If you’ve ever happened across a fast food restaurant late at night, there’s a good chance that you’ve seen the ‘yoofs’ congregated there were doing their best to test their handbrakes to the limit, and show off their driving skills to all onlookers.
As adults, we find it pointless & annoying, and we do our best to discourage that behaviour; a shake of the head, a silent ‘tut’ and withering stares, usually to no avail. If I’ve described you (as the adult), there’s good news: just 3 in 10 new cars on sale today have manual handbrakes, and only two mainstream manufacturers (Suzuki & Dacia) offer them across their range.
The likes of Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar, Land Rover and Lexus have all ditched the traditional, manual handbrake – none of their new models have them fitted.
Electronic handbrakes
In an age of connectivity, smart cars and electrification, manufacturers are looking toward improving systems and processes even further. Certainly, there isn’t much wrong with the traditional handbrake, but as a system, it’s crude and offers little innovation – essentially, the handbrake has remained unchanged since its introduction.
There are a number of reasons why the manufacturers are pushing toward electronic systems, not only does it free up space in the cabin, and remove the unsightly lever, but they also offer built-in safety features – no more slipping (or even forgetting), automatic hill-start assist, automatically disengaging when pulling away, and of course, it can’t be applied while on the move. Sorry kids.
Cost cutting
The first electronic parking brake was fitted to a 7 Series BMW in 2001, but of course as with any technology, as it becomes more widely adopted, the prices plummet, and it becomes more affordable. Given that it uses servo motors and intelligent control (so must have some form of ECU), the price of the electronic brake would outweigh the cost of a traditional brake, but they’re easier to fit, and in theory, shouldn’t need any maintenance above the regular servicing, so the overall price differential isn’t that great.
There may also be an element of allowing the manufacturer to lower the specification of other components – think of the clutch for example; if automatic hill-assist takes care of the dreaded hill start, there should be a drop in the number of drivers that ride the clutch while they wait to move off.
But we shouldn’t forget that the same as prices coming down, new technology usually has some inherent faults that have been unforeseen.
Volkswagen recall
Back in 2017, Volkswagen had to recall 134,000 UK models from the Golf, Touran, Tiguan and Passat range for problems with their handbrakes, Tesla recalled 53,000 cars worldwide to fix problems with their system, and Toyota, Renault and Audi have all had to recall models at some point for handbrake problems.
While electronic handbrakes do have their positives, you’d have to say that if there’s a problem with incorrect tensioning, there’s very little you can do – it’s not like you can just pull on the lever a little harder. Equally, if it fails to engage, or even disengage, no amount of scrabbling around underneath the vehicle will help you – it’s a trip to a main dealer, or a well-appointed independent garage with a diagnostic machine.
The future of driving
It would seem that this is just another small step to the future of autonomous driving – one less thing that new drivers will have to learn, another process that’s moving toward the car taking complete control of the driving process, albeit in small steps.
We’ve already reported on the fact that intelligent cars will monitor, and if necessary, adjust your speed if you’re driving too fast, and that newer cars have the ability to spy on you and report back, and while a great deal of these features have come about for safety or convenience, you can’t help feeling that the art of driving, is slowly dying, and I believe we’re already seeing the repercussions.
All too often, we see drivers that use a car purely as a means of transportation, that give no thought to situational awareness, driving conditions, or other drivers; automatic emergency braking systems mean that drivers don’t need to be as aware, lane-assist stops them wandering between lanes, blind spot systems stop them from pulling out into traffic approaching them from behind, and in-car entertainment systems with full connectivity and Wi-Fi means distractions are plenty.
I’m not advocating a roll-back to steam power and a man with a red flag, but just as many F1 drivers say that it’s now too safe for enjoyment, you may just start to think about hanging on to your current, pre-safety conscious car just that little bit longer.
Do you think driving standards are slipping? Do these safety systems lessen the skill needed to drive properly? Let us know in the comments.
Far too many (almost 100%) never use the handbrake anyway in traffic, they just stand on the brake pedal. There is a large proportion that don’t use a handbrake on hill starts either; they sit on a slipping clutch (yes awful!), or quickly move from brake pedal to accelerator as they take up the drive.
