Thanks for bring this up....I was wondering if it is because you use it so much, constantly over and over again, and how many miles do you have on the car.....something that will help me when I get more miles on mine, what to expect....thanks.

 

I would definitely say it's due to my extreme usage and because I play with it too much as well. I'm the only owner of my '12 Focus S and I've put ~175,000mi on it as a courier. The problems I've seen are as follows:

1) This is likely only an issue in hot climates with moderate or high humidity (I live in San Antonio, Tx. Summers easily hit 110F) but heavy usage of the air conditioner causes water to pool up on the passenger floor. It's a known issue and it's a problem with the condenser drainage system failing. It's supposed to drain through the firewall out of the car. It's intermittent but when it occurs, it lasts for weeks.

1.5) Forgot to add this, the AC system sucks. Before my warranty expired I had to have the dealer fix the AC because it stopped working. It wouldn't blow cold air. They recharged it but that didn't solve the problem. It only blew cold air when I revved the engine or was driving. If I idled it would not blow cold. This was at 120k miles. Now it's not blowing at all. I think the blower died. This occurred somewhere around 160k miles.

2) Wear and tear of the seat. In my case, driver seat. The seat frame was poorly designed. The frame has sharp edges that have cut through the seat material. I eventually put a thick hoodie over my seat-back and it has since cut through that. Now this is likely exacerbated due to the fact that I'm a fat guy but that shouldn't matter. It occurred on the seat-back and the seat-cushion.

3) The reason for this post: The hand-brake. Like I said, I played with it a lot but I've never had any of my other vehicles do this. The silver cap is connected to a plastic linkage that goes through the lever-handle to a cable-switch in the base. The small part where the cap connects to the linkage snapped off. Now I have to stick my finger inside the lever to push the linkage. It still works just fine, it's just a pain in the ass.

Everything else I chalk up to normal wear and tear. I have had to have the transmission and clutch rebuilt twice at 80k and 170k miles but that's in VERY large part due to me pretending I'm speed racer. I'm only now having an ignition coil start to fail on me. At one point the steering wheel became loose and would wobble. They had to replace the steering column and re-set a spring in the wheel. I think this is due to me using the wheel to lower myself into the car. As I said, I'm fat but I'm also really tall for the car (6'3") and there's no easy way to lower yourself in.

All that said...I'd still buy this car again over a Chrysler. [][hihi]

 

Back to the point at hand...

Ok, I guess this thread has become moot.

I managed to calmly remove the boot for the hand-brake. In doing so I was able to take apart the lever itself. The worn out grip is a tube that slides onto the metal of the lever and the piece that the silver cap attaches to is just a bent plastic linkage. I was able to fully remove it from the lever although of course this make the lever useless.

I put it back together and went to the dealer. Took it apart again and showed them the parts I need. You can not buy these pieces separately. You need to buy the whole assembly for $85. It includes a cable that connects to another cable...on the underside of the cabin floor. You motherf- ...ahem, as I was saying. Clearly this isn't a layman job. Until I realized that I just removed the pieces from my own handbrake. Why can't I do the same to the one I buy. I don't need to have the whole lever replaced. The lever itself is fine. I'll just cannibalize the parts.

So that's what I'll do. Bills come first though so the part is on hold. I'll try to film everything too so that if anyone else experiences this problem they'll have a how-to video.


Wish me luck folks.

 

I managed to calmly remove the boot for the hand-brake. In doing so I was able to take apart the lever itself. The worn out grip is a tube that slides onto the metal of the lever and the piece that the silver cap attaches to is just a bent plastic linkage.

For three years, I was being driven insane by a constant rattle from the brake lever that I originally thought was the silver button cap. I had used some black adhesive craft felt around the edges of the "tube" thinking that this would solve the problem. It did initially, but failed after a few thousand miles when the felt wore down from use of the button.

So then I found your information here about the handle grip just being a tube, so I took the boot off, lifted the clip of the grip "tube" with a screw driver and carefully slid the grip off. I'm sure you're aware of the little plastic glide clip that holds the plastic brake lever bar in place. It turns out that the plastic bar was rattling up and down inside that slide clip ever so slightly with vibrations from the road, generating that obnoxious, insanity-generating buzz. So I placed a long strip of that ever-so-handy adhesive craft felt along the top edge of the plastic bar, slid the glide clip back in place, reassembled everything, and voila! No more obnoxious buzzing!

Thank you for sharing that little tidbit of information about the "tube" being able to slide off. Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you!!!!

 

Just curious. Is there a clip or something that holds the outer handle in place?
When I go to press the button in the handle just slides up instead. I'm not sure what needs to be replaced on it.

Also was wondering if you've tried finding the parts you need in a junk yard?

Any help would be appreciated.

 

1) I haven't yet replaced it as I have been focusing (no pun intended) on more important matters. While I do not have the parts, I will try to get around to making a video showing a complete disassemble of the handbrake lever. It's really not too hard. I won't be removing the lever but I'll show you how to remove the cosmetic parts. I have no need to mess with the cables so I wont even attempt that part since I use this car for my job.

2) I've found a junk yard that sells various parts. The problem I had originally is that I couldn't find a junk yard with newer vehicles. It's been long enough now.

I'll see if I can't give you a youtube link for my video when I get it taken care of.

 

Hey.
Any progress on this?

 

Try steve at Tacaparts.com.

 

I pulled my handbrake up too hard when parked on a hill and it got stuck. Yanked on it half an hour and couldn't get the button to release. I got so frustrated that I smacked the button and broke it. The handbrake went down to it's normal unlocked position and I can drive the car without any brake drag. Now button is broke and it won't activate the ratchet. I haven't torn into it yet but wonder if I can repair it from inside the handle.

I pulled the boot trim panel off and removed the plastic button assembly and all were good. But upon further inspection I could see that I busted off the metal below ratchet when I pulled too hard on the handbrake. I found a used brake assembly on eBay for $26.00.