r/AlpineA290

Love the Rati Frunk

Got the windows tinted the other day, more on that later.

When the guys were done they couldn't get the car to release the parking brake, they asked me to try to move the car.

Got in the car and was immediately greeted by multiple malfunctions on the dash, parking brake malfunction being the one effectively bricking the car.

Tried the instructions in the manual for manually releasing the parking brake.

Well, they call in manually but it's still operated by the electric motors on the rear brake calipers.

These seem to be the issue as they are not responding to input from the switch :(

Called my dealer and the mechanics walked me through the same procedures as I tried before, but no effect.

The dealer told me to contact the route service.

Which showed up 45 minutes later, pretty quick luckily because the car was still stuck in the workshop and the customers after me had to be sent home.

Shop owner took it pretty well and was surprisingly calm about the situation.

Once the tow truck showed up it still took some time to get it on the truck because the car was inside and the acces to the shop was only a narrow alleyway.

Towed the car to the nearest alpine store, fortunately this was my own dealer which did the first service only a day before. Pretty crazy it broke down only a day later.

Dealer was hoping a full reset would fix the issue, but haven't heard from them since.

Called them yesterday afternoon but they didn't pick up the phone.🤷🏼‍♂️

Cleaning this beauty is painful!

Don't know if rolled out later in my region (Austria), maybe the update is already available for some time now in other regions. But it's the first and only update for my A290 since October 2025.

This update includes the following improvements:
- Optimized compatibility with the latest charging stations
- Smoother gear shifts with improved responsiveness when shifting between positions (R, N, D/B)