All of these short-cut habits have a downside, of course, but it is laziness that makes people do it. Sitting with foot on the brake in traffic gives no protection from an inadvertent rear impact; slipping the clutch on a hill stop wears out your pockets (or rather those of the poor devil that buys his second hand car); and the quick change from brake to accelerator allows a small distance run backwards.
My personal preferences, as you can possibly tell, are to use a manual handbrake at every traffic halt and hill start. My own experiences with an auto handbrake are that the ‘faddle’ is a dissuader, the whirring noises are irritating, and most of all, the delay of around a second in engaging or disengaging it cause small but irritating traffic delays. Neither do I like the jolting of the sudden release or application. I would much rather have the ‘feel’ of a manual handbrake, to progressively apply it as the car slows its final one mph, and to release it exactly when I want to!
Try driving a Mercedes Vito manual with a foot operated handbrake.
Four pedals to work with only two feet, starting off uphill from traffic lights, you need magic feet.
Thats how I learnt to dance!
I will always use the handbrake in stopping/idling situations. It is (perhaps strangely) annoying to see nearly all cars ahead in a queue applying the brake pedal.
I put my full beam headlights on when brake lights are left on
Thereby dazzling oncoming drivers. Brilliant safety dodge.
When you are three feet behind a moron you are only dazzling the burk in front.
I’ve even got out and asked them to put handbrake on, like when waiting for a ferry. Most have “a dawn in the Rockies” experience when realising that the high level brake light is a dazzle.
Why?
Keeping your foot on the brake (and thus the brake-lights on) is an early warning for the traffic behind, and can often avoid you being tail-ended by the inattentive follower.
I live in an area with narrow lanes, steep hills, loadsa bends, frequent road repairs, and some pretty dumb people. I know where the hazards are. So I usually stop where I can just see the back of the real queue, and am in clear sight of the next person who might just zoom round the next bend or hidden dip and hit the queue. This also gives me some space to move forward and avoid (or lessen) any impact.
Brake lights on, hazards too if I judge useful. When the next car slows behind you, gently join the real queue and use the handbrake from then on.
That’s fine when you are tail end Charlie, but need handbrake as well to have a brake on when yor feet are lifted off the pedal in event of re ender. Hazards are good, and dab brake pedal too possibly.
on new cars with elec handbrake if you have hill control on your brake light come on automatically
My new Mercedes E Class has electronic parking brake, so when the traffic stops I use the foot brake, when the car stops I apply a little more pressure and the parking brake is applied, but the brake lights do stay on, and only come off when I touch the accelerator. Sorry guys.
I look forward to the day that all car’s have automatic handbrakes. I am disabled and this is a feature that I have wanted for sometime, my preferred option for this would be to have it movable to suit different people’s preferences, as some are push button release.
As for the argument that drivers feel that their automation is doing away with their skills, this is not true. The main reason for this is to cut accident rates and reduce the chances of dying or suffering serious injury in the event of a car crash, in fact I think that Volvo considers that this is possible on their new cars built from 2020-2021.
However few people are rich enough to afford a new Volvo.
The one outstanding reason to me for this step change is that newer drivers are taught to pass their driving test not how to drive, yes there is a big difference, I am sure that I am not the only one who has noticed the following in newer drivers. Firstly the belief that they are capable of doing things that they do not have any experience of or have been specifically trained for.
This covers just about all but I am sure many drivers professional and others with a few years experience, will have noticed the following.
Speeding, dangerous overtaking, lack of spatial awareness, late or not using indicators correctly, poor judgement of speed and distance – also how to make allowances and adjust for for this for various reasons – ie roadworks – weather – accidents, dangerously increasing speed at roundabouts and other road junctions in preference to make sure that the manoeuvre is safe to carry out, bad positioning of the vehicle at junctions and failing to check over their shoulder before merging into traffic or changing lanes.
I am not a perfect driver, no one is, I recently had a close call with a car doing an emergency stop on a roundabout, the reason for this was a articulated lorry with left hand drive, Polish I believe, pulling into the roundabout completely blind as to what traffic was to his right. Fortunately no accident occurred, this was due to the alertness of myself and the vehicle in front of me at the time, the correct use of the observations and speed played a major role in this case, I doubt if this would be the case of a new driver.
