What happens when the parking brake button is accidentally pushed?

[GuyGadois]

When putting the wipers on today I almost hit the Parking Brake at 50 mph. My other car has the wipers on the Tesla's parking brake side so this won't be the last time I'll get mixed up. Will it screech to a halt? Do I have to hold the button down to have the car stop? I bet the cars behind me would have not been happy. I would rather not test it out.

GG

 

[trils0n]

Holding down the parking brake button is like pulling the emergency brake. A click should do nothing at most speeds (I think it will put it into park under 3mph or some speed around there).

 

[GuyGadois]

ok, thanks for the info. I won't fret accidentally nudging it!

 

[agloutney]

Haha! I've done that at low speed. It came to a sudden halt. Wouldn't want to test it out at higher speed.

 

[Modeler]

I did it a few times, including at high speeds. When at high speeds, it simply puts the car in neutral. Tapping the lever down allowed me to continue driving.

 

[chillaban]

At lower speeds, it will put up a message that says "Engaging parking brake" and you'll slowly slow down using the power of the electromechanical parking brake. HOWEVER, pressing the gas overrides the parking brake, so if you are accelerating and hit it, nothing happens. You just get a triple-beep, a brief "Engaging parking brake" message, and nothing happens.

At higher speeds, on my MS, it seems like absolutely nothing happens when I press it. My car didn't shift into neutral at around 45mph.

 

[gocken2]

At higher speeds, on my MS, it seems like absolutely nothing happens when I press it. My car didn't shift into neutral at around 45mph.

Try holding down the parking brake button at higher speeds instead of just pressing it.

 

[jmsurpri]

Is there a way to engage the parking brakes as an emergency brake at speed? If not, what are we supposed to do if the main brakes fail? There's an emergency stop buried in the menus but I can't imagine digging through menus in a real emergency.

 

[gavine]

Is there a way to engage the parking brakes as an emergency brake at speed? If not, what are we supposed to do if the main brakes fail? There's an emergency stop buried in the menus but I can't imagine digging through menus in a real emergency.

See above. They are saying press and HOLD the button.

 

[chillaban]

More importantly call a loved one and look for a spot to ditch. The parking brake is not very powerful and will not slow you down in a super timely manner.

Fortunately brake failures are really rare these days in modern cars.

 

[jmsurpri]

See above. They are saying press and HOLD the button.

Does it apply the parking brakes fully or gradually? Will the tires lock up? With other cars you can modulate the brakes with a manual lever for a controlled stop.

 

[WannabeOwner]

Is there a way to engage the parking brakes as an emergency brake at speed?

I've seen some Tesla demo videos of new AP or somesuch, and the driver had the Emergency Brake panel up on the screen screen in all the tests that I saw. No idea what the outcome of pressing that is though, and maybe its same-same as click-and-hold the stalk Park button?