Under-Dash Handbrake Lock

There's not much hope of stopping a determined professional car thief, but every little hindrance can slow the process down and increase his risk of being spotted. Locking the handbrake to prevent the car simply being pushed to somewhere out of sight, or even onto a trailer, might be just enough to deter the less committed...

Commercially available locks all seem to be designed for a typical tunnel mounted handbrake. They cover the handle and release button with a steel tube, and lock into place around the gear lever directly in front. As such they aren't easy to adapt for use with the original Seven under-dash handbrake.

This approach of obstructing the release button is very much simpler to implement than physically blocking the movement of the handle. The only problem to solve then is just how such an obstruction can be locked in place without that conveniently placed gear lever.

I couldn't find anywhere sensible to mount a securing bracket, so some way of attaching it to the handbrake lever itself seeemed to be the best bet. After a couple of false starts with over complicated hinged shrouds that clamped around the handle, this is the simplest design I could come up with:-

The distance between the arms of the padlock shackle is just greater than the diameter of the handbrake tube, but narrower than the handle section. Since this only restricts movement in the 'outward' direction, an internal spacer is required so that simply pushing the end of the device doesn't operate the release button... (This spacer is made of wood to prevent scratching.)

Welded up from scrap bits and pieces, the only expenses were the padlock and a coat of paint. Whilst it's a fairly basic lock, picking it seems unlikely to be a typical car thief's first line of attack. The shackle is exposed so is vulnerable to bolt cutters or a cordless angle grinder but if someone is 'going equiped' at that level there's really nothing much to be gained by further complication.

Admittedly a fairly crude device like this clearly can't offer a high level of security, but hopefully it's better than nothing!