Does Things for You - 2015 Jeep Renegade Trailhawk Long-Term Road Test

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Does Things for You - 2015 Jeep Renegade Trailhawk Long-Term Road Test

The move to electronic parking brake switches allows for new thinking when it comes to improving safety. Our 2015 Jeep Renegade has a nice feature that illustrates this point.

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agent0090

Noticed the same thing when I rented a 200 recently. Nice, also nice that Chrysler allows you to turn it off. FCA may have other difficulties, but they seem to have figured out the electronics pretty well.

markinnaples_

I live in non-hill country; completely no hills at all, so never use the e-brake.

schen72

I always use the e-brake in this order: Foot on brake. Shift to N. Engage e-brake. Release foot brake. Let car settle on e-brake. Shift to P. Turn off car.

daryleason

I live out in the country in Texas, in an area where a two foot rise is advocated as a mountain. I rarely ever use the parking brake. If I do use it, I'm either visiting somewhere where there's a slope, or I use it when I've got to load a trailer. Otherwise, the parking brake remains in its upright and out of the way position. If I ever did use the parking brake, my wife would probably drive the truck four miles before realizing it was set.

stever

I got out of the habit living in snow country where the cables would freeze up. I think I'd like the automatic implementation.

I used my handbrake a lot in my '82 Tercel to make a 180° parallel park in front of my house in the winter months. Guess that trick is off the table with the e-brake buttons. That trick didn't work worth a flip in my last minivan with the foot operated e-brake - only tried that once!

daryleason

stever said:

I got out of the habit living in snow country where the cables would freeze up. I think I'd like the automatic implementation.

I used my handbrake a lot in my '82 Tercel to make a 180° parallel park in front of my house in the winter months. Guess that trick is off the table with the e-brake buttons. That trick didn't work worth a flip in my last minivan with the foot operated e-brake - only tried that once!

If the cable freezes up on a manual application of a parking brake, I'd have to assume it'd still do it on an automatic application. There's still got to be a cable at some point, although it's probably a shorter length.

stever

Cars are such backward toys. The ebrake button should wirelessly activate an actuator in the rear drums.

(Yeah, drums - some old tech is still better suited for certain applications).

kirkhilles1

I think it's a great feature... as long as it works consistently and reliably. I wouldn't trust Jeep to do that. Someday you won't be able to disengage the parking brake when it goes into Drive.