This might sound like a daft question but after three weeks of ownership I’m struggling to figure out when I would bother to use the parking brake manually. I have an auto - so it just gets thrown in park whenever we leave the car (we have a level driveway) and although I haven’t been far in it, this far I’ve not run into a situation where the foot brake wasn’t perfectly adequate. I am assuming the car is probably activating the parkbrake for me when I get out anyway perhaps?
 

I’d welcome input on situations where manually activating the parking brake would make sense

 

cheers

I use the parking brake exactly as I would use a conventional handbrake when parking. The electronic brake will disengage when you pull away if you forget to release it. The other brake is your "hold" brake, this comes on every time you stop with the brakes ( when switched on). Useful for steep hill starts.

In almost 4 years of ownership I think I may have used the EHB once.

And yes as you’ve already sussed, if your using autohold, the handbrake does apply when you open the drivers door.

1 hour ago, Doombar said:

I’m struggling to figure out when I would bother to use the parking brake manually

 

If you do figure it out, let me know. On my 2nd bear and I haven't used it manually in either over a combined total of nearly 4 years. On the other hand, my wife doesn't like auto hold and so uses the EHB all the time (which annoys the crap out of me as I have to remember to turn auto hold back on when I get in the car, otherwise I end up wondering why the car starts moving again when I take my foot off the brake when stopped!).

Sounds like I am not alone in my thoughts on this topic then!
 

Perhaps a slightly different angle on the same question, would be under what conditions will the automatic hold come on, and more importantly - release?
 

i am slightly nervous of this feature when driving around because I once hired a VW Polo (manual) with auto hold, and it seemingly randomly released on me several times on steep hills in Madeira in traffic queues. It was rather disconcerting…

Have just been reading around this - it seems that there’s a two second auto-hold feature where it keeps the park brake on after you release the brake pedal, provided you’re on a gradient. On an auto that two seconds presumably is hard to detect as the box picks up the forward motion even if you haven’t pressed the gas pedal yet. In the manual Polo I had, I foolishly assumed it would only release when it detected forward motion from the abs (because why would you ever want an automatic brake to let go so you went backwards…) oops.

 

Am I right in assuming the only other situation the Kodiaq would automatically put the park brake on, is when you turn the car off?

If Autohold function is activated then forget all about the electronic parking brake - that's how it was designed. Easy peasy.

 

It ( parking brake ) auto releases when you drive off and engages when you open the drivers door. Everything else in between is controlled automatically. There's nothing else to worry about.

 

With the manual it sounds like you're confused with autohold and anti-roll back - it's a common mistake. Again no need to worry with auto.

Edited 27 December, 20214 yr by kodiaqsportline

43 minutes ago, Doombar said:

Sounds like I am not alone in my thoughts on this topic then!
 

Perhaps a slightly different angle on the same question, would be under what conditions will the automatic hold come on, and more importantly - release?
 

 

When you come to a stop using the foot brake the autohold applies and the green icon appears on the dash. 
As soon as you touch the accelerator the autohold will release.

I believe after 10 mins on autohold, the handbrake automatically applies but your highly unlikely to sit for that time anyway.

Also with a bit of practice you can feather the brake pedal which allows slow manoeuvring without the autohold coming on.

Sitting with the engine running and in N is the obvious time to have the Parking /e-brake applied if your foot is not on the brake pedal. 

You might do that so that the brake lights are NOT on if you have a model that applies the brake lights when 'Auto hold' is activated.

 

I do wish more people might do that when sitting stopped for a while in gridlock traffic in Fog, Snow Rain, drizzle when vehicles behind.

Maybe at traffic works and while waiting for a convoy system. 

Edited 27 December, 20214 yr by roottoot

16 minutes ago, roottoot said:

Sitting with the engine running and in N

 

That's your first mistake 😉.

 

I'd rather people sat there with their brake lights on and engines stopped.

I might if sitting in the warm weather /temperatures  but not in freezing temps with heater & lights on.

Snow and freezing fog tends to be in colder weather. 

1 hour ago, Yogi-Bear said:

 

That's your first mistake 😉.

