Electric Parking Brakesn- Devils Work?

Honest John Back Room » Motoring discussion
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Thu 30 Nov 2006 02:18
Electric Parking Brakesn- Devils Work? - Captain-Chaos
I recently had my first (and hopefully LAST) experience of electric parking brakes. It was a hired new style VW Passat TD estate and the parking brake was the worst idea I've ever seen in a car. The damn thing kept refusing to disengage on hill starts, most of which were in inner city traffic and as a result an utter nightmare. It's a miracle I didn't either burn out the clutch or roll back onto another car. Before you ask, I was fully aware of the correct way to operate it incidentally.

The experience has left me very worried about future trends - it seems to me that more new cars are being fitted with these infernal devices. Besides being horrid to use they must drain the battery (which damages fuel economy as the alternator is loaded by the recharging)

In my view they not only make driving less safe, but will have serious effects in a few years time on older cards when they begin to fail. A broken handbrake wire is easy and cheap to fix, but a worn out electric servo will be highly expensive I imagine, and will only hasten the point at which vehicles become uneconomic to repair.
I was impressed by the Passat, but i would now under no circumstances buy ANY vehicle with an electric parking brake!!

Is it time we boycot these damn things before they take over and we have no choice left?!
What does anyone else think?
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Thu 30 Nov 2006 05:41
Electric Parking Brakesn- Devils Work? - cjehuk
Had them on Audi A6 and A8 many times and can't say that I've ever had an issue with them. I have had an issue on the Renault Scenic with it, but mainly because the engine had tap all torque at low speeds making it hard to move off with a fully laden vehicle - I'd have had the same trouble but more control with a manual handbrake.

The only way the VAG brake disengages on a hill is if you have an incline of more than a certain angle otherwise you have to release it manually.
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Thu 30 Nov 2006 07:24
Electric Parking Brakesn- Devils Work? - oldpostie
I tried a Ford C Max which had one of these, and i did not like it. Certainly didn't but what was otherwise an excellent car. I like to have some control.
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Thu 30 Nov 2006 08:07
Electric Parking Brakesn- Devils Work? - Collos25
I had one on a Laguna hire car what a load of !!!!
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Thu 30 Nov 2006 08:54
Electric Parking Brakesn- Devils Work? - BobbyG
I love the one on my Scenic. Get used to it very quickly.
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