Electronic Parking Brakes

[KneesUp]

Lol..yes I also have assisted park..

Oh Lord don't get me started on the parking sensors. I've never had a car with them. They're awful too - squaking away when you get within 10 metres of anything. I can't drive down the middle of the road near work without them going off, and they even go off at the end of our road because it's a steep hill so the front of the car points down at the main road enough for it to think it's an obstruction. I love waiting for a gap in traffic while it boings at me because there is a bloody road in front of me and it's scared.

 

[KneesUp]

[QUOTE 4756842, member: 259"]Can

Can you not turn the bleeping off?[/QUOTE]
To be fair, yes you can - but not permanently - it comes back on next time you get near something.

My own car gets around the issue by relying on me to look out for things nearby.

 

[KneesUp]

[QUOTE 4756848, member: 9609"]bloody hell, you actually had full brake failure in a modern car - that's quite frightening. I had the servo rupture on a van back in the 90s, that was worrying moment but at least the brakes still worked, had to press hard though.[/QUOTE]
Yes - I slammed on when some idiot pulled out on me, and the line burst. Brake fluid everywhere, pedal hit the floor. I went for the 'drive into the space he came from' option and just about got away with it. It's a known fault on the car - the brake line comes out of the clip behind the wheel arch liner, where you can't see, and then the clip rubs the paint off, then it goes rusty, then it bursts. Fun times.

 

[Piemaster]

It would be tricky to do hill-starts without them. I'm not sure how people manage to do them in cars with foot operated parking brakes.

Dunno about new Mercedes, but the older ones had it and I never found it a problem. They foot operated to go on and a dashboard lever to release. They were also autos, so even less of a problem.
Wifes Renault Zoe has hill start assist - gives a couple of seconds of holding car in place before it starts to roll back. It's electric though so effectively drives like an auto anyway.

 

[Illaveago]

The original intention of the hand brake was to provide a separate means of braking. I can't see how the modern electronic ones can do anything else apart from just being a parking brake as it would seem to be either on or off. The cable operated handbrake at least allows you to apply as much braking force as you need and will release when you let it off which can be useful if your brakes should fail.
I was talking to a mechanic at a garage about the new system and he said that the first time that they encountered them was when they were changing some brake pads. Everything went well until after they had fitted the new pads and then they applied and would not release, it was later on that they learnt that they should have gone into the ECU to re programme the braking system.

 

[Joffey]

All the autos I've owned have had an N and P.

You put the car in Park or Neutral every time you stopped at a junction? It must take you ages to get anywhere.

 

[Drago]

Yes, because as a police trained driver I was taught to drive properly. It takes no longer than slapping a manual car in to neutral.

Stationary, not moved in three, two, one, handbrake on.

 

[Globalti]

Leaving a DSG box (and an auto I think) in Drive when stopped does place a drag on the clutch or the torque convertor so if it looks like being a long stop I will slip the lever to Neutral merely out of mechanical sympathy.

 

[Smokin Joe]

Stop with your foot on the brake and no handbrake on and you'll have an interesting experience if somebody nudges you up the chuff. One of the most common fender benders.

 

[screenman]

Another modern thing the average cyclist does not like.

 

[Milkfloat]

Stop with your foot on the brake and no handbrake on and you'll have an interesting experience if somebody nudges you up the chuff. One of the most common fender benders.

Not if you keep your foot on the brake when hit - 4 wheels braked versus 2 wheels with just a handbrake.

 

[Dan B]

Its the muppets that sit at junctions with their foot on the break that boil my wee wee. Not in proper control, needlessly blinding the driver behind them (people have occasionally been ticketed for that aspect), damaging their brakes through repeated uneven cooling of the discs. Plums, the lot of them.

If I were In Charge Of Things, I would make it an offence to have high-level brake lights illuminated while stopped. I don't care whether the problem is solved by manufacturers adding sensors or by car operators learning how to drive (slight preference to the latter approach) but when it's raining and just after lighting up time and I'm approaching a junction, I would much rather be able to see the pedestrian trying to cross between/behind the cars than the stationary status symbols of self-important pricks who are creating the obstacle course that said ped must navigate.

 

[Dan B]

Not if you keep your foot on the brake when hit - 4 wheels braked versus 2 wheels with just a handbrake.

You don't think there's any possible outcome where the jolt from having your car shunted from behind might jolt your foot from its resting place?

 

[Drago]

Assiduously keeping ones foot on the brake pedal is something most people are quite poor at when rear ended.

 

[Milkfloat]

You don't think there's any possible outcome where the jolt from having your car shunted from behind might jolt your foot from its resting place?

If you have placed your wheels correctly, it may be (but no always) better to be shunted forward rather than having your brakes on anyway.