Most of these, and other brake seizing problems are caused by one thing only, neglect.

Brakes should be serviced every year by someone competent, and all linkages and moving parts should be cleaned of salt after the winter (together with rest of body) and lubed appropriately, almost no one looks after their cars properly any more and this is why parts like this seize up.

How many cars do you see washed regularly, many by roadside car washes, the shiny sides polished to the nth degree...but how many ever lift the bonnet to check things over or wash the salt off the underbody during and after the winter, a handful of us only.

"Normal Honda Service" does not include brakes - at best some squirt of brake cleaner.

My 62 Reg CRV had the wheels off and the cleaned up & adjusted.

Calipers checked & greased, brake levers etc cleaned & greased. Handbrake is a drum brake inside the discs - brake hub off & the cylinders etc fettled.

Handbrake then adjusted when it was being put back together - £50+VAT @ local Indie.

My car before the CRV had the brakes done at 1 year, 3yrs & it would have been 5 yrs but I sold it just before the service was due.

£50 upfront is a lot less than repairing faults later on.

Have a new model 61 plate 2.2 D-Tec. In Jan '16 had the second MOT and failed on handbrake variable pull. Sometimes 2 notches, sometimes 12+

Traced to faulty/failed caliper not gripping the cable correctly(?). Honda offered £100 towards it (provided I used the Honda Service centre to fix it at £800) so I wnet with a local independent but still cost £500 for one side (part was £260+VAT from Honda). Now some 9 months later I am noticing the fault recurring so am assuming I will now need to have the other side done. At 4 years and only 35k miles and having seen several other Honest John questions regarding the same problem, this is obviously either a design or component fault.

I did raise it with VSDR; however the respondent stated it was not a safety issue as it would not happen without warning. He also stated many other cars (eg VW and Skoda) use the same system without issue. Honda have told him the handbrake needs to be set up correctly to allow it to self adjust. Having only had Honda services on the caliper do I have a case?

It would be interestign to see if others have experienced a similar issue then maybe we can force a recall? £1000 repair bills every 4-5 years is not why I bought a Honda.

I could be that when the pads have been replaced the correct sequence of recovery from that has not been followed.

So from memory it's:-

Remove old pads - wind pistons back in - fit new pads etc.

Pump brake pedal until hard to push pads onto discs before operating hand brake.

If the handbrake is applied before pumping the pads back onto the discs the auto handbrake adjustment feature will not work and could result in the situation described.

Don't ask me how I know this. (ex- Civic owner)