[playswcars]

Why the hell does no one use their parking brake? Just. Pull. The. Parking. Brake. Up.

Is this an American thing? Curious.

[Guy Fleegman]

Originally Posted by playswcars

Why the hell does no one use their parking brake? Just. Pull. The. Parking. Brake. Up.

Is this an American thing? Curious.

It might be a holdover from the days when the parking brake was a pedal way over to the side that had to be pushed with a bit of effort, then another lever to release it. And since the Park gear was adequate nearly all the time, why bother? Obviously it's easier now but old habits die hard.

I drove a manual my entire life until about 10 years ago, so the parking brake was second nature.

[PandaSPUR]

Originally Posted by playswcars

Why the hell does no one use their parking brake? Just. Pull. The. Parking. Brake. Up.

Is this an American thing? Curious.

Originally Posted by Guy Fleegman

It might be a holdover from the days when the parking brake was a pedal way over to the side that had to be pushed with a bit of effort, then another lever to release it. And since the Park gear was adequate nearly all the time, why bother? Obviously it's easier now but old habits die hard.

I drove a manual my entire life until about 10 years ago, so the parking brake was second nature.

I think this is a big reason why some people don't use the parking brake. If they've never driven a manual car before, they're not in the habit of it AND they don't realize that "P" mode is really just leaving your car in gear so its less likely to move. Another downside of making this easier for the consumer... they're not forced to realize how things work and wont bother looking it up either.

[pennyfranco]

Originally Posted by nZtiZia

some habits are hard to brake (pun intended lol) whether or not one regularly used the parking brake, but it’s also about accepting and adjusting to change if safety is a priority to you.

my first vehicle out of college was a manual with a hand parking brake, but I’ve driven many vehicles and rentals with the foot parking brake as well. then when the electronic parking brake started making its way, I took note and learned because in my mind, engaging the parking brake when parking is a must as far as safety goes. all vehicles have one, so it must have an important role.

off the top of my head, I can’t think of any scenario where engaging the parking brake when parking is detrimental. anyone? sadly, when we least expect an incident to occur, we let our guard down. “oh, I’ll only be 30 seconds.” (not putting any blame on the OP’s wife, of course)

Yes this is so, I agree with you, by the way, quite possibly the car has memorized what happened to it at that time, you should probably go to the dealer to find out what it actually was, I think they could find this information, because now the cars are extremely high performance. By the way, since this is about the daughter's school I think this would be an interesting topic to write about; so when the culprit in this situation is found I will make an essay with the help of this editing service https://edubirdie.com/essay-editing-service; a bit of prehistory, I am a technical college student, and later I want to apply for the BMW plant to work there and I think this would be a good idea to include this writing in my CV.

[Guy Fleegman]

Originally Posted by PandaSPUR

I think this is a big reason why some people don't use the parking brake. If they've never driven a manual car before, they're not in the habit of it AND they don't realize that "P" mode is really just leaving your car in gear so its less likely to move. Another downside of making this easier for the consumer... they're not forced to realize how things work and wont bother looking it up either.

Which is why BMW has erred IMO. For a car that goes to great lengths to protect us from ourselves, it missed this one.

I recall as a much younger man, rental cars in Europe were mostly manual transmissions long after US cars were automatic. I wonder if the parking brake as second nature is more ingrained in the EU market than it is here.

[nZtiZia]

I’m also a product of manual transmission > parking brake

[doublezero]

Originally Posted by playswcars

Why the hell does no one use their parking brake? Just. Pull. The. Parking. Brake. Up.

Is this an American thing? Curious.

B/c 95% of the time it's not needed? I pull mine when parked on a hill, but otherwise, no. That's like double tying your shoelaces to get the mail. Drove manual trans for about 20 yrs too.

[Celos]

Originally Posted by Guy Fleegman

It might be a holdover from the days when the parking brake was a pedal way over to the side that had to be pushed with a bit of effort

Maybe because it's what was on the vehicles that I drove when I was younger, but I actually use the parking brake much more in vehicles that have either the parking brake pedal or the big center console lever.

Somehow, the tactility of it is much more intuitive and easier to work with than the electronic window-switch lever.

Hooray for the auto-hold mode that automatically engages the parking brake.

[jad03060]

If you drove the vehicle, but always left it in gear or park, depending on the transmission versus using the parking brake, it could easily become stiff from corrosion, and when you actually did use it, stick and be a bear to get to release.

I've only owned three BMWs, but they all have had a button to activate the parking brake, but I almost always engage the AUTO BRAKE button, so once it's stopped, the parking brake is on. All three also had a separate park button...never accidentally have left it in neutral versus park.

[tooloud10]

Originally Posted by playswcars

Why the hell does no one use their parking brake? Just. Pull. The. Parking. Brake. Up.

Because. It's. Not. Needed. On. Flat. Surfaces.

Is this an American thing? Curious.

No, it's a thing where my old E70 randomly refused to disengage the electric parking brake and I learned not to trust it unless absolutely necessary.

[jad03060]

Because my parking brake gets activated numerous times each trip via the auto hold function, I've not experienced anything sticking...I do think when that is only rarely engaged is when you tend to have issues with it sticking.

[COKen]

Originally Posted by tooloud10

Because. It's. Not. Needed. On. Flat. Surfaces.

No, it's a thing where my old E70 randomly refused to disengage the electric parking brake and I learned not to trust it unless absolutely necessary.

When one thinks its not needed is usually the time when something happens that one didn't expect.