Many younger drivers consider they have faster reactions and this allows them to drive faster RUBBISH it is correct manoeuvring at the right speed that prevents accidents. Others also consider that the braking system on cars is much better in this day and age, to some extent this is true with antilocking systems to name but one. However those who believe that the braking distances in the Highway code are outdated I say again RUBBISH for the following reasons your thinking distance is the same, your stopping distance is an average to allow for weather and depth of the tyre treads and last but not least the weight of a modern vehicle is about double at least of a 1960s / 1970s car due to improved safety features. Therefore the rules of observations and speed apply equally as much today as in the past if not more so.
I don’t like my new Volvo’s electronic handbrake, but admittedly I don’t like any electronic handbrake I’ve used. As for their City Safety emergency brake system I’ve turned it off after nearly having my face planted in the steering wheel pulling into parking spaces with a hedge at the end. Sorry but these “safety” devices don’t work well enough for me and remove control from the driver.
Clearly a disability might make a conventional handbrake proble matic. Obviously it depends on the exact nature of the disability.
For those who are affec ted, a suitable alternative should be part of the adaptation.
No reason why the 99% who are not affected should have to put up with these expensive and troublesome electronic handbrake s.
Electronic hand brakes are all very well, but what happens when the electronics fail and you are parked blocking in another car. This happened to me and my Renault Scenic late at night in our village hall car park. The people I blocked in had to wait an hour before the AA arrived to help (it was now well passed midnight). This was some years ago, perhaps they have improved since then! – Keith Hicks
Nope. My wife’s Scenic handbrake failed just a couple of years ago. Tow truck needed to get it to garage for expensive repair
Well keith, this is what happens when cheap car manufacturers try an emulate high end products. I have a 2005 bmw 730d with the electric parking brake also of course a automatic. I’ve never needed it, but have tested just to see, under my steering wheel is a red tag, pulling this pops a handle you pull which releases the park brake an auto box brake allowing you to move the car. Clever those Germans.
The Renault scenic has a release also, it’s a handle in the boot or spare wheel well. Still a c**p idea though. The hand brake is an emergency brake, not just a parking brake. If your normal brakes fail then you have a connection to the rear brakes by cable which should allow you to slow down and stop. How do you do that with an electronic parking brake with no handle or foot pedal?
During a partucularly cold night my handbrake must have had difficulty in dissengeging and so told the computer that it was still on even though it had released. So driving off on my journey I was left with no handbrake because the handbrake warning was on. I took it in to Toyota who then reset the computer. It happened again during another cold night, taking it back to Toyota, they told me it wasn’t working and tried to flog me a new electric handbrake mechanism for £1500. I refused and on driving it home the handbrake was working, so they must have reset it and tried to scam me out of £1500. Seems to me electric handbrakes are a good cash cow for the dealers. Didn’t the handbrake used to be called an emergency brake in case your braking system failed, that is no good if you can’t use electric handbrakes when you are moving. In summary I will not use my electric handbrake when parking overnight if the temperatures drop below zero and beware of unscrupulous dealers trying to flog you a new electric hanbrake system when you don’t need one.
You can use any electronic handbrake for an emergency stop – not that I like them…… You cannot easily do your handbrake turn anymore….
You can’t both be right. Either an elect ronic handbrake can’t be used when moving or you can do an emergency stop with th em.
Which is it?
It can be used, well in the bmw 7 it can. You need to press an hold the park brake button down and the car will slowly apply the parking brake. Should never be needed in a modern car because of split brake systems anyway, when was the last time you heard of someone who’s brakes had failed?
The electronic handbrake on Land Rover Discovery can be used to stop the car in an emergency
Call it tinfoil hat but we are quickly heading to a future where hacking a car could easily force someone to have a car accident and there’s nothing you could do about it.
Throttles are all drive by wire, steering is all electronically assisted, brakes all have electronic servos and handbrakes are electric now too. Oh and you drive an auto so there’s no taking it out of gear!
Considering the amount of data leaks and hacks in this modern era, we will soon need antiviruses for cars!
Lotuses are looking better by the day haha
Automatic vehicles are capable of going into neutral and shifting gears while driving. I feel they are safer enabling both hands on the wheel at all times and less distraction with clutching/shifting. But manual hand brakes are a must in case of foot brake failure. It saved me more than once!