 

I'd rather people sat there with their brake lights on and engines stopped.

 

+1.  It's a myth quoted by people who I can only assume never drive.

 

Since reading this some years ago on forums, I keep looking out for this and yes many cars sit stationary with their brake lights on. Am I blinded? Not in the slightest.

 

Anyway, who are these people who sit in traffic and look directly ahead at all times? When I sit in traffic, constantly staring at the rear lights of the car in front is the last place I'm looking.

 

As for those behind me? Couldn't give a monkeys. If they have a problem, dial 101 and report me to the police, who in turn will, in not so many words, tell them to get a life.

@kodiaqsportlineSounds like you sum up your attitude to others road users in the last sentence.

Do you happen to drive all about in the UK?

I like when sitting waiting for a good while behind someone that thinks they are fine with the brake lights on or the rear Fogs for ages and there are no others about to light up the rear of their car and mirror. 

That is just how i roll.  That is another use for extra bright lights or spots on the roof is for if for 'Offroad use only'. 

 

*** I have flashed at a Police Vehicle infront on Gridlock traffic on the Edinburgh by-pass and the officer did come out to see why.***

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/335661-xds-question/page/2

 

These drivers might be people just sitting in a car, not a SUV, not a 4x4 or Van or HGV, lower vehicles..

Ones sitting there for a while and that remember what the Highway Code says and do not sit for extended times with rear brake light illuminated with a vehicle behind.

 

Police Drivers in Volvo XC90 are very guilty of sitting stationary with rear brake lights on.

That is how Autohold is on them. 

 

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/497760-code-out-brake-lights-on-autohold

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/433302-auto-hold-brake-lights

 

 

 

Edited 27 December, 20214 yr by roottoot

Its certainly not a myth for me but its for sure exacerbated by all the eye operations and the eyedrops for glaucoma.

 

Its not the brake lights but the LED high level ones and latterly the LED rear light clusters, the law still limits their light output by Watts so they are getting brighter and brighter.

 

The darker or gloomier it is outside the worse it is, being on Le Shuttle is very very difficult where drivers leave their ignition on to charge phones or watch videos, you dont need to be looking directly at a light source, if you look at something else with the central macular vision light coming in the side still makes your pupil contract, in anything less than bright sunlight I can then no longer see what I am looking at clearly (or at all at night) and am dazzled by the light from the side.

 

I can not run with my running club during the winter as they wear more and more powerfull head torches switched on even though 90% of our evening runs are within the town with good street lighting, we set off from the club in the town square which has superb lighting, high up where it doesn't dazzle, there has to be 20 minutes of hand shaking and kissing etc, they have their head torches on full and look you straight in the face, none of them can have ever been on a proper trek etc and learned fireside etiquette.

 

Its a particular region with very insular forcefull people (syndicalistes) who also take the view "Am I blinded? Not in the slightest." and "Couldn't give a monkeys. If you have a problem"

 

I hope your vision remains good throughout your life, its very very important, chances are though as you get older you will develop cataracts and perhaps Glaucoma hopefully only mild but you will then have an understanding and perhaps some empathy.

Wow. Lots of disagreement on here. And some misunderstanding.

 

I’ve commented on this topic on one or more previous threads on same subject. Won’t repeat myself. 
 

I do understand how the brake system works and I’ll continue to do what’s good for me.

 

and maybe add to my “ignore list” 😀

@BoxerBoyWere does that tell the OP anything that they asked as in ''When would you manually activate the parking brake?'

Just reading above replies - the usual drivel.

 

Can sum it up very simply. Lets take a bog std perfectly legal UK car like erm, a Kodiaq.   ( It should be noted that our friends Root and JR own neither ).

 

When autohold is applied, and you stop at the lights then the brake lights come on and...   It's perfectly legal. 

 

We know the brake lights come on but most owners or drivers haven't a scooby. There is no indication whatsoever in the car that the brake lights are on. It's perfectly legal for manufacturers to operate autohold in this way.

