Minor parking brake issue?

[gary333]

The reason for applying the parking/handbrake first is to take the slack when moving from footbrake to handbrake. Once this slack has been taken up pressing P will enable the pawl in the reduction gear locking it out.

Simply stopping and pressing P can lead to the car moving forward and placing strain on the parking pawl (especially on drives like mine that aren't flat) so I don't do that on my cars.

 

[siteguru]

When I press the P button on mine I can hear the physical brakes activating (hence why the red LED next the the P lever comes on). Likewise when I press down on the P lever I can hear them release.

 

[gary333]

When I press the P button on mine I can hear the physical brakes activating (hence why the red LED next the the P lever comes on). Likewise when I press down on the P lever I can hear them release.

The noise heard is the electronic parking brake (EPB) activating or deactivating.

I think confusion here might be caused due how the car reacts differently depending on the angle of incline. If the car is flat the EPB is activated upon pressing P, and likewise deactivated immediately upon pressing P. On the flat (or slight incline) the car is held in place using motor torque so won't try creeping until throttle is applied.

On an incline pressing P activates the parking brake (slower than usual) and you will feel the car rock slightly as the handbrake attempts to take up the slack as the car wobbles on the parking pawl. The main difference when on an incline is that the car will not remove the EPB upon selecting D. When you select D the car will wait until you press the accelerator (or release the EPB button manually).

This is observable by putting the car back in D on a hill and waiting 5-10 seconds. You won't hear the noise of the EPB releasing until after this time, where as on the flat this wouldn't be the case.

 

[Kithmo]

In my case I am using the P button in the gear selector when parking my car on my drive. (This also illuminates the red LED next to the P lever switch). However when I next go to drive the car, the red P indicator stays on (because my driveway is quite steep) until I either press the accelerator or I press down on the P lever (to disengage the parking/hand brake). I typically do the latter as it leads to a smoother take off, and I can control the descent speed using the foot brake.

I used to park on quite a steep slope when I first got the car and followed the same routine as I mentioned in my last post and never had the parking brake hold itself on, whether I pressed the "P" or just switched it off, unless I applied hill start assist by pressing the brake hard before setting off and then it only holds for 2 seconds.
I'm wondering whether it's something to do with how steep your drive is, maybe the brake holds on above a certain gradient ?