Electric parking brake design

Truthfully I just think the electric brake in general is a bad idea.

I know most manufacturers are slowly migrating to electric brakes on all of their vehicles. But having least one method to brake the vehicle that doesn’t require power or a motor in case of emergencies is just a really good idea… and I just don’t understand why manufacturers are abandoning the traditional cable-driven parking brake.

A few weeks ago my 2013 Focus was in the driveway and idiot me ran the battery dead. Because it has a cable-drive brake I was able to easily move it out of the way within 10 seconds. If it was an electric brake that wouldn’t have been possible.

RagnarKon

Truthfully I just think the electric brake in general is a bad idea.

I know most manufacturers are slowly migrating to electric brakes on all of their vehicles. But having least one method to brake the vehicle that doesn’t require power or a motor in case of emergencies is just a really good idea… and I just don’t understand why manufacturers are abandoning the traditional cable-driven parking brake.

A few weeks ago my 2013 Focus was in the driveway and idiot me ran the battery dead. Because it has a cable-drive brake I was able to easily move it out of the way within 10 seconds. If it was an electric brake that wouldn’t have been possible.

You nailed it 100%

An emergency brake is just that and they should all be mechanically actuated!

Yep not a fan. I only have one vehicle that has the e parking brake and it doesn’t always disengage when you depress the button. At least with a mechanical brake if I go through the motion of disengaging the parking brake it was off.
But the electric parking brakes are what gives us trail turn assist so might be a necessary evil.

Jakob1972

Yep not a fan. I only have one vehicle that has the e parking brake and it doesn’t always disengage when you depress the button. At least with a mechanical brake if I go through the motion of disengaging the parking brake it was off.
But the electric parking brakes are what gives us trail turn assist so might be a necessary evil.

Oh wait they're using the parking brake for that?? I just assumed they were hacking into the anti-lock brake controller and using the regular service brakes.

(Also... if any Bronco engineer from Ford happens to read this.... us manual transmission people don't get trail turn assist, therefore we should be given the perk of having a cable-driven parking brake. Please and thank you.)

That's a beefy stick surprised not more damage. Which wheel well was it and can you take more pics or is it covered by the fender liner?

Agree that MT owners should get standard ebrake vs electric.

Suggest always pressing the brake pedal before disengaging the ebrake otherwise it might not unlock. If this happens keep cycling with foot on brake pedal until releases. You can auto disengage ebrake automatically just by shifting into gear then moving bronco but I don't suggest doing this more than a handful of times. Always press brake pedal before releasing ebrake or one day it might not release and bronco will NOT move.

I do like having three initial layers to stop my bronco before needing an ebrake (1) pre-collision assist which is a 50/50 option (2) brake pedal (3) manual transmission (4) ebrake.

If emergency, pull (not too hard or lever will break no pun) and HOLD the ebrake lever until fully stopped. See pic

I agree it’s a little more than stick. My wife has an attraction to tree limbs in the roadway. It’s usually at night and to late to avoid. 2 years ago she hit another tree limb with our Explorer. Had a stick about the same diameter as this one hanging out of the lower front ground effects. Took out the fog light and bent the A/C heat exchanger. I have attached a few more pics. The limb wedged in between the tire and axle. Put a small groove in the sidewall of the tire.

RagnarKon

Oh wait they're using the parking brake for that?? I just assumed they were hacking into the anti-lock brake controller and using the regular service brakes.

(Also... if any Bronco engineer from Ford happens to read this.... us manual transmission people don't get trail turn assist, therefore we should be given the perk of having a cable-driven parking brake. Please and thank you.)

I am not totally sure but it seems the easiest to use the Parking brake since it is only on the rear wheels. I had heard that the 392 j**p you can add a controller/programmer that can give you trail turn you have to use a certain button on your cruise control. If they can do it for J**p, I am sure someone can program it in for the MT Broncos. Back when I was a Badlands MT res I was just going to use the parking brake and drag the ass end around like we did in the old days before trail turn.

NT AUTOMOTIVE

Suggest always pressing the brake pedal before disengaging the ebrake otherwise it might not unlock. If this happens keep cycling with foot on brake pedal until releases. You can auto disengage ebrake automatically just by shifting into gear then moving bronco but I don't suggest doing this more than a handful of times. Always press brake pedal before releasing ebrake or one day it might not release and bronco will NOT move.

Yes you must push the brake pedal to activate the e-parking brake switch at least on my Nox I can not set it or disengage it without pressing the pedal. my ebrake button is finnicky and doesn't disengage every time. I have never had it not work when setting it just disengage. that is how I found out you can just put it in gear and give it some gas and it will auto disengage by accident, my steering wheel was turned and I could not see that the park light on my dash was illuminated.

The pictures make me think that I would worry about that brake hose more than the parking brake parts if you regularly get stuff up in there. Rip out the brake line, and you'll no longer be worrying about your parking brake. there are enough fasteners under there that making up a sheet metal protector for that area should be very possible.

Bummer on the stick winning on that. They are down in harm's way so it should be designed to take a good hit.

My main gripe on the e-brake is the goofy little fake cable like switch. You push it to disengage and pull it to engage. That is the opposite of ever F250-350 I have ever owned! Also the location is where a cable one would be, but since its electronic put it on the dash or better yet the over head console. Quicker to reach. I have actually thought about moving the connection to one of the pre-wired switches in the overhead.

@RagnarKon I am with you on the manual cable for us MT trucks!

Metal-tech 4x4

Bummer on the stick winning on that. They are down in harm's way so it should be designed to take a good hit.

My main gripe on the e-brake is the goofy little fake cable like switch. You push it to disengage and pull it to engage. That is the opposite of ever F250-350 I have ever owned! Also the location is where a cable one would be, but since its electronic put it on the dash or better yet the over head console. Quicker to reach. I have actually thought about moving the connection to one of the pre-wired switches in the overhead.

@RagnarKon I am with you on the manual cable for us MT trucks!

I felt the same way too, that it is was backwards, but if you think of it like a sports car handbrake it makes more sense you pull it up to set it and push it down to disengage it. still don't like um but thats how I deal with it.

Jakob1972

I felt the same way too, that it is was backwards, but if you think of it like a sports car handbrake it makes more sense you pull it up to set it and push it down to disengage it. still don't like um but thats how I deal with it.

I keep telling myself that but even with 8 months of driving the thing I still at times flip it the wrong way! On a Ford truck pull to release the brake is what I have done since 2000 with my F250. I still have the F250 so its just natural for me.

Plum819

I agree it’s a little more than stick. My wife has an attraction to tree limbs in the roadway. It’s usually at night and to late to avoid. 2 years ago she hit another tree limb with our Explorer. Had a stick about the same diameter as this one hanging out of the lower front ground effects. Took out the fog light and bent the A/C heat exchanger. I have attached a few more pics. The limb wedged in between the tire and axle. Put a small groove in the sidewall of the tire.

hmmmmm maybe you should get her some skid plates? :cool:

Glad to hear I'm not the only one with ebrake issues! I hate using it. I usually put the Bronco in 1st gear when parking anyway!