Frozen handbrake: these tricks help

If your car’s handbrake is frozen in winter, you can still release it. In this practical tip, we will show you which tricks will help you.

How to release the frozen handbrake

In winter, the car can take some time before you can start driving. Sometimes the battery doesn't start, other times the car door is frozen. If you have applied your handbrake, it can also freeze to you.

• If this is the case, you have several options for releasing the brake. It is certainly the most convenient to start the car and wait until the engine has warmed up and warmed up the other parts of the vehicle.
• Depending on the outside temperature, this can take more than a quarter of an hour. In addition, this approach is not very environmentally friendly.
• It is better if you remove the ice from the frozen handbrake in another way. To do this, start the car, release the handbrake and drive a little bit very slowly. Here 15 or 20 centimeters are enough.
• Repeat this process until the handbrake is free of ice again. You can recognize this by applying the handbrake. If you notice a resilient resistance when you release the handbrake afterwards, the handbrake is free and you can start driving without hesitation.
• Important: Repeat this test once or twice so that the brake is released safely.
• Alternatively, use heat to get the frozen handbrake free. However, that means a little more effort. You need a normal hair dryer and certainly an appropriately long extension cable.
• Check the manual of your vehicle to see which wheels the handbrake grips. In most cases, these are the rear wheels.
• Warm the handbrake on these wheels with the blow dryer by heating the metal of the rims and the space between the rims. You will have a hard time getting to the brake discs.
• To do this, keep the hair dryer switched on as close as possible to the metal surfaces of the wheels. These conduct the heat to the brake. The handbrake should then be defrosted and functional again.
• Tip: icing of the handbrake is very easy to avoid. Avoid applying the handbrake when the outside temperature is low. Instead, only engage first gear in the transmission.

In our next practical tip, we will show you five things that you should not leave in the car in winter.