 

In his lengthy reply ( as per usual ) you won't find any reference to being blinded by the lights. That's because they don't blind you. I've been driving for 50 years and have yet to experience being blinded by brake lights whilst sitting in traffic. I ask again, who in their right mind sits staring at the lights in front of you when stationary?

 

He then introduces FOG lights? Who mentioned fog lights? that has nothing to do with autohold. It's illegal to use fog lights when the visibility is good. When you switch on fog lights, unlike the brake, there's a light on the dash to lets you know the fogs are on. If you see the fogs are on when the weather improves you can then switch them off. I'll say it again, there is no indication whatsoever on the dash that the brake lights are running so how does the driver know if they are on?

 

As for JR and his eye drops or eye problems. You should NOT be driving a car if you have issues with your eyes because that's illegal.  Case in question - if a car happens to brake when slowing down, you'll be blinded by that too. So what's your solution - don't use brakes at anytime just incase Mr Magoo is driving the car behind? Presumably you'll be blinded by oncoming traffic with bright LEDs too with those eye issues? I mean if you're blinded by head torches...  

 

Some people are determined to lecture others that they know better than anyone else. Neither of the above replies hold any ground - you're both arguing for arguments sake and obviously never thought this through. Playing devils advocate, lets say the lights did blind you. So what? You're in stationary traffic - you're going nowhere - so what's the problem?

Edited 28 December, 20214 yr by kodiaqsportline

Thankyou for your kind empathic understanding words Kodiaqsportline, You are correct, I don't own a Kodiaq nor have I ever driven a vehicle with an electric handbrake, I had not appreciated that I needed to have done that to have commented on my vision being troubled by high level LED brake lights that have far more luminous intensity than 21 watt incandescent brake light bulbs.

 

I am blind in the left eye, its not illegal to drive with one eye but you can join the list of people who have told me that I should not do so, that its illegal etc although none in such a notable fashion as your good self, for your information you need 6/10 visual acuity in one eye wearing glasses or contact lenses if needed, I have 10/10ths with correction as do most people, I have been at 6/10 post operative and would not even walk to the corner of the road unaided let alone drive at that level.

 

I was not lecturing anybody, I was countering your statement "It's a myth quoted by people who I can only assume never drive." I certainly was not lecturing others that I know better than anyone else, I was trying to give you the perspective of a group of people that you could not give a monkeys about, who should get a life and who you refer to as Mr Maghoo (thankyou again for that).

 

If your approach to others does not preventyou from reaching a ripe old age then you will indeed suffer a degree of sight loss starting with Presbyopia in your eary 40's, then later on Cataracts and possibly Glaucoma, perhaps by then you might be capable of seeing the world through the eyes of others, pun intended.

 

Just to add I have not said that its illegal to be at a standstill with brake lights illuminated & I dont think anyone else has either, also I never spoke about being blinded, I said my vision was affected by being dazzled, from that you chose to use the term blind or blinded no less than 6 times in your rant.

Edited 28 December, 20214 yr by J.R.

I see now that you say you have been driving for 50 years, that will make you at least 67, quite amazing!

To go back to Ops original question (before certain people started arguing about eyesight - next time hopefully they will do that in off topic roadside section)

 

Doesn’t seem to be any need to even have the button to manually activate it on cars fitted with auto transmission and autohold

 

 

Construction & Use and Type Approval is the reason a Parking Brake / emergency brake is required. 

A physical one that can be applied and not by use of the foot brake. 

The requirement is 'One efficient braking system with 2 means of operation.'

 

'Autohold' is functioning on holding the vehicle with the front and rear brakes. 

the Parking / e-brake is only applied on the rear brakes.  

https://volkswagen.co.uk/en/technology/driver-assist/braking.html

 

Edited 28 December, 20214 yr by roottoot

I manually apply the electronic parking brake using the button all of the time on my Kodiaq with a manual gearbox.

 

I've always done things a little different so appreciate I'm very much in the minority, I always turn everything off before the engine i.e. the fan, infotainment system, lights, wipers etc. and like to see and hear that the parking brakes are properly applied before the engine is turned off.

 

On my manual gearbox the EPB automatically applies when the engine is turned off or the drivers door is opened with the engine running.

