I own older cars, and being an old geezer myself, I have a tendency to drive away from my parking spot w/the emergency brake on. Just curious about newer cars, do they automatically release the handbrake when you start driving?
Depends on the vehicle but if you put it in drive the parking brake automatically releases, put it back in park and the parking brake will activate.
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The parking brake releases automatically in Mrs JT’s 2019 Odyssey when the accelerator is depressed if the driver’s seatbelt is fastened, the engine is running, and the transmission is not in park or neutral. On my 2023 Tesla Model 3 the parking brake is released automatically when the transmission is put in reverse or drive.
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I had an 86 Mercury Grand Marquis LS which had an automatic parking brake release. This was a device actuated by a vacuum switch mounted on the steering column. When the car was shifted into “drive” or “reverse” the switch opened and applied vacuum to a device which actuated the handbrake release lever one would pull had the car not been equipped with this device. I’m a geezer also, and I loved that car as well as many other geezer cars. I highly recommend them.
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The wife’s Audi has electric parking brakes and yes the car releases it. The Mustang and the truck have mechanical parking brakes and don’t. But they have red dash lights to tell me I left the brake on.
So some yes, some no.
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The first car my family owned that had an automatic parking brake release was a 1975 Cadillac. But I’m sure there were others even before that.
My uncle’s 1964 Imperial had that feature, George, so it’s hardly “new”. And, if Imperials had that feature, I suspect that Cadillac and/or Lincoln models also had automatic e-brake release as long as 60 years ago.
As to vehicles that are more modern than the luxury cars of 6 decades ago, I think that automatic e-brake release is fairly common nowadays, although I can only attest to it being a standard feature on my 2011 Outback and my 2022 Lexus.
I’ve owned a 71 Chevelle, two 1981 Buick Centuries, a Ford Contour, a 2000s Impala, 2008 Kia Optima, and my present Accord, and none of those had the luxury of an automatically defeating parking/emerg. brake.
I wouldn’t call it a “luxury”. In fact I’d be a little leery of that feature. If it failed, released when it shouldn’t, your vehicle could roll away unexpectedly.
The way that they work, “failure” would likely mean that the vehicle couldn’t be moved. That was why my Outback came from the factory with a specialized tool to unlock the automatic e-brake in the event of failure.
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Years ago, when driving a Lincoln from the 1970’s or 80’s it was common to hear a whistle from the base of the steering column, that was the parking brake vacuum switch leaking.
On those old vacuum actuated parking brake release systems, there is a manual release lever.
As an Old Fart who is still driving cars without the Automatic Release, I see no disadvantage to it beyond the occasional mechanic profit from overheated brakes.
On a stick,shifting into 2nd gear would hopefully prevent drift and in automatic the prawl would hopefully prevent the same but if you forget wouldn’t it be nice if the car automatically shifts into backup mode by automatically applying the brake?
Put it this way, wouldn’t it be a whole lot cheaper to you to have a system that automatically applies and releases the ebrake than it would be to periodically replace the brakes you forgot to release or the Legal Suit you’ll have to defend when your parked vehicle "drifts "into another car or person?
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I’m not understanding. It seems easier to rely on the vehicle owner to set the parking brake when parking, and release it before leaving. The only complication needed beyond that would be a warning light on the dashboard if you drive away with the parking brake engaged. I did one time have a problem with my truck’s parking brake staying engaged even after I released it . It just needed a little dose of wd40 at the right spots.
Customers have been known to drive to the service department to complain about the red warning light and the odor. The automatic release (of years ago) was an aid for those people.
During the last decade automatic parking brakes have become a common feature. This has a great advantage: it applies the parking brake with enough force to hold the vehicle in place. Many customers have complained that the car still rolls when a manual parking brake is applied, they don’t press nearly hard enough for the brake to hold.
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If designed properly and assembled and installed properly, a manual parking brake (foot or hand operated) should hold a vehicle in place when applied to halfway through it’s full range.
Parking on really steep San Francisco hills, I had to use quite a bit of force when setting the emergency brake. Even then I didn’t totally rely on it, made sure it was in P or in gear, and I turned the front tires so if the car rolled away it would run into the curb, not down the hill.
No kidding…
I have always been on the losing side of that problem, I don’t get paid to teach a customer how to use a parking brake.
lol … wondering what you tell a customer who’s complaining the “brake” light on the dashboard is on all the time and there’s a burning odor? Seems a tricky problem.
I can get paid to repair damaged brakes. I can’t get paid for reviewing false complaints during the new vehicle warranty period.
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Yes, I “should” always remember to apply the parking brake, a manual parking brake if properly applied “should” hold a car in position, the driver “should” always remember to release the brake before driving and I “should” always be the kind of person my dog thinks I am but …
Having recently bought my first vehicle with an automatic brake I see no downside and the upsides of always having the brake automatically applied and the elimination of the risk of brake burn if I forgot to release them.
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