Parking Buttons

[DixieTGS]

So there are two buttons that do exactly the same next to each other?

They both apply the EPB, but pressing the button also takes you out of drive mode.

 

[Ian Key]

The handbrake applies the brakes to the rear wheels but leaves the car in drive, pressing the P button applies the handbrake, disengages the drive and applies a parking pawl in the "gearbox" (yes I know it's not a gearbox in the traditional sense) to lock the transmission.

The handbrake comes in useful if doing a downhill start. Keeping your foot on the brake select drive and before releasing the footbrake switch the handbrake off. It stops the jerk as the car moves off.

 

[siteguru]

The handbrake comes in useful if doing a downhill start. Keeping your foot on the brake select drive and before releasing the footbrake switch the handbrake off. It stops the jerk as the car moves off.

Exactly what I do when moving off my drive. (I reverse up the drive to park).

 

[Odin]

The little button is like the handbrake lever you would have had in older/other cars;

View attachment 34466

The dial with RND is like an automatic lever;

View attachment 34467

The little button on the end of the old fashioned handbrake only released the ratchet in the lever, so you could move the lever to release the brakes.

I'm old enough to remember them.. Lol..

 

[aardvark5]

Thanks everybody.

From another forum which made it simpler for my brain

1) P applies the EPB (handbrake) and locks the transmission
2) EPB is the handbrake.

 

[Sam S]

The lever to the right of the dial is the electronic hand brake ... it applies the pads to the discs but does not engage the parking brake* (as far as I know). If you're sat on auto-hold for ages (e.g. waiting at the die of the road) then after a while (a few minutes?) the car will automatically apply the handbrake. Similarly, if you know you're going to be parked up but sitting waiting in the car, then applying the handbrake means the car is held on the brakes but without the brake lights being on. (Auto-hold is the same as you sitting with your foot on the brake pedal).

* It is my understanding that the parking brake moves a lever inside the differential gearbox that physically moves a pin into the gear cog to stop the wheels from turning.

As DixieTGS stated above, the parking button on the dial puts the car in park and disengages the accelerator, a bit like putting the handbrake on and going into neutral on a manual ICE car.

I use the lever to the right of the dial at traffic lights and at busy junctions so that I do not blind everyone behind me with the brake lights, especially at night. The car remains in drive mode, so you can touch the accelerator to release the brake and go, without putting it back into drive mode.

Using the brake on the main dial takes the car out of drive mode, so you have to put it back in drive when you are ready to move off, which can be a faff when trying to get out of a busy junction.

 

[Starplots]

I never use either of the parking buttons.

I just press the on/off button. The green light goes off and I exit the car. The parking braking seems to take care of itself.

There isn’t an On/Off button in anMG4!

 

[Rolfe]

Another thing to remember is that if you think you have a brake failure and the car is running away from you, pull the parking brake lever up and hold it up.

Might even be worth showing this to your front seat passenger. If you keel over with a heart attack, that is how the passenger can stop the car.

 

[PVperson]

Hitting the big one puts the car in to Park mode: The electronic parking brake EPB is applied and the car won't move if you press the accelerator.

Pushing/pulling the button on the right just turns the EPB on and off. When on, using the accelerator will release it automatically.

So when stopping at lights you can use it to keep the car stationary instead of using your foot on the brake or Autohold or OPD (one pedal driving).

No, Until you press the brake and put it into gear. The handbrake (centre button, and "P" switch) is used when the car is stationary for more than a few seconds, as per the Higway code:
"In stationary queues of traffic, drivers should apply the parking brake and, once the following traffic has stopped, take their foot off the footbrake to deactivate the vehicle brake lights"

 

[PVperson]

Another thing to remember is that if you think you have a brake failure and the car is running away from you, pull the parking brake lever up and hold it up.

Might even be worth showing this to your front seat passenger. If you keel over with a heart attack, that is how the passenger can stop the car.

This is also incorrect, the EHB cannot be apply at any more than abour 1/2 mph, (less than 1) just try try it, it will do nothing above that speed.
If you're a passenger and the driver is incapacitated in an MG EV, best first hold the wheel and guide the car to a safe stopping place, if the driver still has his foot on the accelerator (arrrrgh!! ) turn the R-N-D gear select to "N" and the car will coast. if possible, get your foot down and apply the foot brake, otherwise push the drivers' foot off the accelerator, select the highest level of regen (what MG call ""KERS"! ) and the car will slow to between 6-10mph, unless you're going up a steep hill, in which case, the car may come to a stop and hold.
Once the car is going less than 0.5-1mph, the handbrake can be applied.

