Roam Parking Brake and other issues.

[kknaps]

We have a new Roam built on a Dodge Promaster frame. We just bought it in October and have had issues with the emergency brake engaging on its own. It usually happens when my wife is driving very slow in the car pickup lane when she picks up my niece at school. The brake will suddenly engage for a brief second and then disengage. It feels like we either hit someone or someone hit us. It also happens occasionally when we back up. We brought it to the dealer, and they said he could not get it to replicate and could not do anything about it. They had it for two weeks. The day we picked it up it happened to us again. Unfortunately, we were going to the airport and headed out of town for 5 days and could not bring it in. We have another appointment at a different dealer in a few days. We also have different, random warning lights come on the dashboard at random times. Same thing with the Braun Ability lift, it works most of the time, but it goes out at random times, and we have to manually lift the wheelchair. It all seems related to me. Something with the electrical system?

[Morich]

I might first say that I expect this to be a real pain to pin down!
Just the way things work in most industries? When multiple groups are responsible, none are!
What I would expect is that there will not be any single shop who is responsible for the three sections you have mentioned. There is the auto group who built the chassis, the folks who build the lift and then Winnebago who installed the lift. So each may know there section but not much about the other two. Leaves lots of room for each to say go to the other!
First, I might suggest setting your attitude to expect a trek! Not what it should be but what I think you may find?

From that gloomy thought and on to something that "may" help?
I think you will need to chase each item as a separate item, try to catch some one item happening and let them look at it, while also keeping in mind that some of the problems may have a common cause.
First, I might question the idea of the parking brake going on and off suddenly? I don't know that chassis, so question if it has an electronic park brake or the more common pedal that you step on to set a brake mechanically?
Check to be sure it is actually the brake going on/off, while it may be some other cause like engine or transmission surges that feel like a brake setting?

Having worked lots of electrical repair, there is one common problem with this type trouble. It is almost impossible to fix if it is not broken at the time we look!
And it can be as simple as a plug that is loose....
BUMMER!

[creativepart]

Hello, welcome.

As you know your Winnebago Roam is two things… a Ram ProMaster vehicle and a house. The problems you are experiencing are Ram chassis issues. Hopefully, when you say you’re taking it to dealers you mean you are taking it to Ram (Dodge?) dealers and not to Winnebago dealers. New owners sometimes miss that distinction.

Many new vehicles have Emergency Breaking built in as a driving aide, like lane keep assist. If so do you have this and have it activated? Seems like a “feature” that makes sense sometimes but not in the school pickup line. Ram has one called Forward Collision Warning with Active Braking 7 and Pedestrian/Cyclist Emergency Braking 7. Perhaps you can try turning that off.

You may also want to try looking for answers at the Ram ProMaster forum to see what other ProMaster owners are experiencing: https://www.promasterforum.com/

[Our ride]

A couple of things to check.First, check parking brake switch for proper adjustment,make sure it is not loose in the mounting bracket. Second thing to check is the wheelchair stop/trip plate,make sure switch that signals ramp is deployed is not loose and causing false deployment signal to be sent to emergency brake system. Hope this helps.

[kknaps]

It is an electrical (push button) parking brake. We do have lane assist. I believe it is activated. I can check to see if that will make a difference in the carpool lane. It is possible it did not activate at the dealership (Dodge dealer) because they were driving it in the parking lot away from any lanes.

Also, as Morich suggested, we need to make sure it was actually the brake that did get engaged and not engine or transmission surge.

[kknaps]

I see now you said emergency braking may be activated. I don't believe it is, but I will check.

[Morich]

More info seems to be giving more ideas! When in the pickup lane, I assume there will be cars nearby, like in front?
We have collision mitigation on our Pilot and it gives me odd trouble at times as it is easily confused!
when driving in hilly areas with lots of curves, the system will occasionally hit the brakes as the sensor gets pointed at the oncoming lane as we move through curves and it picks up a car in the other lane! Drives me crazy at times as it often does it just at the bottom of grades where I am starting to add throttle , seeing that I'm out of the curve and the road is now going to go up!
It is also a problem when on cruise and getting close to where I would want to pass a slower vehicle. On interstate, I want to time my passing so I don't bother the folks passing me, but the cruise and collision mitigation will back off the throttle to avoid a collision! Way too sensitive and instead of me keeping my speed and merging into the passing lane, it winds up killing my speed, just when I want to pick up speed to pass!
I have to totally shut it down when traffic is even moderate!

Is there a chance that your RV has some form of collision avoidance that is seeing the car in line ahead as too close and braking? Do you get any dash warning that it has applied itself?
I get a big orange label covering a good portion of the dash, so I am aware when it has done this to me. It's still the pits to be running along trying to keep speed constant and adjust for curves or hills and suddenly it hits the brakes as we meet a car on a curve! Not too bad when only the car but a real jerk when pulling a load! I don't like hitting the brakes in the middle of a curve!

You may also need to think of having more than one problem? Lift as a possible wiring error and the other as possible sensor acting when it should not?

[Rich Ledger]

I like you purchased a Winnebago Roam recently (November). I am having similar issues with braking (happened twice in first 500 miles, not since), Forward Anticollision Warning light disengaging, issues with the coach heating on burner mode, and most concerning, issues with the lift (can not manually pull it out at times). My wife uses a wheelchair so I am trying to resolve these issues and enjoy the vehicle. I would like to stay in touch with you outside this forum to bounce service experiences
[Email address removed for your safety] use this forum’s Private Messaging feature to exchange contact info.

[MMHjr]

I have experienced an issue with the lift on my Roam. I seems to be related to the cold temperatures here in Minnesota. I have to keep hitting the button on the remote for either the up or down I will move an inch or two each time and then if finally works the way it should. I'm also wondering if in may be related to the 12 volt battery I have not had to manually raise or lower the lift.

[MMHjr]

I purchased my Roam back in June of 23. I notice a condition where the parking brake came on as I was backing into the garage. The parking brake turned on when it hit the 1 inch lip in the concrete. But this has not happened again for a very long time. I don't see it as a concern at this time.

[Rich Ledger]

Lift computer motherboard replaced last month under warranty and made a huge difference in performance. Window getting replaced next week, heater has been working well, now looking at air conditioning in coach. Question- I have heard you can run it on the coach batteries for about 3 hours without turning the engine on - anyone have experience running the Roam coach air conditioning and still be able to have enough battery for the lift? Have you purchased a separate generator to carry?