The gear changes are electronic, if someone takes control of the ECU you won’t be able to get it in to neutral OR pull the handbrake. Unlike a manual. You’ll be screwed as nothing on the car will respond.
Give me a proper hand brake any day. I hate all this electronic rubbish, it’s all just waiting to go wrong and it cost an absolute fortune to put right. I am quite capable of driving without all these computers and electronics, I never had it on any of my cars and I have absolutely no intention of buying a car without a manual handbrake.
If the foot brake fails I like some kind of backup, applying the hand brake gently will bring the car to a stop.
I agree 100%.
Sounds like a business opportunity: making and fitting aftermarket handbrake s for cars which leave the factory with the electronic variety.
My 2005 BMW 730d is now 14 years old with 120k miles, 11 of um with me. My parking brake works perfectly well, never been a problem, in fact the old e38 740i before with a foot park brake was a bigger problem with sticking cables so for me electric is cheap fault free an just a few minutes ago held fine on a steep road.
Driving standards have dropped appallingly especially from European HGV drivers. Removing manual handbrakes is an unnecessary imposition on motorists and if you maintain your car correctly, they are safer than the hit-and-miss electronic hand breaks on hill starts! If it works, leave it alone!
It is all just junk. Modern cars are just dull dull dull !!! If we really are going down this road even further to the appalling ‘Autonomous Car’ then I am so glad that I am closer to my grave than I am to my birth. I learnt to drive in 1968 when real cars had to be driven properly. Even then they had been modernised to make them easier than in my father’s time. New cars are already dull and boring, if they keep on automating everything then journeys will become even more boring. As it is I find myself working out journeys that will be interesting because the cars and the roads these days make travelling such a dull experience. When I was young I looked forward to travelling distances on journeys to interesting places but now, it seems, everything, both journeys and destinations, these days are just so dull.
Glad you are closer to your grave because of electronic handbrakes – really? I am 75, have always loved driving and happily embrace modern technology. I have just collected my first car equipped with an electronic handbrake and love it.
No Eric, I do not like these kind of gadgets because when they go wrong, as they inevitably will do, you will find that they will cost a fortune to repair as a friend of mine has already dicovered when his went wrong on his car. A bill of over £750 Manual handbrakes are so much better. It is not rhat I dislike modern technology, far from it, it is the excuse of car makers to rip off the motorist that I get upset about. Every piece of new technology is designed to line the car makers profits at the expense of the motorist.
Why Eric do you love it so much, what does it do that a lever hand brake doesn’t
I prefer to be in control myself. What happens if the electronics fail?
Misfit: Ask a 737-MAX passenger!!!
To echo the sentiments of many, I don’t find electronic handbrakes beneficial. They won’t work above a certain speed, calipers are expensive, they need to be diagnostically set up, the control modules (which can fail) are hundreds of pounds, there is no feel for when they need repair (the idiot light will eventually illuminate) and it is a strategy to pander to the mindless masses.
That said, cars are heavier and many drivers more feeble so the chances of them applying a handbrake circumspectly (enough to hold the car but it is not a test of strength either) and less abled drivers is the argument for.
For me, the modern car is engineered for people who cannot operate a car correctly or are cognitively impaired. That is enough reason for me to no longer want a modern car. I’m glad I have more interesting and rewarding alternatives.
As a disabled driver, I do advocate electronic handbrakes. Manual ones can cause pain in arthritic hands and wrists. For that reason and that I have to drive my automatic car via hand controls, I avoid vehicles with manual handbrakes.
Yes, a lot of people hate automation whereas for me, without such modernisations, I would not have my independence and be able to get myself to and from work to earn a living.
I hasten to add I learnt to drive in a manual car many years ago pre-disability.
I agree that for disabled people, these electronic features are useful, but they should be an option and not foisted on everyone because some totally misguided do-gooder, or unscrupulous car designer has decided that this is what we should have. I have a completely physically disabled nephew who’s longing for the day when fully-autonomous cars are available, but why do the rest of us have to lose what is one of life’s great pleasures – driving our own car without electronic interference from dodgy gizmos?
I’ve held the button on whilst on an Audi and a VW for about 2 seconds. Nothing happened. Whilst I cannot say there is no emergency brake function, my experience does not support this, hence my earlier comment.
