Electronic Parking Brakes

[Tin Pot]

Just taken delivery of one last week so I'm still getting used to it. But I agree, it's much better. Of course I can do hill starts with a manual handbrake but why not use a system that is easier than the manual one?

Mrs N really likes it because it can be quite hard for some to apply the manual handbrake sufficiently on a steep hill. It also encourages her to apply the handbrake more than previously as it's now a flick of a switch that disengages automatically

Ours engages and disengages automatically, so even though there is a switch on the dashboard (which I admit was bizarre at first), you don't even need to operate it if you don't want.

 

[Drago]

@meta lon my old bus is Euro IV petrol, so not the most up to date, but far from the filthiest either. Compared to the massive energy consumption and environmental damage of building a new car the environmental cost of extracting another decade of motoring from the old one is minor indeed.

 

[Levo-Lon]

@meta lon my old bus is Euro IV petrol, so not the most up to date, but far from the filthiest either. Compared to the massive energy consumption and environmental damage of building a new car the environmental cost of extracting another decade of motoring from the old one is minor indeed.

True..if maintained well..
I supose I take umbrage at the 4l 4wheel drive 2ton kids taxi thats so trendy now.

 

[Drago]

Even a modern car can be a sack of polluting crap at three years if not maintained or driven properly

 

[Chromatic]

I change my car when it needs a clean.

You get your man to change your car when it needs a clean, surely?

 

[Profpointy]

You get your man to change your car when it needs a clean, surely?

When I had company cars I used to clean them before they went back

 

[mustang1]

Well if the window .

What happens if you have a flat battery with an electronic handbrake? Or the black box goes into error mode and refuses to release it? impractical for transverse engines

Or the black box goes into error mode and doesn't allow you to start the engine! Or the fuel runs out. Or your tire has a puncture and you have locking wheel nuts but don't have the lock key. Or you leave the lights on which leads to the flat battery.

The new one is electric power steering.....

 

[mustang1]

This is the reason I don't like modern cars. T.

It worked, it was simple - why make it more complicated to achieve the same end result?

How about people who aren't strong enough to release a handbrake, or pull it tight enough to activate it sufficiently?

I like both types of handbrake, the regular mechanical type like you describe, and the electronic one. Both have advantages. Shrugs.

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

A colleague got a new company car, an Insignia, which he was dead chuffed with cos it came with a high level of extras. He was less impressed a week later. He'd stopped in a layby to have lunch - sandwiches and a thermos of tea. When he'd finished he gathered up his rubbish and jumped out to put it all in the bin. It was chucking it down with rain and he was in shirtsleeves so he was a bit peeved to get back to the car door to find it locked, with the keys in the ignition. 3 hrs in the rain waiting for the AA!

 

[Piemaster]

anyway I'm far too important and busy texting to be bothered with changing gear and applying handbrakes.

Sorry. I've been left in charge of a keyboard unsupervised.

 

[Smokin Joe]

I've got Stop-Start on my car. It is a combination of my brain and the ignition key, amazing how efficient it is and costs nothing in repairs.

 

[Piemaster]

The new one is electric power steering.....

and brakes. Something I didn't really register until we got the electric car. No vacuum assistance from a ICE as it hasn't got one, so brake assistance must be an electric pump, but then as anything modern has ABS, so will anything with an engine too..
We had problems with the tyre pressure warning on the old Roomster, it eventually needed a software update of the ABS to fix it as it uses the ABS sensors for the system.

 

[Chris S]

I have a car with an electronic hand brake.

It's a piece of piss to use.

Starting on a hill is really complicated:

1. Start engine
2. Drive off

You seem to have misread my post, "I'm not sure how people manage to do them in cars with foot operated parking brakes."

 

[keithmac]

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.

We have hills start assist on our Auto, the brakes are applied until you accelerate.

It's a great system, even with the caravan on the back hill starts are no problem at all.

It still has a conventional handbrake as a separate system.

 

[mustang1]

Must be such a hardship putting the hand brake on and off when driving

Not so much a hardship, but just another thing less to do.