Was driving the Z to work on Thursday morning. As I drove the Z forward down my, reasonably level 75' driveway I noticed that the trash had not been placed at the curb. So I stopped about 10' from the end of the driveway, pulled the e-brake up (left the car idling) got out and walked back up the driveway to get the trash can. When I got to the house and retrieved the trash can, it sounded like the Z was moving away. When I looked down at the end of the driveway, I saw the Z rolling slowly out of the driveway. I started to run after it but realized that I could not catch it and stopped and watched and listened to it slowly roll straight into the belgian block curb across the street from the driveway entrance. Ouch!!!

When I got into the car, I saw that the e-brake was still up, but apparently I did not pulled it up far enough.

Fortunately, the damage is mainly isolated to the skid plate assembly which is pretty badly damaged. Because the skid plate mounts the radiator and is pushed back a bit, there is now a gap of about 1 inch between the radiator shroud and the radiator on the left side of the radiator. The radiator seems to be OK so far. I drove the car to work and no leaks and the car drives exactly the same as before.

I have the factory repair manual - the repair does not look too difficult (just time consuming), so I am going to attempt to replace the skid plate assembly myself.

Are there any tricks to this repair?

 

Ouch! Good luck with the repair.

 

Sorry to hear that, i've noticed that if I don't pull my e-brake up all the way, and I mean all the way, it'll roll.

 

Now you have an excuse to put a line lock in. Sorry to hear what happened, at least no one got hurt.

 

The same happened to me 10 years ago and cost me $3k. If it happens to you, you do this once and never again. I stick it into first at all times when the engine is off and never rely on the handbrake with the engine running. I would use the hand brake as a supplement to 1st gear if its a steep hill which is never in Florida.

Good luck on your repairs and be thankful the car did not hit a person.

 

Happened to me once as well - though not in a vette. Got a call from the police late at night asking why my car was in the middle of the street (medium busy). Thankfully it didnt end up in the woods across the street from my house or broadsided by someone driving down the road!

 

Happened to my '04 as well. Had car maybe 1-2 weeks. Took buddy to Wingstop restaurant. Forgot to leave in first on shutdown, I did pull emg brake (was parked on very slight incline). Anyway, we came out of the restaurant and I found the car had rolled prob 2/3 of the way out of the parking slot

 

Same thing happened here, Left car in nuetral with em. brake up and car started rolling away after I got out of it. Parking lot was almost level. I always leave it in 1st or reverse now. scared me fer sure....

 

This is the second time it happened to me. The first time was about 9 or so years ago with my 95 C4. I had it backed out of the garage at my old home while I was replacing the garage door springs. My driveway had a pretty good incline to it. Anyhow, I was on my ladder when my wife pulled in about 10 feet behind the Vette and got out. Just as she stepped out of her car and closed her door, I saw the Vette starting to roll slowly back toward her car. I jumped off the ladder but by the time I got near the car, she was already in it stepping on the brake. Fortunately, she thought quickly and got the car stopped before it rolled into her car. The Vette had been in in 1 rst gear (at least I thought so) and the e-brake was on. Somehow, it popped out of gear when she closed her door. The car had been sitting in the driveway at least an hour before it started rolling. Maybe I never had it in gear, but thats how I remember it.

 

E brakes for the most part are a joke on our cars. I never use it only by itself and never use it with car on and in neutral on any kind of slope.

 

Mke sure you pull those E-brakes up nice and tight!!

 

Sorry about the hit you took.
I am glad to hear that I'm not the only one to pull the handle and leave the car in neutral..... Just last week pulled into a gas station, While I was inside picking up some "Soda", a woman asked "Who's vette is that rolling out towards the street!" I caught it less than 15 feet from the busy highway! How embarrasing, but as Z06dailydriver says; should only happen ONCE!

 

Sorry about your car. C5's are tough, if this was a C3, well tears would be flowing. Good Luck

 

My brother lives on a big hill with a very steep driveway. on e day as he was leaving for work, he realized that he had forgotten something. He pulled up the e-brake and went inside. The car was still in the garage which is flat. When he came back out the car was just starting to back out of the garage and picking up speed. As he opened the door it caught on the brick stairs into the house. You would think that this would stop the car but no... it ripped the door stop right off and doubled the door over onto the car. This knocked my brother to the ground where the car missed running him over by less than inches. The car then rolled down the drive, took a detour uphill over a large rock coverd hill, then ran back down the other side of that hill into the street. This is where it gets interesting. The car started picking up speed and was heading for the schoolbus stop at the end of the road. If it missed the kids there it would certainly cause a major accident as there is a very busy main road at the end of his street. Fortune smiled on my brother for the first time that day as the car suddenly turned sharply left and into the house a couple doors down and across the street from my brother's house. The car was totaled. Insurance paid for everything and my brother now only has automatics. By the way when the police arived the first thing they checked was the position of the e-brake. It was still on.

 

Ouch, could have been worse though!!

 

Scary story.

The location across the street where my car stopped is the elementary school bus stop. I normally leave for work when the kids are standing there in the morning. Fortunately, school was out for the summer.

 

Mine does too! I already let it roll into a wall!

 

I was telling my wife about these e-brake stories and she reminded me that my son, who was about 10 years old at the time, actually was the one who first saw the car begin rolling backward. He was in her car when she drove up behind the Vette and jumped out of her car and got behind the Vette to try to stop it from rolling backward.

 

So far, my e-brake seems to work fairly well- then again I have 'construction worker arm'.. I stretched the e-brake cable on my Wrangelr so bad I had to adjust it

After reading all the stories though, when I park it in a lot or the street, I put it in gear (the first time I've done this with any manual vehicle). If you thinkt he vette e-brake is bad, the Jeep's was worse until I adjusted the heck out of it!

-Dave

 

I am surprised that so many people actually trust their hand brake. I don't get out of my car unless I turn the motor off with the car in 1st gear.