Anyway, how long does the button need to be held to function? Perhaps not having the car registering a service brake failure inhibits this emergency brake function.
I still don’t hold much faith in these systems. I note VAG cars inhibit the starter motor if the clutch is not fully depressed. How safe is that with a non starting engine on a level crossing?
In an emergency, if you have to hold the button for two seconds before anything happen happens then the accident will have happened before the brake starts working.
you are wrong saying ” it can’t be applied while on the move” they work just the same if breaks fail just pull the switch up and hold it up and you have full emergency braking try reading some handbooks before you write your articles
Yes it can be applied in emergency while moving if the electrics still function. If the alternator fails and shorts the battery thus killing the engine you have to rely on the non assisted foot brake. A manual handbrake would be much safer.
Just another bugbear for those who know how to drive too many so called drivers do have a clue about driving and need something to do everything for them they just want to press a button for everything to happen .A sign on the back of an old wagon cab read MADE FOR DRIVERS NOT STEERINGWHEEL ATTANDANTS that what most of todays drivers of most vehicles are STEERINGWHEEL ATTENDANTS and vehicle makers want EVERTONE to become one NOT ME !
A while back whilst going downhill in Scotland my master cylinder developed a leak and my brakes failed. I was able to slow the car using the handbrake and drive carefully to the nearest garage to replenish brake fluid and subsequently replace the master cylinder. What would happen with now if there was no manual handbrake?
You pull and hold the electronic “handbrake”.
Does the electronic handbrake have a separate cable, or does it use the hydraulic system?
Depends.
Some have a single electrical actuator which pulls the cables. Later cars tend to have the actuators built into the calipers so no handbrake cables are fitted.
Thanks. The thrust of my comment was that people often forget the old adage that a chain is no stronger than its weakest link.
You often get light aircraft owners fitting an extra navigation radio “for redundancy” – then powering both from the same electrical system…….!
We are very rapidly losing all of our skills and driving is one of them. Hill start assist, parking sensors and parking assist are just dumbing down the driver further. Drivers are far too lazy to apply a handbrake whilst in a queue or use indicators when lane changing or turning. I have often thought that a large amount of the congestion that we all experience is down to bad driving especially at traffic islands. What ever happened to road craft?
I love driving and being in control of my car. I detest with a passion all these so-called “driver assists” that are creeping in to car designs now because they’re not infallible and the human won’t be concentrating on driving when they go wrong, so – accident. Who’s going to get points on their licence then? You or the car?
There are so many cars on the road now that if you don’t have the competence to drive one properly, maybe you shouldn’t be driving at all and thereby reduce the number of cars clogging up the road. The standard of driving over the years has deteriorated terribly because of frustration, impatience, arrogance, incompetence, stupidity and sheer bad manners, and I have no solution to that other than either banning such people from driving forever or having fully-autonomous cars, which would be tragic for petrol heads like me, and probably kill a lot of people when the automation fails – as it will.
I once had to drive my boss’s Range Rover on a job that involved picking up customers from an airport 180 miles away and taking them to a helicopter flight. The Range Rover’s brakes had supposedly just been changed and tested, yet, when I used the electronic handbrake on a hill in order not to be standing on the foot brake, it would not disengage again. I had to call out the AA, which took an hour and a half before the chap could un-jam the brakes and get me on my way, too late to do the job I was meant to be on. This is my only experience of an electronic handbrake and it cost me a day’s wages, lost time, and earned me a telling-off from my boss for using (and then cooking) the handbrake in the first place. According to him, you never need to use the handbrake in an automatic car anyway. Well, yes you do if you want to obey the Highway Code and don’t want to dazzle the guy behind you with your brake lights in traffic queues. The fact that I was completely helpless and powerless to do anything about the stuck brake myself incensed me. Had it been a manual handbrake, I would almost certainly have been able to do something about it. I deliberately drive old cars myself – one is 25 years old and another is 30 years old – simply to avoid having all these modern electronic gismos in them that go wrong every other week, require a dealer to fix and that I have no need for or interest in anyway.
Why not just make it an optional extra?
I go handbrake neutral when I am in traffic. Also I only buy older cars so I will have a handbrake for a long time to come yet. My current car is 14 years old so has minor electronic interference.
