When to use Electronic Parking Brake....

[georgeous]

Wondered how people use their electronic parking brake...

in what scenario would you use it and how do you come to release it? Pull the button or step on the accelerator?

Tapping the brakes twice - puts it on "HOLD" - what does this do, compared to the electronic parking brake and what scenario do you use for this for?

And finally, the right gear changing stalk - pushing in the button for Neutral/P .... put into this if you are in a parking space/front drive and ready to turn off the engine?

Please base your answers/views on an Automatic transmission.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Only engage Park when you're stationary and don't intend to pull away, ie you've parked. In every day driving there is no need to use Neutral at all. Don't engage Park or Neutral at traffic lights or in stop/start driving, simply leave it in Drive and hold the car on the foot brake.

The Hold function is useful if you're stationary on a gradient, pushing firmly on the brake pedal holds the car in it's position for a few seconds, to allow time for you to move your foot to the accelerator in order to pull away without rolling backwards.

Engage the parking brake when you've parked. This does the same thing as applying a traditional hand brake hand brake. When you're ready to drive away again, release it just as you would if it were a traditional hand brake.

 

[BlackC55]

Use it all the time when parked up. If you dont the mechanism seizes up and it not cheap to repair.

 

[MancMike]

It'll put it into park on and apply the parking brake automatically for you if you take the key out doesn't it?

What year of B180 is it?

 

[flowrider]

On my ML i use the parking brake whenever i am parked. I never go into neutral or park when in stationary traffic unless it is a log jam and i will be sitting for a long time. On the ML when the "HOLD" is on it is indefinite until i press the accelerator.

 

[zipdip]

Well with regard the electronic parking brake,I would advice you to always use it when you park,even on level ground,on my W221 S320 you can just hit the end of the gear selector this is a mistake,always use the electronic parking brake in my case a push pull switch on the dash,if you do not you will find that it will fail to work when you need it,god /mercedes gave you the brake just put it on when parking.

 

[CaptainChaos]

You need to be careful with this thread as technology changes so fast that what is true in one car, isn't true in another.

For instance in the W205 the HOLD function works until you set off, not just for a few seconds. Also the parking brake is engaged and disengaged automatically. It doesn't need user intervention in normal use.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

The biggest reason to use the parking brake when parked in so that the brakes provide some resistance if the car moves due to being pushed (by another car) or under gravity, rather than the pawl in the transmission. You don't want to break that for the sake of applying the parking brakes.

 

[190]

Don't engage Park or Neutral at traffic lights or in stop/start driving, simply leave it in Drive and hold the car on the foot brake.

I wouldn't do that in a W204 unless the rear light overheating problem has been rectified. If the inadequate earth path is going to overheat and melt the rear light unit it will do so under the highest current draw which has to be when the brake lights are on for a sustained period.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

You need to be careful with this thread as technology changes so fast that what is true in one car, isn't true in another.

For instance in the W205 the HOLD function works until you set off, not just for a few seconds. Also the parking brake is engaged and disengaged automatically. It doesn't need user intervention in normal use.

Disengaging often changes, but the trigger to apply it remains more consistent (may still change). By that I mean the circumstances in which you apply Hold or the parking brake are the same, even though the specifics of disengagement have changed.

 

[MancMike]

The brake hold feature holds the pressure on the front brakes via hydraulic pressure.

The electronic parking brake uses an electric motor to pull a mechanical parking brake on.

When the electronic parking brake is on, and you put it in drive and touch the gas, you hear the motor release the parking brake, when you use the brake hold feature, and touch the gas, it simply relieves the hydraulic pressure, so there's no half second delay while the mechanical mechanism releases.

 

[georgeous]

It'll put it into park on and apply the parking brake automatically for you if you take the key out doesn't it?

What year of B180 is it?

Registered in March 2012

 

[georgeous]

Still confused.

Scenario 1: I've driven onto my drive/parking space. Do I put on the electronic parking brake? or click the gear stalk in - thus putting it into Neutral/Park? Or do both?

Scenario 2 I've come to traffic light. Can I just hold the brake down, until it's good to go and therefore back on the accelerator? Or should I use the double tap brake function which puts the "HOLD" function on and gas on the accelerator ones ready to go?
Or should I use the Electronic Parking Brake - pushing the button and pulling the button to release when ready to go.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Still confused.

Scenario 1: I've driven onto my drive/parking space. Do I put on the electronic parking brake? or click the gear stalk in - thus putting it into Neutral/Park? Or do both?

Scenario 2 I've come to traffic light. Can I just hold the brake down, until it's good to go and therefore back on the accelerator? Or should I use the double tap brake function which puts the "HOLD" function on and gas on the accelerator ones ready to go?
Or should I use the Electronic Parking Brake - pushing the button and pulling the button to release when ready to go.

Scenario 1: Use both

Scenario 2: Just hold your foot on the foot brake

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Use the parking brake as you would a hand brake. If you would apply the hand brake, then apply the parking brake. If you would release the hand brake, then release the parking brake.

Use the Park position on your automatic transmission as you would use neutral in a manual car. If you would put a manual in neutral (parked) then use Park. If you would engage a gear from neutral (or Reverse), then engage Drive (or Reverse).

One exception being if you knock a manual into neutral in traffic, then there's no need in an auto, just hold your foot on the foot brake.

 

[PobodY]

I agree. - It's a Parking Brake (rather than a hand brake), so you use it when you're parking the car and want the brakes to hold rather than relying on the pawl in the transmission.

If you really want to use it to hold the car when you're stopped in traffic, you can; it's your car and maybe you don't like having to keep your foot on the brake pedal.

Similarly if you would normally park your car in the garage without putting the brakes on, you don't have to engage the parking brake.

 

[MancMike]

When you park up, if you take your key out and it puts it into park, it'll also put the parking brake on, you'll hear it at the rear of the car.

If it doesn't put it into park automatically, then it's too early a B Class and you'll have to do both manually.

When driving and stopped at lights, the hold function is for convenience. Stab at it to engage it, then you can relax your foot until you need to set off, just touch the gas as you normally would and it'll release.

 

[zipdip]

Still confused.

Scenario 1: I've driven onto my drive/parking space. Do I put on the electronic parking brake? or click the gear stalk in - thus putting it into Neutral/Park? Or do both?

Scenario 2 I've come to traffic light. Can I just hold the brake down, until it's good to go and therefore back on the accelerator? Or should I use the double tap brake function which puts the "HOLD" function on and gas on the accelerator ones ready to go?
Or should I use the Electronic Parking Brake - pushing the button and pulling the button to release when ready to go.

Well as I said before put the electronic parking brake on,when you want to go it will let go automatically but I always pull the switch on the dash,I do that now because after prolonged use of the gear stick parking, my car put up a fault saying parking brake not working,and why that was up you could not use the electronic parking brake,after about 20 miles driving and stopping and then starting the screen fault would go and you could use the electronic parking brake,so that started me always using it because I found that in the morning I had about 20 seconds to release the parking brake before that message came up after about 4 weeks of doing this the fault message has gone completely.

 

[john,cook109]

I use mine just as a parking brake only. It stops the MOT test failing due to a seized unit.

 

[sc3992]

Mine applies as soon as you switch the engine off, it's a 2016 W213