With the best intentions, modern cars try to assist you, but this does not always go well. For example, the lane assistant sometimes wants to steer you towards an oncoming car and the alertness assistant is sometimes more distracting. And what about the electric handbrake? Could this feature actually cause more discomfort in winter by freezing?
If the mercury drops below zero, it is always advisable to use the handbrake as little as possible when parking. What you do with the handbrake while driving is up to you. An old-fashioned handbrake can freeze. But usually the electric handbrake applies itself when you park the car, should you worry about that? Or do you have to perform a special action?
Fewer or no cables in the electric handbrake
With an old-fashioned handbrake, you pull a wire with the lever, which in turn activates the rear brakes. This cable can freeze, preventing the brakes from releasing. With the electric handbrake, there is zero chance of things freezing. There are systems with a cable, but those cables are much shorter because the electric motor of the handbrake is much closer to the brakes.
Many other systems no longer have a cable at all, but work with an electric motor that presses the brake pads onto the discs. These systems therefore do not freeze at all. The only thing that can happen is that the brake pads freeze on the discs, but in the Netherlands the weather must be very upset for it to become so cold that this happens so badly that you can no longer get away.
Another problem with the electric handbrake
Due to the cold it can of course happen that your battery is flat. If it is really completely flat, the electric handbrake will no longer work. Just quickly pushing the car so that it starts is no longer possible. In that case, you will have to start the battery with jumper cables, or briefly connect the battery to a trickle charger.
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