I have one of those first 7 series with auto park brakes. Its brillient. Its rear lights are huge leds so auto park means you can take your foot off the footbrake. That was part of the design ethos at the time.
Another loathsome change to make money for car repairers. Leave the handbrake be and prosecute the morons using them in car parks. How many in future will be ringing teh AA with’my handbrake won’t come off’. Help
Ian H Geary, prosecuting someone for using the handbrake? Your a complete d#$k, it’s a safety device to stop your vehicle from rolling away an crushing some poor sod to death. I’ll Bob down an remove your license as your not fit to have one.
Just another electronic system to go wrong,, hard to beat a manual system that will work even if partly faulty, fixed easily ay low cost. Electronic systems go down they go right down, working one minute not working the next. Another non necessaty modification, expensive to repair..
Buy a Caterham, a real drivers ”vroom vroom” car, no electronic assistance to speak of, even the indicators have to be manually switched off or on, no ABS, or traction control, certainly no electronic handbrake, oh, and no doors, you climb in; ok, of course impractical for most people for everyday use I agree, but for weekend use great fun and back to real driving and controlling. Great to see the front wheels in front of you spinning and turning, I’ll be driving the car up to the Lake District in October, a real B road car. Also have an etype, no electronic assist on that either. My day to day car is a 2008 Skoda Fabia Diesel, ultra reliable, and I’ll keep it for quite a while yet. I do drive a friends 2016 Picasso as he can’t drive anymore, it has an electronic handbrake, despite above I like it, reliable so far, and beneficial to just drive off without having to release.
My daughter’s car has an electronic handbrake and I really dislike it because when taking off from a standstill on even a slight incline the car slides a little before the system engages, the first few times I drove it I stamped on the brake pedal thinking it was going to keep sliding and thought I must have done something wrong. What this means is that I can’t park her car right up to our gates because the drive is on a slope and the car could slide into the gates when taking off. That’s not a problem, but it’s unnerving when taking off on a slope at traffic lights if the fellow behind is very close. Am I doing something wrong or is this not uncommon?
My experience of driving a Passat with an automatic handbrake was it engaged when I didn’t want it to and disengaged when I also didn’t want it to making it hard pulling out into traffic at busy roundabouts. My Volvo is only manual on but it’s not conveniently positioned, slower to engage than a manual, and will release if I get the clutch where it starts to bite in preparation for a quick getaway causing the car to start rolling backwards. I’d far far prefer to have a manual one!
Neither my Lexus LS400 nor my Honda Legend had handbrakes; the parking brakes were pedal operated.
Without doubt! Many drivers today drive well above their capability simply because inbuilt safety features keep them safe, but they think it is their driving skill! The stock saying when I worked as a development engineer in a major vehicle manufacturers was make sure the product was ‘idiot proof’ to ensure the driver did not kill themselves or anyone else!
As regards pulling off onhills, back in the 1950s the American make Studebaker had what they called HillHold, essentially a ratchet in the diff, which looked after this.
I’ve experience of both….Subaru Outback with e-brake (and separate hill-hold) and Suzuki Kizashi with good ol’ hand lever (apparently in keeping with it’s ‘sporty’ nature 🙂 And yet the Suzuki is 3 years younger – and has hill-hold (even with lever down)…. go figure! Probably prefer the e-brake for convenience (though it has actually had a recall to sort), but Suzuki ( here, anyway) offers best of both worlds.
The manual handbrake is a simple, tried and tested, almost foolproof device for holding the vehicle and doesn’t suffer from the brake releasing itself when the brake fluid temperature drops (very well documented ‘feature’). I would prefer that it continued to be offered as an optional extra.
I fail to see how adding multiple points of failure to a safety critical system enhances safety in any way.
One of the original points of the handbrake was as an emergency brake, in case the hydraulics in the footbrake failed. I know we have cars with 2 or more brake circuits now, but it is still possible for both circuits to fail simulateneously, as they are fed from the same reservoir.
And how would a car with electonic parking brake be moved if it were to break down completely, e.g. with a dead battery?
I’m sure the only reason to fit them across the range is to make cars feel more sophisticated and increase buyer appeal.
Hill start assist doesn’t require an electronic handbrake – the current BMW 1-series is proof of this.
