My curious mind just wants to know....
I recently aquired a 2004 LS and it's the first car I've ever owned
where the parking brake wasn't applied "mechanically" through pulling on
a lever pivoted near the floor or pulled out from under the dash or
stepped on with my left foot.
What's the operating mechanism which responds to the finger operated
parking brake switch located on the console?
Is it as foolproof as the older style mechanically operated "emergency
brakes"?
Thanks guys,
Jeff

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Jeffry Wisnia
(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)
The speed of light is 1.98*10^14 fathoms per fortnight.
> My curious mind just wants to know....
>
[quoted text clipped - 16 lines]
> (W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)
> The speed of light is 1.98*10^14 fathoms per fortnight.
I would imagine it operates on the same principle as the push button
transfer cases for folks who can't move a transfer case lever, nothing
more than a gear motor and position encoder to do the work.
> My curious mind just wants to know....
>
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> What's the operating mechanism which responds to the finger operated
> parking brake switch located on the console?
The actual brake mechism is the same as you are used to, but instead
of being operated by a cable, it is operated by an electric motor. The
2002-2005 Ford Thunderbird shared the actual rear brakes with the LS,
except they used a traditional cable to operated the parking brakes
instead of an electric motor.
> Is it as foolproof as the older style mechanically operated
> "emergency brakes"?
No, not in my opinion. But it probably works OK.
Ed
Pete C. - 30 Apr 2008 14:49 GMT
> > My curious mind just wants to know....
> >
[quoted text clipped - 18 lines]
>
> Ed
I expect it's pretty much limited to parking brake use only, unlike
traditional e-brakes where it is possible to hold the release and
manually modulate the brake in the unlikely event that both hydraulic
brake circuits fail. Of course sine few people these days know how to do
that it probably doesn't matter.