Parking Brake malfunction
 

Guys,

Any ideas?
The parking brake is not engaged but i get this message.
Came up in the morning, and i never use parking brake

Thanks in advance

Can you engage the parking brake?

water in the cables, probably froze... See if it is still there when it gets warmer.

Probably a good idea to use it at least once a month, or more, just to keep it "limber."

Show of hands:

Is it possibly a good thing that BMW went away from an e-brake that you could apply manually, without question- with positive feedback, and that could be modulated for emergency use...to an electronic/ electromechanical system?

Anyone?

Then:

Name ONE good thing about it.

A

1 good thing about it... auto hold feature in traffic.
1 good/bad/ugly thing, when it brakes I get paid to fix it...

There have been problems with the e-brake system on the E70's lately, there is supposedly a known problem with the wiring harness routing, but every one I've worked on ended up needing the parking brake actuator/module replaced.

It will be fixed under warranty if you bring it in, but expect 2 visits... First visit they have to do the BMW required step of rerouting the harness, then bring it back when it acts up again and they will be able to replace the actuator.

Parking Brake - good/bad
 

I like a hand operated brake, except on a 2 1/2 ton truck - the brake should either be foot operated or electronic. I had the hand brake on my E53, I tried to use it once - it took a long distance to stop the vehicle.

No matter how actuated (foot or hand) it only brakes the rear, and is pretty wimpy, so it takes a long time to stop...but it CAN be modulated...

Wease- hear you on the autohold. But somehow I've managed to drive a manual car on roads around the world that would stall some cars, and never rolled into the stuff behind me. Seems a price paid in terms of reliability and function simply for the benefit of a shiny feature for consumers enamored with shiny objects...

A

PS thanks for the info on the failure mode.

I hate it as you can no longer do handbrake turns!

Seriously though apart from the above fact I don't find it to be an issue at all.

the whole unit went dead, $1200 replacement with reprogramming

ridiculous price for a parking brake.

very bad idea from BMW, manual was easy and eliminated unncessary electronics