Electronic Parking Brake in Golf 7

[DV52]

If you are driving correctly both your hands should be on the steering wheel not playing with buttons on the centre console.

If the switch is on the drivers side of the console as it is in the Passat a passenger would have a hard job to interfere with it.

Hillbilly: The passat sounds like it has a better arrangement. The center console on the mk7 is (in my view) quite well arranged in terms of access. The e-brake swtch are on the passenger side albeit I wouldn't have thought that much would change if it were on the driver side

I much prefer the e-brake to a traditional lever.

Flight: I've been unclear in my view about the e-brake - my apology. I'm not saying that the e-brake is any worse, or better than the more traditional brake lever - it's just different! After about a year of owning a mk 7, I remain totally agnostic about the value or otherwise of this particular feature

I guess like all technological developments, the e-brake seems to have its advantages and disadvantages. The increased risk of inadvertant operation is just something that drivers need to be aware of (especially if the passenger is a child with a fidgetty personality - or the driver is the same ). On the other hand an advantage of the e-brake is the fact that it is electrically connected to the auto gearbox. This allows the e-brake to be automatically disengaged when the driver puts the car into the drive position (something I learnt from this thread).

The further disadvantage of the e-brake seems to be the added complexity of changing the brake pads. I'v watched a video on the Rosstech site about how to correctly do this task. What is a relatively simple task on a normal car requires a VCDS cable (or similar facilty) on a mk7 to open/close the calipers (because of the e-brake).

PS: The my13 version of the SatNav already has a Seargent Schultz personality. Whenever I try to punch-in a new route address the voice response is invariably "I KNOW NOTHING" !!

[Hillbilly]

Sounds like VW installed it for left hand drive and lazily did not produce a right hand drive version A bit poor isn't it as it would be the most used button on the centre console I would have thought.

As far as Sat navs go I have found that GIGO is king.

A few years ago I was going to Elizabeth St COBURG In my ignorance as I hadn't been to Melbourne before I entered Elizabeth St MELBOURNE.

Result was towing a 25ft van through the centre of Melbourne at 3 30pm on a Friday.

Not the most enjoyable experience with the trams etc ROFL.

[DV52]

Sounds like VW installed it for left hand drive and lazily did not produce a right hand drive version A bit poor isn't it as it would be the most used button on the centre console I would have thought.

As far as Sat navs go I have found that GIGO is king.

A few years ago I was going to Elizabeth St COBURG In my ignorance as I hadn't been to Melbourne before I entered Elizabeth St MELBOURNE.

Result was towing a 25ft van through the centre of Melbourne at 3 30pm on a Friday.

Not the most enjoyable experience with the trams etc ROFL.

Hillbilly: I spent a good many years when I was working in one of the offices above an Elizabeth St CBD intersection. An enjoyable, but sadly less productive activity (for my employer) was watching the chaos that constantly occurred in the street below. Most of the fun down at the intersection involved right hand turns from the LH side of the road and trams, but occasionally a caravan was a part of the action. You have my sympathy - traffic in the Melbourne CBD on a Friday afternoon was always very unforgiving.

[flight]

The further disadvantage of the e-brake seems to be the added complexity of changing the brake pads. I'v watched a video on the Rosstech site about how to correctly do this task. What is a relatively simple task on a normal car requires a VCDS cable (or similar facilty) on a mk7 to open/close the calipers (because of the e-brake).

PS: The my13 version of the SatNav already has a Seargent Schultz persinality. Whenever I try to punch-in a new route address the voice response is invariably "I KNOW NOTHING" !!

Nice one DV52. That's something else I have learned - don't try to change the brake pads.

[Mountainman]

Sounds like VW installed it for left hand drive and lazily did not produce a right hand drive version A bit poor isn't it as it would be the most used button on the centre console I would have thought.

My manual mk7 only has 3 switches on the console - the auto stop/start, the auto hold and the E brake - and I never touch any of them and have no need to. I leave them all on all of the time. My wife however accidently pulled the E brake lever up the other day when I was doing 100km/h on the highway and that's when we found an instant total lock-up of the rear wheels is not something any driver would want to happen. All she was doing was reaching to pull the centre slider lid shut and didn't look at what she was doing.

You are right though - if VW was really serious they would have moved all those controls to the driver's side of the console for right hand drive cars. It wouldn't stop passenger fiddling with or accidently using them though. The indicators and wiper controls should be swapped too.

[Hillbilly]

My manual mk7 only has 3 switches on the console - the auto stop/start, the auto hold and the E brake - and I never touch any of them and have no need to. I leave them all on all of the time. My wife however accidently pulled the E brake lever up the other day when I was doing 100km/h on the highway and that's when we found an instant total lock-up of the rear wheels is not something any driver would want to happen. All she was doing was reaching to pull the centre slider lid shut and didn't look at what she was doing.

You are right though - if VW was really serious they would have moved all those controls to the driver's side of the console for right hand drive cars. It wouldn't stop passenger fiddling with or accidently using them though. The indicators and wiper controls should be swapped too.

All Euro cars and trucks have the wipers that way you just get used to it.

Be thankful you weren't driving the assortment of buses I was. In the morning in a Merc afternoon in a Hino or even the Merc that had the controls swapped over That one caught us a few times.
LOL

[flashman1207]

In regard to the Electronic Parking Brake what happens if you forget to press the button? Does the car automatically apply the handbrake as a safety measure when you leave the car? Am worried the missus will forget to apply the handbrake and lose the car down the hill....

Thx

[veew]

If the car is in Park then the car won't move regardless of whether you engage the EPB or not. I don't know the finer details of what braking systems are activated in the different situations but I've done it a few times in a rush and find the car "rocks to a stop" if it is on a slight incline, similar behaviour with normal automatic vehicles.

[flashman1207]

If the car is in Park then the car won't move regardless of whether you engage the EPB or not. I don't know the finer details of what braking systems are activated in the different situations but I've done it a few times in a rush and find the car "rocks to a stop" if it is on a slight incline, similar behaviour with normal automatic vehicles.

Oops, I forgot to add that its a manual I am considering....... it makes sense to me that if the seat belt was not on and the key was not in the ignition that the park brake would be activated automatically. Just need someone to confirm as I forgot to ask or try it during test drive

[donweather]

I don't believe the electronic park brake in our tiggy (manual) comes on automatically after you turn the engine off.

But in the old days with hand brakes were your worried about the missus forgetting to put it on?