Electronic Parking Brakes- Long Term Reliability?

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Every vehicle I owned once it hits 10 years old the parking brake seems to rot and requires rebuild of caliper or brake drums in New England. No idea how the Electronic piece in our VW will fare.
 
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So there aren't really any cables with an electronic e-brake. There are activation motors on the rear calipers. Hardly ever see anything wrong with them and Ford has been using them since the Lincoln LS.
 
Originally Posted by skyactiv
The funny thing is that most of you guys reading this drive a vehicle with an automatic transmission and never use the parking brake.

I tell my parents to apply the parking brake and don't rely on the park pawl as a kickstand! I know so many who don't apply the parking brake.
 
conventional cables cost around $22.each, solenoids/motors will never compete on a cost basis.
main reason why most modern cars get scrapped & vanish so rapidly, the engineering guarantees that outcome.
All by design.
 
Our TourX has the electronic parking brake. I don't trust this new fangled voodoo magic one bit. Nothing like a nice hand brake to pull.
 
My BIL has a 2009 Hyundai Genesis with the 5.4V8, it has a failed electronic parking brake system, and the dealer wants $6,000 CAD to fix it...more than the car is worth. It will stay broken with the light on dash as a constant reminder of the cost of innovation.
 
Originally Posted by Dave9
Do not want. Higher complexity with higher repair cost.

They salt our roads plenty here and I have no particular problems with manual parking brakes, but I do use them and suspect it helps to keep them moving freely, as well as scrubbing rust off when it's separate surface on a rotor rather than drum.


I've only ever had traditional hand brake cars like VW Rabbit, Golf, and Honda Accord....and even in our Pennsylvania winters with lots of salt none of them has ever corroded or broken....you just have to keep using them, and wash the undercarriage a few times during the winter months..

Oh, and I do not like the electronic brakes because if you ever do lose your regular brakes the emergency hand brake can be a life saver!
 
Originally Posted by AC1DD
Originally Posted by Dave9
Do not want. Higher complexity with higher repair cost.

They salt our roads plenty here and I have no particular problems with manual parking brakes, but I do use them and suspect it helps to keep them moving freely, as well as scrubbing rust off when it's separate surface on a rotor rather than drum.


I've only ever had traditional hand brake cars like VW Rabbit, Golf, and Honda Accord....and even in our Pennsylvania winters with lots of salt none of them has ever corroded or broken....you just have to keep using them, and wash the undercarriage a few times during the winter months..

Oh, and I do not like the electronic brakes because if you ever do lose your regular brakes the emergency hand brake can be a life saver!




So can the electronic brake. It may or may not be the same procedure on your vehicle but on my Mazda I can pull up on the switch and hold it up to get emergency braking.

Check your owners manual.
 
Originally Posted by PimTac
I wonder how many here carry a large rock in their vehicle so they can use it as a parking brake?


The same ones who lament the starter replacing the hand crank, I'd bet...
 
Lone Ranger. If you shift into park and let off the brake before applying parking brake the parking pawl is loaded not the brake shoes or pads.
 
I'll throw in my .02:

I see many many cars come through my shop with electronic parking brakes. Everything from Volvo's to VAG cars to Ford's to you name it. They all have one of two systems: an electric motor directly integrated to the caliper, which works exactly the same as the older ratcheting calipers, or an electric servo motor that engages brake cables, just like back in the day. Those are for parking brakes that use the "drum in hat" style rear brakes.

I've seen exactly one failure in my entire time working on these setup's, and that was on a coworkers A4. He went to go to lunch one afternoon and the RR caliper refused to unlock. Long story short, the EPB control module failed, sending voltage to the caliper motor constantly. This caused the motor in the caliper to lock up and smoke, because the module wouldn't stop sending voltage when the limit was reached. A used module was $450 and a caliper was ~$250.

Other than that, I've had no issues. Just make sure to follow the factory service information to the letter when replacing the pads, you can really screw stuff up if you don't.
 
Originally Posted by PimTac
Originally Posted by AC1DD
Originally Posted by Dave9
Do not want. Higher complexity with higher repair cost.

They salt our roads plenty here and I have no particular problems with manual parking brakes, but I do use them and suspect it helps to keep them moving freely, as well as scrubbing rust off when it's separate surface on a rotor rather than drum.


I've only ever had traditional hand brake cars like VW Rabbit, Golf, and Honda Accord....and even in our Pennsylvania winters with lots of salt none of them has ever corroded or broken....you just have to keep using them, and wash the undercarriage a few times during the winter months..

Oh, and I do not like the electronic brakes because if you ever do lose your regular brakes the emergency hand brake can be a life saver!




So can the electronic brake. It may or may not be the same procedure on your vehicle but on my Mazda I can pull up on the switch and hold it up to get emergency braking.

Check your owners manual.


The problem with electronic parking brakes is that it is either on or off, with the traditional mechanical hand brake you can modulate the braking for safety.

The fact is that the ONLY reason the automakers went to the electronic parking brake was cost cutting.
 
Originally Posted by bdcardinal
So there aren't really any cables with an electronic e-brake. There are activation motors on the rear calipers. Hardly ever see anything wrong with them and Ford has been using them since the Lincoln LS.


Yet Ford was not using them on all trucks and SUVs, so maybe it's just a luxury line-item not a proof of durability.
 
Originally Posted by AC1DD
Originally Posted by PimTac
Originally Posted by AC1DD
Originally Posted by Dave9
Do not want. Higher complexity with higher repair cost.

They salt our roads plenty here and I have no particular problems with manual parking brakes, but I do use them and suspect it helps to keep them moving freely, as well as scrubbing rust off when it's separate surface on a rotor rather than drum.


I've only ever had traditional hand brake cars like VW Rabbit, Golf, and Honda Accord....and even in our Pennsylvania winters with lots of salt none of them has ever corroded or broken....you just have to keep using them, and wash the undercarriage a few times during the winter months..

Oh, and I do not like the electronic brakes because if you ever do lose your regular brakes the emergency hand brake can be a life saver!




So can the electronic brake. It may or may not be the same procedure on your vehicle but on my Mazda I can pull up on the switch and hold it up to get emergency braking.

Check your owners manual.


The problem with electronic parking brakes is that it is either on or off, with the traditional mechanical hand brake you can modulate the braking for safety.

The fact is that the ONLY reason the automakers went to the electronic parking brake was cost cutting.



Perhaps but the reality is that there used to be a ton of vehicles (especially trucks) which used a foot pedal as the parking brake and there was no modulation of that.
 
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