Is there an "Extra" Parking Brake Step or Not? Weird.....

[Eddyrelik]

Ok, so I need help figuring out something weird about the parking brake. In the owners' manual, it says when you put the M3 in park, that the parking brake in also applied....ok, cool....BUT.....

BEFORE I learned this, I would tap the Park button to go into park, and then HOLD it and the Park Symbol comes on the screen. And I thought this is how its done normally (on my own account)....because the PARK symbol does not come on otherwise....see pictures below....

Someone in another thread told me that this is also unnecessary, because the parking brake come on automatically (as the manual states). But when I went to check in the car right now again, I hear an ADDITIONAL sound when I do the extra hold and the "PARK" light comes on. So it definitely seems like this additional step does something extra....An Extra parking brake for front wheels? Who Knows....but something is definitely going on with this extra PARK light and extra step.....

What can this be? The owner's manual also states that you can "manually" turn on the parking brake from the screen, but nothing about this holding of the parking brake button that I figured out or if it is different than the park button. And no clarification as to what having the light on or off means, yet holding it makes an additional sound under the car like a parking brake is being applied....


Thoughts?

 

[P85_DA]

Just put in P u are fine no additional steps

 

[Gavyne]

If you are driving and hold down park button, it would initiate an emergency parking break and stop your car. You would do that in case of brake fault. You don't need to hold down the park button when your car is already parked.

 

[Eddyrelik]

If you are driving and hold down park button, it would initiate an emergency parking break and stop your car. You would do that in case of brake fault. You don't need to hold down the park button when your car is already parked.

I get what you guys are saying. But are you suggesting that by doing this is applying the emergency brake? Which is a separate brake in the M3?

 

[P85_DA]

I get what you guys are saying. But are you suggesting that by doing this is applying the emergency brake? Which is a separate brake in the M3?

There is no separate emergency brake ..

 

[SigNC]

I never bother hitting the button. I just come to a stop where I want to park and open the door.

 

[SpudLime]

I never bother hitting the button. I just come to a stop where I want to park and open the door.

This does work. All about efficiency.

 

[Trevor B]

You have too much spare time on your hands ... either that, or a wild imagination -- "additional sound"!!!!

Do you see dead people as well?

Just put the car in P as the manual states.

 

[Az_Rael]

Do you not hear the parking brake disengage when you put it in D after just tapping the P button?

 

[Reid]

I've never held the P button, never thought to. I press it once, and the display says P, and you can hear the electric parking brake actuator go. I'm a bit confused as to what's happening when you hold it. You mean the Parking Brake indicator in red, not the P indicator in white? Weird.

 

[North75]

So obviously most of us don't hold the P button (or use the touch screen) to get the indicator to appear.
But I'm also curious if it is doing something extra or not. If not, why would they program it this way?
If it does do something it would be nice to know what it is in case I want to use it.
I wonder if somebody like ingineerix on youtube can see if anything is happening on the car he has stripped apart?

 

[tivoboy]

I've used the double tap since the beginning. I can hear the rear brakes engage in some fashion beyond the regular P after doing the 2nd P tap.

I haven't tried the engage the actual emergency parking break at road speeds though, but I hear it will begin to bring the car to a stop.

 

[Gavyne]

So obviously most of us don't hold the P button (or use the touch screen) to get the indicator to appear.
But I'm also curious if it is doing something extra or not. If not, why would they program it this way?
If it does do something it would be nice to know what it is in case I want to use it.
I wonder if somebody like ingineerix on youtube can see if anything is happening on the car he has stripped apart?

It's not doing anything extra, the indicator shows up when you manually press the touchscreen to initiate the parking brake. Per manual:

"The parking brake indicator lights up
on the touchscreen whenever you
use the touchscreen to manually
apply the parking brake."

The only reason you would want to hold down on the brake button is if your brake pedal stops working while you're driving, and you need to stop the car. Holding down the brake button while driving will initiate emergency parking brake.

 

[Robwoodruff]

I never bother hitting the button. I just come to a stop where I want to park and open the door.

The only problem with stopping this way is when you drive your other car, you will come to a stop, open the door, get out and the car will slowly roll away. Happened to me several times when I forgot I wasn't in my Tesla.

 

[Big Dog]

The only problem with stopping this way is when you drive your other car, you will come to a stop, open the door, get out and the car will slowly roll away. Happened to me several times when I forgot I wasn't in my Tesla.

Did that with a rental, and with the family still in the rented SUV. I started climbing out and the Chevy was still in drive, so it went fwd. Wife NOT happy.

 

[SigNC]

The only problem with stopping this way is when you drive your other car, you will come to a stop, open the door, get out and the car will slowly roll away. Happened to me several times when I forgot I wasn't in my Tesla.

Oh it's already happened to me and it's annoying to have to turn the car off too.

 

[Eddyrelik]

I’m glad I’m not the only one haha! I just got a Model S loaner from service and it has the same “thing”. I do hear something being actuated in the car with this extra hold down/Park light. I get that most of you will continue saying “who cares, don’t do it just put it in Park”....

But there must be a reason!....

 

[P=VI]

I never bother hitting the button. I just come to a stop where I want to park and open the door.

I did this once, accidentally. When I returned and put the car in Drive, I was greeted with a “To prevent a roll away, your car was placed in Park” message (I’m certain that isn’t the exact wording). I was both terrified and impressed at the same time!

 

[North75]

So I just went out to my car to experiment with this. In a very quite garage with the Radio and AC off I switched from drive to park, and then held the P button until the parking brake indicator came on.
The sound of the parking brake engaging is very different sound from when you initially put the car in park. The parking brake sound is a distinct short clunk vs. more of a whirring noise when you put it in park.
So the question is what's the difference between being in park (P) vs. having the parking brake engaged?
I would think like most automatics you still wouldn't normally need to engage the parking

It's not doing anything extra, the indicator shows up when you manually press the touchscreen to initiate the parking brake. Per manual:

"The parking brake indicator lights up
on the touchscreen whenever you
use the touchscreen to manually
apply the parking brake."

The only reason you would want to hold down on the brake button is if your brake pedal stops working while you're driving, and you need to stop the car. Holding down the brake button while driving will initiate emergency parking brake.

I'm not sure the above is true.
I did a test in my very quiet garage, and there is definitely a separate distinct sound that occurs at the same time that the parking brake indicator is displayed after the second press. It is a distinctive quick clunk. The sound when putting the car in Park (P) is much different. I'm not quite sure how to describe this sound. It is more of a whirring sound of longer duration.
To me it seems analogous to putting an automatic car in Park vs. setting the separate emergency/parking brake.
Having said that I don't know what the Tesla actually does when you first put it in Park with the first tap of the P button.

 

[Cirrus MS100D]

Somebody had an incident caught on a security cam of their steep driveway where one set of wheels (I forget if front or rear) were on ice and the car started sliding because they didn’t engage the full “press and hold” Park function.

So I think there is some value in knowing which wheels get locked, albeit this was a very odd edge case.