 

[GlobalHealer69]

Hitting the big one puts the car in to Park mode: The electronic parking brake EPB is applied and the car won't move if you press the accelerator.

Pushing/pulling the button on the right just turns the EPB on and off. When on, using the accelerator will release it automatically.

So when stopping at lights you can use it to keep the car stationary instead of using your foot on the brake or Autohold or OPD (one pedal driving).

I thought it the MG4 had Autohold in any drive mode ?

 

[aardvark5]

I thought it the MG4 had Autohold in any drive mode ?

That's what I use so I don't see the point of the handbrake (EPB).

 

[dsimpkins]

I thought it the MG4 had Autohold in any drive mode ?

Not in reverse.

 

[GlobalHealer69]

That's what I use so I don't see the point of the handbrake (EPB).

Although I guess it's risky as it depends on the up hill gradient or you could start to roll backwards ?

 

[Rolfe]

This is also incorrect, the EHB cannot be apply at any more than abour 1/2 mph, (less than 1) just try try it, it will do nothing above that speed.
If you're a passenger and the driver is incapacitated in an MG EV, best first hold the wheel and guide the car to a safe stopping place, if the driver still has his foot on the accelerator (arrrrgh!! ) turn the R-N-D gear select to "N" and the car will coast. if possible, get your foot down and apply the foot brake, otherwise push the drivers' foot off the accelerator, select the highest level of regen (what MG call ""KERS"! ) and the car will slow to between 6-10mph, unless you're going up a steep hill, in which case, the car may come to a stop and hold.
Once the car is going less than 0.5-1mph, the handbrake can be applied.

Well, that's what I read. I haven't actually tried it.

 

[AlC]

Well, that's what I read. I haven't actually tried it.

The manual does suggest you can use the EBP to stop the car in an emergency. I've read the same.

It won't engage while moving if you pull on the switch briefly, but if you hold the switch up it's supposed to.

 

[ReintjeWA]

This is also incorrect, the EHB cannot be apply at any more than abour 1/2 mph, (less than 1) just try try it, it will do nothing above that speed.
If you're a passenger and the driver is incapacitated in an MG EV, best first hold the wheel and guide the car to a safe stopping place, if the driver still has his foot on the accelerator (arrrrgh!! ) turn the R-N-D gear select to "N" and the car will coast. if possible, get your foot down and apply the foot brake, otherwise push the drivers' foot off the accelerator, select the highest level of regen (what MG call ""KERS"! ) and the car will slow to between 6-10mph, unless you're going up a steep hill, in which case, the car may come to a stop and hold.
Once the car is going less than 0.5-1mph, the handbrake can be applied.

You seem to be incorrect. As @Rolfe and @AIC mention it states the procedure for using the EPB in an emergency in the manual;

Obviously the manual is talking about brake failure, but I suspect it would work for an incapacitated driver as well.

 

[bedsev]

That's a shame that it can't use used in emergency as Rolfe suggests. I saved once when I hit an invisible stationary vehicle at 70mph. It tore the front wheel off, so I had no brake pressure and I managed to slow the car and get it to a safe stop (in the hard shoulder) by using the manual handbrake.

 

[ReintjeWA]

That's a shame that it can't use used in emergency as Rolfe suggests. I saved once when I hit an invisible stationary vehicle at 70mph. It tore the front wheel off, so I had no brake pressure and I managed to slow the car and get it to a safe stop (in the hard shoulder) by using the manual handbrake.

I think it would work, but I guess one would have to test it by keeping your foot on the accelerator while pulling up on the EPB. Besides the need for a safe and long enough stretch of road I would be apprehensive about potentially damaging the brakes just for a test. In an emergency I wouldn’t care about damage of course.

 

[ljfrench]

The only time I've used the EPB button is to release it manually if the car is parked on an incline/decline. Normally, on a flat surface, putting the selector into Drive also releases the EPB. But I've found that it doesn't release on an incline/decline until you press the accelerator. I like to hold my foot on the brake and manually release the EPB.