Manual handbrake gets closer to extinction as car makers favour electronic systems

[Mike Ruff, GW editor]

Fewer than four in ten new cars are fitted with a manual parking brake, according to new research. While Dacia and Suzuki are the only two vehicle man
[See the full post at: Manual handbrake gets closer to extinction as car makers favour electronic systems]

[RoY Lumley]

Along with ADAS systems Electronic Hand brakes EQUALS less driving skill & earlier UNECONOMIC TO REAPAIR Vehicles . Welcome to the “throw-away” Society!!!

[Paul]

I agree with Roy. It’s another unnecessary complication, which commits the owner to more expense, and ultimately loses the repairer the work, when the car becomes economically unrepairable. We are already seeing otherwise perfectly serviceable vehicles going to the scrapyard for unaffordable DMF repairs, it’s an Eco crime!

[Philip Dunmore]

Spot on previous comments. One of our own fleet is 8 years old and needs £1000 spent on part due to broken park brake cable…..

[GregF]

Yep, agreed, another one for the ‘useless gimmick’ box along with stop-start, keyless entry another & classic mistake the ‘automatic braking’ gimmick….Jeez

[Paul Pattison]

‘Freeing up more space inside the vehicle is a feeble excuse…
ever heard of the ‘umbrella’ – type handbrake mounted on or under the dash…?
I recently saw a Range Rover Evoque stationary in the outside lane of the M62 – woman driver who looked pretty worried for her safety…. could this have been as a result of handbrake seizure after a traffic hold-up?
Technology gone mad – if it ain’t broke don’t fix it!
Another example of ‘convenience’ features which become bloody expensive and inconvenient when they go wrong,!

[Darren]

In my experience electric park brakes are unnecessarily complicated,many require special procedures to carry out routine maintenance such as brake disc and pad replacement, even with a good quality diagnostic machine it’s quite common to have park brake issues afterwards for no obvious reason,it may be that the car simply hasn’t recognised the procedure or there was an existing problem that was previously unknown which has not allowed the system to reset correctly. In short as previously said, they’re unreliable and expensive for the vehicle owner and can be time consuming for garages working on them.

[Lee]

If the sheep voted with their feet maybe we’d have a choice from the manufacturer

[Eddie Bamber]

It’s good fun when you get one on the fourth floor of a multi-storey car park with the parking brake stuck on. Some vehicles have a manual override but many don’t. You can’t even get a breakdown van in there because it’s too tall. The worst one I had was a Range Rover with an electrical problem. The ignition wouldn’t come on so it wouldn’t come out of ‘Park’ although it was possible to pull the release for the rear brakes, the front wheels were still locked up as well as the steering lock. Talk about a challenge !. Too much technology in vehicles now, and don’t even get me started on stop-start that refuses to start again once the traffic lights turn green ( excuse the pun by the way ).

[David]

One of the problems I think I have noticed regarding the EPBs are what happens when the service brakes hydraulics fail completely? For people who have health issues that prevent them wearing a seat belt, those persons in a serious accident are definitely going through the front screen.

[eric Hammond]

These brakes systems are a pain to any recovery operator, especially to damaged vehicles or as above, electrical failure or locked vehicles. What is wrong with a simple handbrake lever, instead of all the more complicated and expensive systems now used?. Add locked in park also really becomes great fun making a simple recovery difficult.

[Author]

Posts