I can see how a lot of these new features could bring in some sort of safety, like break assist and lane warnings.
What happens when the new driver has only learnt with all these safety features, then gets into an old-fashioned normal car – they won’t know what to do! Or worse still relies on a feature that’s not there and crashes.
We currently have two driving tests for manual and automatic, are we going to have a third for autonomous?
I think more tuition should go into control and manoeuvres than paperwork
Governments don’t trust us to drive safely & appear to put their faith in technology, encouraging ever more so called intelligent technology. However, technology is not & never will be infallible; moreover part of the pleasure of driving is being in control of the car. How do you resist these changes when they come from unelected individuals in control of the levers of power in the EU; except by leaving the EU?
Recently my neighbors VW. Tiguan handbrake locked solid outside her house. Lucky for her a friend had a diagnostic machine (portable) . It was the switch malfunction from coffee.spill. VW.need to check their design for location of electricals. This can’t happen with mechanical handbrake.
Stupid idea and just another electric gizmo to go wrong and cost an arm and a leg to repair it ….
I have 2 cars one with manual the other with an electronic hand brake. The electronic one is a pain. on a hill if you touch the accelerator before you get the clutch bite it rolls back despite the hill start gizmo. My manual handbrake car also has hill start and works fantastic. All these people that love these electronic handbrakes just see how much they like them when they get the repair bills.
Hi gr.conn.
I bought new Merc Vito manual – with no hand brake lever. It has so call hill start assist. It’s works 50% positive but 50 % fail. It’s has so call parking brake with 4th pedal on the floor and abrupt release handle hard to access down under steering wheel. It’s bloody nightmare
I call this Vito van the most dangerous to drive and handle car ever had. You told at your post that on a hill if you touch the accelerator before you get the clutch bite it rolls back despite the hill start gizmo. That is what I have experienced. I would love to hear your advice how to handle this strange designe to avoid close front or rear colission. Previosly I have had drive few manual trasmission light and heavy tracks having hand brake service lever without any problems.
Best regards – Bob
Reading the comments so far it’s clear that there needs to be some ‘education’ of drivers to be able to appreciate the nuances of new technology and then be able to use it effectively. this education to include procedures for system malfunction or there’s going to be some “737 Max” incidents.
We cant continue driving in the same ‘style’ because the vehicle technology has changed – it would have me doubling the clutch with an automatic gearbox!!
We do have to master the technology and choose the best use of it for our personal driving style.
My Aprilia m’cycle is “ride by wire” with 3 power setting and more or less runs the engine independent of me – no mixture control or choke as fitted to my 1958 Matchless!
However I can select the power that suits me for the conditions and riding style I want at the press of a button and on the move.
So my view is the “problems” of any new technology in vehicles is our lack of understanding its application.
I too love and ride bikes. I understand the technology perfectly well and I don’t want it. Maybe car manufacturers should consider offering different models of their vehicles. One with all the toys for those that can’t drive and one with minimal gizmos for comfort, air con etc but no assistance for those of us that can drive.
I used to own a 1974 Mini 1000. I lived in a backstreet cul-de-sac, and one winter when it was extremely icy the only way I could make the 110° left turn out of the road without sliding across the junction was to initially twitch the steering to the left and then to pull the handbrake to cause the car to swing around – and then release it when I had made half the turn (the momentum completed the manoeuvre)!
Hate them. I convert all my cars to fly off. Endless arguments with MOT muppets who don;t know how to operate it.
thanks
Yo All Car makers to stop building cars with this new electrical handbrake or foot Handbrake system and bring back the handbrake. who ever decided to change vehicles to new electrical handbrake or foot Handbrake system need to get there head checked
I was so sick of electric hand brake I swung my new Gold estate into an engineer work shop .He said E brake.I nsaid yes how did you know. He smiled and said your the tenth in a month .Cost is 1200 euro I make handbrake too Good news is you can sell the ebrake system for 600 -1000 .So I know havea neat job in my car with new manual hand brake fitted well
They will hate the day they gave us no choice in hand brakes change to more cost over engineered electric bakes .Next will be costs like you have never faced before in repair and parts .Two electric motors and control panel and electrical connection . To place my arm is crap .I want choice or start building my o0wn cars