So the answer was already in the owner’s manual, wow!
Also, shouldn’t the question be asked before trying this?
But, can you still park in those tight spaces?:
;-]
“So the answer was already in the owner’s manual, wow!”
I would estimate that, at least 75% of the time, that is the case.
Yes, I know that most people don’t bother to ever read those manuals, but I can recall the rationalizing response of one woman–about 6 years ago–when we told her to refer to her Owner’s Manual.
Her response was, “It’s so technical, that only an engineer could understand it”.
You know…the same booklets that are purposely written on the 8th grade reading level, so that anyone with a driver’s license should be able to comprehend the information…
It doesn’t bother me if the answer to the OP’s question is in the owners manual. The question interests me. Since I don’t own that car, I don’t have the owners manual. But I can find out what’s up by reading the responses here.
I’m still unsure whether applying the EBrake will stop this car when it is being driven down the road though. Didn’t one poster above who owns the same car, maybe a different year, say the Ebrake doesn’t do anything if the car is moving? Does the answer to that question depend on what year it was manufactured then? I’d be hesitant to purchase an automobile that didn’t include any other method to stop, should the normal brake system fail.
Nevada is correct, it is there, it is just not in the index so I looked up parking brake and went there instead. I guess the online manual must have a better index.
It is a big manual and I read it three times when I bought the car, but I just didn’t memorize it. You’d think that they would put the emergency operation on the same page as the parking brake operation.
After each paragraph in the manual there is three bold boxes of warning information. The use of one device takes up 5 pages, makes it a challenge to read.
The paper manual isn’t all that riveting either.
"I’m still unsure whether applying the EBrake will stop this car when it is being driven down the road"
The answer is… eventually.
This vehicle, like most today, uses the mini brake shoes pressing the insides of small drums cast into the disc for a parking brake system. Small shoes, frictional surface close to the rotating axis (small diameter), and only two. Well, four shoes, two drums. Not much there to stop all that inertia… but I’d bet it’ll do the job eventually. Hopefully, when you have to find out your life won’t depend on a short stopping distance.
The good news is that U.S. D.O.T. requirements mean it has parallel diagonal hydraulics, one MC cylinder operating the RF and LR brake and the other operating the LF and RR brake… so hopefully whatever failed will still allow two of the regular brakes to supplement the parking brakes. Control will be an issue, because one of the rear wheels will have both the calipers and the shoes stopping it and the other will have only the little parking brake shoes. And then, of course, you’d have the ABS system interfering with the least effective corner if it starts to slide. How that’ll work… I pray I never have to find out. If I do, I’ll post from my hospital bed. 
Just like every time we’d ask a question in chemistry class, we were told its in the book.
As Nevada posted though “If the foot brake has a malfunction, you can stop the vehicle by pulling the parking brake switch continuously.” Seems like you should be able to stop the car that way but rear wheels alone are not much good for stopping.
Given the trouble I had in that class, I think whoever wrote the Chemistry textbook didn’t want us to know … lol …
Remind me AGAIN why we can’t simply have line-lock parking brakes? I mean, if there’s already redundancy in the dual hydraulic circuits…
Personally, I don’t have a lot of faith in these electronic parking brake. Whether or not the brakes would stop or hold the car depends on the electric motor and bug free control software.
I would rather have an air or vacuum parking brake that activates by decreasing the potential energy of the system to the minimum.
Whether or not the brakes would stop or hold the car depends on the electric motor and bug free control software.
The software for something like this is extremely simple. I’d be surprised if it’s more then a couple hundred lines of code (probably closer to 50). Making that bug free is trivial.
I was about 99% sure but I checked my 2010 Kia Forte owner’s manual. They call it the “parking brake”. There is instructions to use it as an “emergency brake” with a warning that it will result in significantly reduced stopping distance and if engaged at speed could result in loss of control. There is also a warning to set the parking brake for M/T duh! And also A/T. I’m estimating 10% of A/T drivers ever use the parking brake. They rely on the park pawl which can (rarely) fail. I don’t rely on things that could possibly fail when a back-up is available. My 4 wheel disc brakes have the “baby” shoe parking brakes. They were not holding well in reverse. I had the TPMS tire stems replaced under recall and asked for the parking brake to be checked. Since the wheels were off they were adjusted at no charge.
Parking brakes ARE emergency brakes.
If you loose hydraulics in your brakes…you going to sit there and wonder “Gee what do I do now? I can’t use the parking brake because it’s not suppose to be used in emergencies.”
I don’t know about you…but I’m going to be using my parking brake to help me stop.
It’s possible to completely lose normal braking while no problem at all with the brake hydraulic system. The brake pedal can come loose from the pushrod for example.
IMO, even if the software for electric parking brake is quite simple, there are still plenty of failure modes for electric parking brake. The entire parking/emergency braking system depends on the electric motor, software, the power supply, etc. to all work.
With air or vacuum brake, they generally fail by automatically activating the brake.
chunkyazian: I guess it’s the world we now live in. Replacing all manual tried and true technology with computerized electronics. My 2010 vintage parking/emergency brake is still cable actuated. I have had several computer glitches and total crashes. Fortunately I was sitting in a chair at home. I don’t want it to happen when I’m driving. My Clutch Delay Valve required 3 weeks of re-learning how to drive a clutch ( overcoming 40+ years of muscle memory) which took me 10 minutes to learn in 1965! My electronic throttle sometimes has a mind of it’s own. I am thinking my next car may be a 1960 Ford Falcon!
The parking brake on my 15 forester appears to be a cable type. I hope I never have to depend on the electronic type. As others have said, too many things to go wrong.
Boy you guys are real retro grouches! First of all, I have had MANY ebrake problems over the years from cables frozen with corrosion to snapped cables to worn out mini brake pads. None of these failures would have been any different with an electronic actuator.
Second of all, I used to hear this argument against power windows and door locks. In thirty plus years of driving I have NEVER had a problem with my windows or door locks that was power related.
Any feature on a car can fail, electronic or mechanical. The question to ask is whether the new features have been properly designed. Then you have to ask if the components used have an adequate design life. If the car maker has done a great job then you can embrace the new technology.
As far as worrying about computer crashes while driving? I fly in commercial airliners often. They are HUGELY computer controlled. I don’t recall the pilots ever having to reboot the computer in flight.
Reality check - Most failures these days are mechanical in nature. Many electronic failures are sensor failures that are due to wear and tear (emissions) or physical damage due to location (wheel and transmission sensors).