But there’s a danger of us getting a bit dewy eyed about the traditional handbrake. Some manufacturers have had problems with them, mainly addressed through recalls. What about reliability?Ī lot is made of electronic parking brakes being less reliable. “Overall, the packaging and usability benefits of an electronic parking brake outweigh the financial savings of a manual handbrake,” said Robin Hayles from Hyundai which has the most models still available with a manual parking brake. An electronic parking brake can be linked to this so when you shut the car down, the brake automatically engages. Cars, combustion engine and electric, are increasingly started with a button rather than twisting a key. The energy transition to electric is also responsible. Similarly, it can automatically release the brake on an incline for a perfect hill start – more on that later. It can detect when the car is about to be driven through inputs to the accelerator and automatically release the brake. An electronic parking brake can be linked to the car’s central computer. There are also technical and safety benefits. You no longer need a bulky lever in the cockpit which frees up space for other sexier features. The electronic parking brake has a couple of big advantages over its manual equivalent. Why is the manual handbrake being replaced? This is the whirring sound you hear when you apply a parking brake. This electronically activates motors which push the pads against the discs. With an electronic parking brake, you pull a switch, usually mounted on the transmission tunnel. Lower the lever and the cylinder releases the pads. When you pull it up, a cable running to the rear wheels operates a cylinder which pushes the brake pads against the discs or drum. The idea behind both is to prevent a car from moving when it’s stationary.Ī manual handbrake is the traditional lever. Handbrakes and parking brakes are the same thing. But why are they taking over? What’s the difference between electronic and manual handbrakes? In 2022, the ranges of nearly half (45 per cent) of the UK’s 38 car makers don’t feature a manual handbrake at all.įrom your correspondence and requests for advice, we know that electronic parking brakes are a particular bugbear. In the vast majority of new cars, it has been replaced by the electronic parking brake which has increased from a 63 to 87 per cent spread in just five years. A survey by car sales website CarGurus UK found that only 13 per cent of new models currently on sale have the ratcheted lever that has for so long been a driving staple. Along with the automatic gearbox, the traditional manual handbrake is on the motoring extinction red list.
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