the German motorcycle industry and that Japan are very much second in the league.
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Witness the BMW S1000RR !
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The slippery slope. - -
