KEY POINTS:
Aucklanders Nick and Aimee Rankin were shocked to be woken by a policeman looking for the owner of a Holden Vectra car which had demolished a neighbour's vehicle while they were asleep.
Mr Rankin said the new car - belonging to his employer - was found locked and
with its handbrake still on, after rolling about 30m down a hill outside the couple's former Henderson home in 2003.
"It was fortunate a parked car was there, otherwise it would have gone through someone's house," said Mr Rankin, a technical products account manager.
After they moved home in 2005, the car again rolled with its handbrake on. He was opening his gate at the time, and it started rolling towards him.
"I got dragged through the garden while trying to climb in - it was rolling down and when I jumped in, the handbrake was on and I couldn't pull it up any further, so I had to stand on the brakes."
The vehicle is one of five Vectras reported to the Herald as having rolled down hills after apparent handbrake failures, causing damage in four cases.
Although similar problems overseas have prompted an offer from car-maker GM Europe to install new springs on handbrakes of 250,000 Vectras and Signums, Holden NZ is still waiting for its Australian parent company to decide what to do.
The five local complaints follow a statement by Holden that it did not know of any cases here or in Australia, and demands by Consumer New Zealand and the Dog and Lemon Guide that it act quickly to prevent deaths or injuries.
Mr Rankin said the crash caused by his Vectra, which he had since given back because he had taken a new job, happened late at night.
"We slept through it and in the morning woke up to knocking and a policeman saying: Do you own a new Vectra?"
"They were searching the neighbourhood because it was so new the registration was just to a lease company. The police thought it was a drunk driver because the handbrake was still on."
He said the neighbour's vehicle was "totalled" and the Vectra seriously damaged.
But the Holden dealership which suuplied the car rejected any suggestion of a faulty handbrake.
"Their attitude was that there was nothing wrong with it, and they didn't want to know."
Holden spokeswoman Brodie McClellan invited the Herald to supply contact details for the latest complainants, but said the company could not comment on them without examining their vehicles.
Asked when it would decide on whether to follow GM Europe's lead, she said: "We are still going through that process, and as soon as a decision has been made, we will make contact with our customers."
Consumer NZ chief executive Sue Chetwin said she could not understand why Holden was not acting "before someone is killed or injured".
Dog and Lemon Guide editor Clive Matthew-Wilson said the latest cases amounted to "a smoking gun", demanding immediate attention for Holden to retain any credibility.
OTHER INCIDENTS
* Auckland financial services worker Judith Schwarz said last year her Vectra rolled down her mother's driveway in Glen Eden, across a road, and down a steep right-of-way where it sideswiped one car, and "completely munted" another vehicle by shunting it into a retaining wall.
* Mt Wellington secretary Ima Tamapeau said her Vectra rolled through a gate in her driveway before hitting a sleepout and lodging in a hedge, causing minor damage to the building and car.
* A man who did not give his full name said his Vectra rolled 50m backwards into a power pole.
* Ponsonby property agent Gareth McIvor said his Vectra slipped off its handbrake and rolled 7m down a driveway - after he had parked it in first gear.
