Hand brake going on a bit more when I go into Drive?

1499 Views 18 Replies 10 Participants Last post by h8ten, Jun 1, 2014

Richard Gledhill

Discussion Starter · May 20, 2014

Spotted something weird over the last few days. I park on my (flat) drive each evening, put the handbrake on by going into Park, pressing the brake pedal and holding the park brake button up for about a second. I get the usual whirring for a second and all seems normal.

Now I notice in the mornings that I turn on the car, put my foot on the brake pedal and move into Drive, it seems to put the hand brake on a bit more! Even though I still have my foot firmly on the brake pedal, it seems to do this. So when I do then put the parking brake off, it has to fully unwind from the "extra brake" position.

I guess if I change my order of things to: "foot on brake, release hand brake, move to Drive" then it doesn't do this. I suppose it's upping the brake pressure to ensure that even downhill, when I release the foot brake (in Drive but handbrake still on), the car won't move?

Has anyone else noticed this? Or am I the only one in the world to do things in this particular order?

Richard

1 - 19 of 19 Posts

hopbackguy

· #2 · May 20, 2014

Errr I'd never noticed to tell the truth! I do exactly what you do, and I've never really listened to what it does, I have to reverse off my drive rather than go forward. I'll listen next time

Reactions: 1

h8ten

· #3 · May 20, 2014

Cant really say I have noticed but like Mike I reverse out of my driveway and it is a very slight slope. The vast majority of the time I just let the handbrake automatically disengage when I go to drive, either forwards or in reverse.

hopbackguy

· #4 · May 28, 2014

OK, I have been listening to mine, and assuming the car is powered up, with the handbrake on, then when I put it in gear (D or R) there is a short whirr from the brakes, then when I either pull away or let the brake off manually there is a long whirr as they release. That short whirr could be one of two things; either adding an extra bit of tension to resist the movement of the programmed 'creep' when you put it in gear, or some sort of 'pre-arming' ready for releasing.

Richard Gledhill

Discussion Starter · #5 · May 28, 2014

Ah, so it's not just mine then. I think it's adding the extra bit of tension (like they recommend when leaving it on a steep hill), as it then takes longer to disengage than it normally would. Thanks!

h8ten

· #6 · May 28, 2014

I don't remember hearing any additional whirr when pulling away in D or R. Just in D the back end drops slightly then the handbrake whirrs off.

hopbackguy

· #7 · May 29, 2014

So you don't get a little whirr when you go from N to D or R after starting up with the handbrake on?

PRO-AMPERA

· #8 · May 29, 2014

hopbackguy said:
So you don't get a little whirr when you go from N to D or R after starting up with the handbrake on?

If you put you seat belt on before start up or before moving to N to D or R do you still get the whirr from the handbrake motor?

Richard Gledhill

Discussion Starter · #9 · May 29, 2014

I do, yes - I put my seat belt on before moving out of P (bad habit not to IMHO?); also the car should never really be in N anyway, should it? I can't think of a reason why it should exist at all, really, except for towing.

Lee Howard

· #10 · May 29, 2014

A hypermiler will use N on a downgrade that is not steep-enough to use regen without slowing unacceptably. So rather than having the accelerator down lightly to keep regen off they can move to N. That said, it's a considerable pain to do, and so realistically I must agree that N will only realistically be used for towing.

Lee Dalton

· #11 · May 29, 2014

I really must be very unobservant ! I hadn't noticed any difference in whirring....

Gary Taylor

· #12 · May 29, 2014

I could not let this go by without checking

And I can confirm my 2012 gives a little whirr when I go from N to D or R after starting up with the handbrake on.

Gary

Richard Gledhill

Discussion Starter · #13 · May 30, 2014

Thanks Gary

Using N in the way mentioned above is rather dangerous as you shouldn't be shifting in and out of N while driving; while I agree it's not as dangerous as putting a manual car in neutral and coasting, you are still moving through the gearbox's settings when you should be concentrating on driving, and it means (more importantly) you cannot suddenly accelerate out of trouble because you're not in gear. A good hypermiler will use the accelerator pedal to achieve the same effect...

Reactions: 1

h8ten

· #14 · May 31, 2014

My car does this too I have now confirmed so it looks like it is a TADTS.
I had not noticed before because my routine for setting off is:-
Foot on the brake, power up, release handbrake, select R or D, release footbrake and off she glides.
I tried selecting D before I released the handbrake and that is when I heard this extra whirr too.

RayG

· #15 · Jun 1, 2014

You do realise that the electronic parking brake will auto release when you try to accelerate.

i.e. From parked (overnight) with handbrake on and car powered down, Get into car, foot on brake pedal, power car up, when ready move foot from brake pedal to accelerator and depress, electronic brake will auto release.

That makes hill starts VERY easy as it works anytime you have the handbrake on and want to move either forward or reverse.

sallybuswell

· #16 · Jun 1, 2014

RayG said:
You do realise that the electronic parking brake will auto release when you try to accelerate.

i.e. From parked (overnight) with handbrake on and car powered down, Get into car, foot on brake pedal, power car up, when ready move foot from brake pedal to accelerator and depress, electronic brake will auto release.

That makes hill starts VERY easy as it works anytime you have the handbrake on and want to move either forward or reverse.

Always assuming you have your seatbelt on. Doesn't work if you don't. Can get messy. (No personal experience thank goodness). I love this feature and am very disappointed that the change to a foot operated handbrake in the Mk2 means that it is no longer available, AIUI.

Richard Gledhill

Discussion Starter · #17 · Jun 1, 2014

Frankly I think the electric handbrake is a ridiculous anachronism. On a car where everything is optimised for using minimum power, to replace a time-tested simple mechanical system with something that uses power and could therefore stop working at some point is plain stupid. I've no idea why car manufacturers started doing it - just like forward-opening rear doors (which are impossible in tight car parks), it deserves to be consigned to history's dustbin.

All just my humble opinion of course

Paul

· #18 · Jun 1, 2014

We were once totally stranded in our old S-Max thanks to the electronic parking brake having a bit of a funny turn. Fortunately happened close to a beach and It eventually righted itself, but was a big hassle.

Reactions: 1

h8ten

· #19 · Jun 1, 2014

RayG said:
You do realise that the electronic parking brake will auto release when you try to accelerate.

i.e. From parked (overnight) with handbrake on and car powered down, Get into car, foot on brake pedal, power car up, when ready move foot from brake pedal to accelerator and depress, electronic brake will auto release.

That makes hill starts VERY easy as it works anytime you have the handbrake on and want to move either forward or reverse.

Yes, I use the auto release when actually driving and at junctions any time I use the handbrake as it makes take-off quicker as otherwise you need to use the footbrake whilst you release the handbrake. But under these circumstances the car is already in D and so I had never experienced this additional whirr. It is only when I varied my normal procedure and selected D before releasing the handbrake that I heard it.

1 - 19 of 19 Posts

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