Electronic Brake - Does it impact resale value?

daveyjp

Considering a friend was very nearly killed due to one of these contraptions on a Vauxhall I would say yes.

I had my MOT on Saturday and the tester noted my handbrake travel was quite long. The car passed and the handbrake will be sorted at service. This resulted in us having a chat about electric parking brakes.

He is very nervous of them. If he gets one on test he has no idea if it is working correctly or not, it is high up his list for problems on cars being submitted for first test and owners are blissfully unaware.

Once on the brake tester they very often fail the first time he applies the handbrake. He then releases the brake, applies the electric brake once, then pulls the switch again. If it works its a pass, but many fail which often means an expensive dealer visit to reset the brakes.

His advice is to pull the button twice when leaving the car and always leave it in gear.

IMHO they are a solution to a problem which never existed and are there purely to add another expensive service item for dealers.

anotherbaldrick

One advantage of the EPB is that when engaged , say a stop at the lights the braking system is locked on solid. Anyone tailending me is going to have an experience similar to hitting a brick wall. Well my VW is heavy and strongly armoured in the rear

daveyjp.
He is very nervous of them. If he gets one on test he has no idea if it is working correctly or not, it is high up his list for problems on cars being submitted for first test and owners are blissfully unaware

Testing the EPB is the simplest thing ever. After lifting the switch to activate manually, on returning your foot to the brake pedal you will find it locked totally solid, no down movement whatsoever. The same occurs when you do a normal stop with the footbrake, slip into neutral, lift your hoof, return pressure to the pedal and you will find it as solid as a rock.

gilbert_and_sullivan

Do they work on all 4 wheels now then?

I hope the passst EPB is being applied tight, enough of them have run away after being parked for some time from what i read, maybe they've improved the design, needed it.

DUTR

daveyjp wrote: »

Considering a friend was very nearly killed due to one of these contraptions on a Vauxhall I would say yes.

I had my MOT on Saturday and the tester noted my handbrake travel was quite long. The car passed and the handbrake will be sorted at service. This resulted in us having a chat about electric parking brakes.

He is very nervous of them. If he gets one on test he has no idea if it is working correctly or not, it is high up his list for problems on cars being submitted for first test and owners are blissfully unaware.

Once on the brake tester they very often fail the first time he applies the handbrake. He then releases the brake, applies the electric brake once, then pulls the switch again. If it works its a pass, but many fail which often means an expensive dealer visit to reset the brakes.

His advice is to pull the button twice when leaving the car and always leave it in gear.

IMHO they are a solution to a problem which never existed and are there purely to add another expensive service item for dealers.

Part of the EPB is autohold, it's 2 more years before an MOT test, but the cars have to pass VOSA or whatever they are called to meet a road worthy standard, I don't even have to touch the switch ever, the same luddite topic was around when fuel injection started to become common also like turbo charging.

jbainbridge

I liked it on the Scenic we had but they reputedly cost £800+ to replace which did worry me!

Problem is more and more cars seem to have them. As someone else said it does seem to be a solution to a problem that does not exist.

Prothet_of_Doom

Strider590 wrote: »

For me, yes......

For the average idiot, I seriously doubt they'd even know what one was, let alone the issues they can have.

That, you have to talk to the ecu when to change rear brake pads is something that the vast majority of people won't care about as they don't service their cars themselves.


If you do your own servicing, you will reach a point where you either invest in the tools or you'll stick with a cavalier made in 1989.


Note I seem to have sorted my Mini's airbag light with help from £75 of diagnostic reader. I could have paid someone £30 to diagnose it, but I'd have been £250 worse off after he would have insisted I needed parts that I didn't (It was a loose under seat connection to the seat belt tensioner)

daveyjp

gilbert_and_sullivan wrote: »

Do they work on all 4 wheels now then?

I hope the passst EPB is being applied tight, enough of them have run away after being parked for some time from what i read, maybe they've improved the design, needed it.

Vauxhall certianly haven't improved the design. Friend's car was only 18 months old in August when it was written off thanks to the EPB deciding to release when he wasn't in it.

gilbert_and_sullivan

daveyjp wrote: »

Vauxhall certianly haven't improved the design. Friend's car was only 18 months old in August when it was written off thanks to the EPB deciding to release when he wasn't in it.

I did wonder, a poster above described the brakes as being locked on solid, i envisioned the EPB working on all 4 wheels instead of its normal function of working on the same calipers as the standard parking brake would, usually the rear wheels.

Hopefully Another Baldrick will explain how its changed.

Car_54

daveyjp wrote: »

Vauxhall certianly haven't improved the design. Friend's car was only 18 months old in August when it was written off thanks to the EPB deciding to release when he wasn't in it.

Vauxhall even managed to screw up the "traditional" old-tech handbrake. 20 years ago my Omega would run away on the slightest slope (the dealer assured me that was "normal"), and more recently their problems with the Corsa etc. have been well documented.

mcpitman

I have an EPB on my Insignia.

Works really well and in conjunction with the Hill Start Assist system is completely flawless.

For the people who don't like the system, get used to it. It will be on all new cars soon.

With regards to the comments about needing a dealer to do your rear brakes and reset electronics - in reference to Vauxhall's - absolute tosh, can be done at home by any mildly competent home mechaninc.

Manual handbrakes fail too, it is common on many cars.

Best practice is to always leave the car in gear, then you have a failsafe.