More Cars Found To Have Passenger Operated Brake Linkage
Thursday, 7. July 2011
Image via Wikipedia
You will recall that I reported a couple of weeks ago that some cars that were designed as left hand drive cars and converted as right hand drive (these are normal main dealer supplied cars not botched conversions), had insufficient protection over the brake linkage on the passenger side of the car allowing drivers to apply the brakes whilst driving. The main culprit was the Citroen C3 Picasso. Well after an investigation by Watchdog it was found that this problem was known as long ago as 2004 by the safety agency VOSA when they identified a similar problem with Renault Scenics, Citroen C3’s and Peugeot 206.
The problem came about if the passenger pressed his foot hard against the floor whilst travelling. Renault has since admitted that the problem could exist in pre-2004 Meganes and last year Peugeot recalled 308’s for the same problem.
The reason why VOSA didn’t make a song and dance about a problem that strikes me as being pretty damned dangerous was, in their words, ‘not to be a safety defect under the Codes of Practice for Vehicle Safety Defects.’
Ah that’s OK then. In most instances the problem is resolved by fitting a plate under the carpet. In the meantime watch out for passengers that like to drive your car for you from the passenger seat – you know what I’m talking about! Nuff said! Have you experienced this fault? Let me know? By Graham Hill
Related articles
- ‘Passenger brake’ on French cars (bbc.co.uk)
- Report: Citroen C3 Picasso recalled for ability to brake from passenger seat (autoblog.com)