 

I also find the 'Auto Hold' feature very useful, a great idea.

 

As for the brake light debate, it's been discussed many times on Briskoda over the years. It'll always divide opinion, in much the same way as other disadvantages associated with the advances in vehicular lighting brought about by the increasing use of LED technology. It seems the concensus is often to embrace it or try to avoid it.

49 minutes ago, silver1011 said:

I've always done things a little different so appreciate I'm very much in the minority, I always turn everything off before the engine i.e. the fan, infotainment system, lights, wipers etc. and like to see and hear that the parking brakes are properly applied before the engine is turned off.

 

I know this is going off-topic again, and for that I sincerely apologise... but wow. I was going to ask if you suffer from OCD, but then I thought that it's not you... it's that the rest of us have become enormously lazy because we don't even bother thinking about any of that stuff. The car puts the handbrake on and turns everything off itself. Every time I get into the wife's Ka, I have to consciously think what that third pedal is for and how to use it... and that the car isn't moving because I haven't released the hand-brake.

 

And it's only going to get worse - I read somewhere that most driving tests these days are done in automatics, and when you think about the advent of electric cars you realise why. Maybe one day there won't even be a driving test as self-driving cars will become a practical reality, but let's not pull at that particular thread these days.

 

TL;DR - sorry for going off-topic again, but we're all lazy.

10 hours ago, kodiaqsportline said:

Just reading above replies - the usual drivel.

 

Can sum it up very simply. Lets take a bog std perfectly legal UK car like erm, a Kodiaq.   ( It should be noted that our friends Root and JR own neither ).

 

When autohold is applied, and you stop at the lights then the brake lights come on and...   It's perfectly legal. 

 

We know the brake lights come on but most owners or drivers haven't a scooby. There is no indication whatsoever in the car that the brake lights are on. It's perfectly legal for manufacturers to operate autohold in this way.

 

In his lengthy reply ( as per usual ) you won't find any reference to being blinded by the lights. That's because they don't blind you. I've been driving for 50 years and have yet to experience being blinded by brake lights whilst sitting in traffic. I ask again, who in their right mind sits staring at the lights in front of you when stationary?

 

He then introduces FOG lights? Who mentioned fog lights? that has nothing to do with autohold. It's illegal to use fog lights when the visibility is good. When you switch on fog lights, unlike the brake, there's a light on the dash to lets you know the fogs are on. If you see the fogs are on when the weather improves you can then switch them off. I'll say it again, there is no indication whatsoever on the dash that the brake lights are running so how does the driver know if they are on?

 

As for JR and his eye drops or eye problems. You should NOT be driving a car if you have issues with your eyes because that's illegal.  Case in question - if a car happens to brake when slowing down, you'll be blinded by that too. So what's your solution - don't use brakes at anytime just incase Mr Magoo is driving the car behind? Presumably you'll be blinded by oncoming traffic with bright LEDs too with those eye issues? I mean if you're blinded by head torches...  

 

Some people are determined to lecture others that they know better than anyone else. Neither of the above replies hold any ground - you're both arguing for arguments sake and obviously never thought this through. Playing devils advocate, lets say the lights did blind you. So what? You're in stationary traffic - you're going nowhere - so what's the problem?

 

Wow ..   what an ignorant post...

 

As an aside, and as someone with good vision and no eye issues I can assure you that led brake lights are uncomfortable for those behind in certain circumstances (I've posted here and asked similar questions about the lights staying on previously).  I find them 'blinding' when stuck in traffic, especially when in a low car such as my MX5, and will often block them with a raised hand so I have full vision for when traffic starts moving again.

2 hours ago, silver1011 said:

 

I've always done things a little different so appreciate I'm very much in the minority, I always turn everything off before the engine i.e. the fan, infotainment system, lights, wipers etc. and like to see and hear that the parking brakes are properly applied before the engine is turned off...

 

I also find the 'Auto Hold' feature very useful, a great idea.

 

 

Same here...   I think it stems from regularly driving older vehicles but has been a habit of mine for donkey's years.