[AbleDanger]

In my 2020 X3 M40i, when I put the car in park, and turned it off, it'd set the parking brake automatically - mainly I noticed because every time I'd get into it to go somewhere, the brake was set. I noticed the X5 45e does not do that...I've found it not set nearly every time, unless I happened to remember to set it before I exited it on the last trip.

[Chonkapotamus]

Originally Posted by AbleDanger

In my 2020 X3 M40i, when I put the car in park, and turned it off, it'd set the parking brake automatically - mainly I noticed because every time I'd get into it to go somewhere, the brake was set. I noticed the X5 45e does not do that...I've found it not set nearly every time, unless I happened to remember to set it before I exited it on the last trip.

Turn on auto hold, and then the parking brake always engages on power off.

[COKen]

Originally Posted by Chonkapotamus

Turn on auto hold, and then the parking brake always engages on power off.

I have had auto hold on for a couple of weeks and find it can be annoying. I would like the parking brake to turn on when I turn the car off, but I don't think that is an option. Not sure why they tied auto parking brake to auto hold.

[IftiBashir]

When the car is put into P and the engine switched off, doesn't the handbrake automatically engage anyways?
I always thought it did - will be checking and manually activating it in future!!

[SwissBeemer]

No it doesn't. This is how I know it from F-Series BMWs with AT:

Engine off - Transmission automatically switches to P, no parking brake
Auto Hold ON - Auto Hold turns into parking brake if engaged while turning the engine off (It just simply holds it where it was while turning off the engine)

That the transmission switches to P automatically almost caused me to wreck a friends car (Alfa Giulietta with AT) since I was SO used to it that I just turned off the engine and left the car parked at a gas station, leaving it in D and not engaging the parking brake, wondering where the car went when coming back out. It only rolled a few meters forward until it was stopped by a small curb but I was VERY lucky that this didn't turn into a catastrophe.

[E91toG05]

Parking brake engaged automatically with car in park would not have helped in a situation where the car was inadvertently put into neutral.

[nZtiZia]

Originally Posted by Celos

Maybe because it's what was on the vehicles that I drove when I was younger, but I actually use the parking brake much more in vehicles that have either the parking brake pedal or the big center console lever.

Somehow, the tactility of it is much more intuitive and easier to work with than the electronic window-switch lever.

Hooray for the auto-hold mode that automatically engages the parking brake.

actually, Auto Hold doesn’t engage the parking brake; it uses the disc brakes. if PARK is red on the instrument cluster, the parking brake is engaged and holding the vehicle. if PARK is green, Auto Hold using the disc brakes is holding the vehicle.

https://www.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh...php?p=29910935

[SwissBeemer]

Originally Posted by E91toG05

Parking brake engaged automatically with car in park would not have helped in a situation where the car was inadvertently put into neutral.

Don't really know how that would work as my F-Series cars would always shift into P as soon as the engine is turned off. When getting the car on a car lift I would always have to move it around manually with the engine running because otherwise it would shift into "P". So the only way would be to shift into N, without Auto Hold, and leave the engine running. But even then I'm not 100% if the car doesn't shift into P at some point if the door stays open.

Originally Posted by nZtiZia

https://www.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh...php?p=29910935

Very informative, thanks! I always assumed the Auto Hold and Parking Brake was essentially the same brake. But it makes sense now since the Auto Hold only seems to hold whatever brake pressure you were applying as soon as the car comes to a stop (hydraulic) while you can actually hear the parking brake engaging electronically when pulling the lever. (electronic) I just never noticed the parking brake engaging while auto hold is on and the engine is turned off. I assume because this sound is then being masked by the engine turning off.

[Celos]

Originally Posted by nZtiZia

actually, Auto Hold doesn’t engage the parking brake; it uses the disc brakes. if PARK is red on the instrument cluster, the parking brake is engaged and holding the vehicle. if PARK is green, Auto Hold using the disc brakes is holding the vehicle.

Maybe the 2023 models are different as mine definitely engages the parking brake when auto-hold is selected, as indicated by the red PARK on the dash. I just re-verified this on my 2023 45e.

In normal operation, such as driving around town and stopping at a traffic light, PARK is green on the dash when auto-hold is engaged.

At the end of a drive, if I press the P-to-Park button on the gear shifter, PARK illuminates green on the dash.

But when I power off the vehicle by either opening the door or pressing the STOP/START button, it changes to red PARK, thusly:

[nZtiZia]

Originally Posted by Celos

Maybe the 2023 models are different as mine definitely engages the parking brake when auto-hold is selected, as indicated by the red PARK on the dash. I just re-verified this on my 2023 45e.

In normal operation, such as driving around town and stopping at a traffic light, PARK is green on the dash when auto-hold is engaged.

At the end of a drive, if I press the P-to-Park button on the gear shifter, PARK illuminates green on the dash.

But when I power off the vehicle by either opening the door or pressing the STOP/START button, it changes to red PARK, thusly:

i don’t believe that last part is a function of Auto Hold (I could be wrong)

test: disable Auto Hold and perform the same maneuvers. report back. I’ll do the same.

EDIT: YOU ARE CORRECT. Auto Hold engages the parking brake when exiting the vehicle. it did so after I pressed the Start/Stop button to end the trip and also opening the door without first pressing the Start/Stop button. what’s neat is when restarting the vehicle, the parking brake automatically disengages.

thanks, I learned something new!

for me though, I’m not a fan of Auto Hold in general. i also have the habit of consistently engaging the parking brake myself. while it’s a great safety feature, I feel regular reliance on such ‘automaticity’ opens oneself to potential accidents should it fail. if I did rely on this, I would still verify it does what it’s supposed to do before I could comfortably leave the vehicle.