2014 Kia Cadenza Limited Long-Term Road Test

Edmunds.com

2014 Kia Cadenza Limited Long-Term Road Test

Usually push-button parking brake releases work just fine. But the one in our Kia Cadenza isn't always so simple.

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vvk

Pull to engage, push to release seems more logical to me. It this was a foot button in the foot well, the other way would be more logical. Since it is located where a lever (article text misspells "lever") for the hand brake would be, it feels more natural to pull to engage, just like a lever would work.

Electronic parking brake is why I did NOT buy a 2009 Passat. A mechanical hand brake is why I did buy a 2012 Passat.

bankerdanny

I live where it's flat. With my automatic equipped cars the parking brake almost never gets used.

arcticbluetsx

If they do not want to put in a lever, they should simply put a pedal in. Seems like a very simple (and logical) alternative to me!

diondi

Ed, isn't that what the Auto Hold button right below it does?

kirkhilles_

That seems kinda crazy to me to have a big-ole button on your dashboard to engage the rear brakes. I'd be scared to death (even if it's not allowed) to accidentally push it while driving or having it engage on its own and causing a major accident. I'd agree that if you have it engaging electronically, it should engage automatically when put in park. The question would be, what if you have a manual transmission....

socal_eric

As mentioned, since it's on the dash or console area it would be more logical to operate like a conventional handbrake lever with pull to engage. It also makes more sense that you pull to engage so you don't accidentally drop something on the lever or go to push one of the other buttons in the area and hit it instead (just like how FMVSS have caused manufacturers to change most power windows to a pull to close, push to open designs). There are safety mechanisms in place to not allow the electric parking brake to engage while the vehicle is in motion but they shouldn't be relied on when a design choice like this makes it less likely those safety mechanisms will be needed.

stovt001_

I've found it amazing how many people on other car enthusiast websites are going crazy because electronic parking brakes mean they can't drift into parking spaces anymore. I'm predicting that the probability of them having ever drifted into a parking space before was zero to begin with.

greenpony

I'm with you, Ed, about having the parking brake automatically engage when the transmission is put in park, and then automatically disengage when the transmission is put in drive. Then you don't even need a lever, pedal, or button. This can free up space for more cupholders, or whatever. On the 2% of cars that come with a manual transmission, obviously some alternative design is needed, but for the majority of cars an automatic parking brake would be just fine.

diigii

Electronic parking brake meaning it is electrically operated. What happens then if your car battery dies and you need to move it?

That is why I am keeping my 2007 Nissan Altima 3.5SE and its manual-cable operated parking brake, which was a long term car here and got excellent reviews from the Edmunds staff.

juddholl10

Audi's former design chief played a huge role in designing this car. Obviously there is influence here. Push-button parking brakes are ergonomically inferior and very unsafe, because at any moment a hand could slip or a phone could fall on the switch and engage it. Also, the pull to engage method is similar to pulling a parking brake lever.

dg0472

Indeed, if Auto Hold is engaged, the parking brake will set itself automatically when the engine is turned off. Auto Hold on or not, the brake releases itself once you shift into D or R and press the gas pedal. This is covered in the OM starting on page 5-20.

dg0472

By the way, the design is hardly unique to Kia. The Impala I rented worked the same: pull to engage, push to release. It would also release itself once you tried to accelerate. This being a rental model, I doubt it had any self-setting mode.

Also, in the Cadenza at least it's not there for any space-saving reasons; only the Limited models have EPB. All others have a pedal in the footwell.

Ed, have you actually encountered a car with a console button that is push to set, pull to release?

bc1960

Unless I'm mistaken, you pull on a manual handbrake to engage it and push a release button and push the handbrake to release it. So I'm with Kia on this one. I'm more concerned about what happens in the unlikely event you actually need an emergency brake--I gather that different manufacturers have different ways of doing this with the electronic switch when the car is moving.

whobodym

pulling to engage and pushing to release is at least somewhat reminiscent of a center console handbrake lever

socal_eric

On the subject of emergency braking, it would seem that the great majority of parking brakes are designed just for that and that alone. Dual-circuit master cylinders combined with four-channel/circuit ABS units (required to implement stability control systems to control each wheel independently) that isolates the hydraulic circuit for each wheel and has the ability to build brake pressure if the master cylinder started to malfunction and leak internally greatly reduce the chance of the primary service brakes catastrophically failing. While a feature where you press and hold the electric parking brake switch to engage might be nice, even with a regular hand operated parking brake on the best of rear brakes it often won't help in time to prevent an accident due to the extremely long stopping distances when using rear brakes alone. If brake systems were more failure prone a design like Saab used decades ago with the mechanical parking brake acting on the front wheel caliper pistons would be much more effective for stopping power and control but were a problem from a durability standpoint if I recall correctly.

voshinski

I agree this is backwards from how the 3 German cars with electric e-brakes (ee-brakes?) I have owned work and contradicts simple logic. You PULL to engage and PUSH to release - just like a lever.

arcticbluetsx

Also, why is the heated steering wheel button so far away from the steering wheel?

giganticsalsa

What does the Auto Hold button do?

diondi

@giganticsalsa It automatically releases the parking brake when you lift your foot from the brake pedal in gears other than P and applies it when you put it in P.

hybris

You guys have a automatic in this thing and you don't live in San Fran so why are you people complaining about this again?

dg0472

@giganticsalsa:

It also keeps pressure on the hydraulic brakes once you come to a stop and release the brake pedal. They release once you press the accelerator pedal. It's so you don't have to keep your foot on the brake if you're constantly having to st

agentorange

I dislike electronic parking brakes almost as much as I hate foot operated ones. Big lever between the seats FTW.

gslippy

I've come to like electric parking brakes - you never have to worry about someone setting it too hard, stretching the cable, or too lightly, taxing the transmission and clutch.

majin_ssj_eric

Think of it like an e-brake lever and it will make more sense.

mustang5507

vvk beat me to the logical fallacy in the parking brake functionality. My Jaguar has an electronic parking brake, my VW has a mechanical one. Both are pulled up to engaged, and (if I choose to do so manually in the Jag, as it automatically disengages when put into drive), both are moved downward to release.

Please edmunds, as with the console Tiptronic style shifters, let's not start a debate about what's logical and not logical about these features. It's really pointless.