My Honda jazz handbrake will not hold on a slope but I am told it meets MOT requirements

it looks like a common flaw in design
it can fail an mot if handbrake wont hold
with both wheel of the ground and hand brake fully applied do the wheels spin

handbrake cable system on a
1.9vauxhall vectra C says self adjusting

but this picture implys there is an adjustment point
source
Thread Handbrake adjust


you tube vectra handbrake system in action

Opel vectra handbreak

Callipers are what hold the pads and the cylinders on the car. They have nothing to do with your problem. However they are attached by 2 bolts that are fixed to the axle housing mount. These bolts will rust up and not allow the callipers to move and centralize on the disc rotor. If you look at the callipers you will see 2 bolts that have what looks like a rubber seal under the head These are the bolts . Although you have adjusted the hand brake, if you have shoes inside the hub of the disc rotor they will have to be adjusted first and not just the lever.

Do check the rear brakes but below is some help as far as adjusting the cable the proper way. Per specs after all is done your parking brake should be correct as you pull up the lever after 4 - 8 clicks. Hope this helps....

you have bought as pig in a poke ,yes 3 clicks is right on handbrake ,but its easy to do just remove the rear drums and adjust brakes manually,half hours work thats all ,but it would still pass mot because its on the rolling road brake tester and both rear brakes were within 25%,But as for it breaking down i cannot say without my dirty oil encrusted fingers playing with its vitals .but if your passing alicante spain i will have a look for you

The handbrake is an actual cable to the rear brakes. You can try adjusting the read brakes by baking up then hitting them hard to actuate the adjuster, the cable should have an adjuster in it that can be tightend to take up any slack and make it hold better.

There should be some sort of adjustment for the hand brake either in the drum or in the linkage/handle. I doubt the cable has stretched because if they start stretching they usually snap and since it does eventually hold that eliminates that as a possibility. How long ago did you take it to nationwide. Because this is something they should have checked for after repair was completed and adjustment made as a standard procedure. If it hasn't been that long take it back, calmly and politely tell them they forgot to adjust the linkage and chances are they will adjust without charge. In my opinion they had better not charge because this was a careless overlook by the mechanic and could have caused an accident or injury had the car been parked on a slope and started to roll. By the way did the handbrake work fine before brake repairs were made?

can be adjusted with allen key through the hub hope this helps

i had the same problem with my crysler voyager 1997,a friend of mine who is a mechanic found the problem,it is a self adjuster on the handbrake itself,once drums are adjusted up you need to go to your hanbrake area and you will find a white plastic clip on the bottom of the lever ,once removed you pull up your handbrake a few times and it self adjusts,then put the plastic clip back on,this soved my problem,by doing this my handbrake went from about 13 clicks on max to hold . to about 6 clicks and held perfectly