Less Than A Third Of New Cars Have A Manual Handbrake

The demise of the manual handbrake continues, with the number of models available only with an electronic parking brake increasing to over two thirds

Matt Robinson

17 Sep 2019

Less Than A Third Of New Cars Have A Manual Handbrake

The joys of expertly executing a graceful handbrake turn in an empty gravel car park may soon be a thing of the past.

Last year, Car Gurus conducted a survey to see how many new models were still offered with the good, old fashioned kind of parking brake, and the news was grim - just 37 per cent made the grade. Now, the company has released an updated report, which concluded that the population of cars with manual handbrakes has dropped to just 30 per cent.

Yep - more than two-thirds of new cars sold in the UK are available with an electronic handbrake only. Dacia and Suzuki are the only mainstream brands that continue to offer manual handbrakes for all cars in its range, while Jaguar, Land Rover, Lexus, Mercedes and Porsche exclusively sell cars with electronic systems.

There’s a good reason why this is happening - they are, in most ways, better. They’re easier to package than manual arrangements, engaging/disengaging them involves much less effort (the latter will often happen automatically as you set off), and you’re much less likely to make a mistake with a simple on/off button.

“It’s official, the death of the handbrake is coming as manufacturers switch to electronic parking brakes in huge numbers,” said Car Gurus UK editor Chris Knapman, adding, “They have rapidly gone from being a novelty to what our research shows is now the norm.”

Press F to pay respects.

Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.

Comments

I drive my parent’s Golf Mk7 with an automatic handbrake havjng learned on a manual-handbrake Hyundai i10 and while it’s one fewer thing to worry about, it sometimes really annoys me. In some situations you can’t release it unless you press the throttle which I don’t want to do when manoeuvring. I imagine someone’s hit something when parking because of this. I don’t mind tech in cars but when it’s done badly it removes control

But you can just disable it without the throttle?

My dad also owns a Mk7 BTW.

I have never heard of an electronic parking brake that can’t be released without pressing the throttle. Volkswagen has been using the same mechanism for almost 10 years. Press the button to engage the parking brake, press it again to release. The only thing that’s possible with a mechanical lever and not with this electonic solution is engaging the parking brake while driving.

Which MK7 is it? My 2016 1.8 TSI has a manual handbrake

I mean, I love handbrakes a lot, I belive they play an important role in analogue feel of a car.

But do we really need them in a daily car? Why not just have an e brake?

Something I find quite handy with mechanical handbrakes (and this also kinda applies to mechanical foot-handbrakes) is that you can tell whether or not it’s on purely by feel

My lexus has the pedal parking brake and i can confirm it is the worst of the three options

Electronic handbrakes are crap. Just one more bit of electronics that can play up. They also make working on cars harder (speaking as a mechanic) as you need a scan tool to do brake jobs, often they automatically activate when you get out (frustrating for getting cars on hoists and doing work), etc… And if your car dies in the middle of the road, let’s say you’ve lost all power and the handbrake has activated, you’re literally stuffed as you can’t take it off. Same problem with electronic gear selectors.