Electronic Parking Brake in Golf 7

[Lima]

To be fair I've only had a few test drives with cars featuring an electronic park brake. Yet to own one.

It's the loss of fun on the skid pan that I'm going to miss.

The flat battery concept is an interesting one too, but surely all the carmarkers adopting this technology, from VW, Audi, BMW, Porsche etc have thought of this?!

[team_v]

To be fair I've only had a few test drives with cars featuring an electronic park brake. Yet to own one.

It's the loss of fun on the skid pan that I'm going to miss.

The flat battery concept is an interesting one too, but surely all the carmarkers adopting this technology, from VW, Audi, BMW, Porsche etc have thought of this?!

I believe there is a tool that can be used to unlock the brakes if the battery goes flat but i am not sure how easy it is to use or who has access to it. (i.e. it isn't in the tool kit that comes with your car).

Below is the process they use for the CC in the US for a fully drained battery.

There are only two ways to manually disengage the parking brake, both involve crawling under the back of the car with some tools:
1) Unbolt the parking brake motor, mounted to the backside of each caliper,, and use a power-driver tool to retract the pads.
2) Pull the electrical connector off each parking brake motor, and apply 12VDC from a portable jump-starter (has a 12V battery inside) to the motor contacts, to retract the pads. If the pads don't retract, reverse the polarity of the applied 12V.

If the battery is not 100% drained i believe you can dissengage the brakes by doing the following:

(a) remove key from ignition;
(b) remove both battery cables from their respective terminals (10mm hex);
(c) touch the ends of the battery cables together for about 30 sec. (I held them there for about 60).
(d) reconnect the battery cables.

All our local skidpans got shut down due to noise restrictions so i have never had to use my handbrake for anything other than the stop the car.

[MkVIGTI]

I think it makes the car look more high tech, with cleaner lines. I like!

[wai]

The flat battery concept is an interesting one too, but surely all the carmarkers adopting this technology, from VW, Audi, BMW, Porsche etc have thought of this?!

You'd be surprised how such things get missed when they concentrate on something else. By the time it is discovered too many senior people have made decisions and they do not want to go back and change their minds, so they HOPE nothing will go wrong.

[wai]

Below is the process they use for the CC in the US for a fully drained battery.
...

If the battery is not 100% drained i believe you can dissengage the brakes by doing the following:

It does get quite silly when you have to have such procedures. To come up with them means they have actually realised there is a problem but hope it will never happen.

[PassatB6]

I had an electronic handbrake on my Passat in 2006. Never had any problems with it. Has some advantages over the mechanical one such as auto release when accelerating, automatically engages in certain circumstances for safety reasons and no concerns about whether you have pulled hard enough on the lever. Yes it can fail but what happens when you do a handbrake cable? No handbrake at all. Hill starts and parking become dangerous. The downside of elect handbrake is exaggerated IMHO. Hyundai has them now, all cars will go that way.

[Cossor]

May be buying MY13 Passat
Was concerned re electronic parking brake
Now no concern.
BTW, I find the handbrake on my MK6 Golf useless if rear of car is facing down hill
Have to make sure car is in Park position, even to just stop at mail box on drive way

[wai]

May be buying MY13 Passat
Was concerned re electronic parking brake
Now no concern.
BTW, I find the handbrake on my MK6 Golf useless if rear of car is facing down hill
Have to make sure car is in Park position, even to just stop at mail box on drive way

I would suggest you try these two tests on your test drive.

1. Stop on a steel hill facing up and then do a start with the electronic brake.

2. Do a reverse park when facing downhill, and then drive out with first having to reverse a bit before driving out.

No point in finding an easy place to do it. After all, when you buy the car, you are going to be faced with a variety of situations, and not all will be easy.

If you are happy with how the car handles it, then go for it.

[pologti18t]

If your battery fails all you need is either a new battery, a jump start or remove battery and recharge. Why do the brakes need to be released as you aren't going anywhere anyway!

[Transporter]

To get the car on the tow track.