The 2012 XK Owner's Handbook twice references the "Emergency Park Brake", once in the Transmission section and a couple times in the Vehicle Recovery section.

Yet the manual doesn't explain what it is, what it does, where it's located, and how it's operated.

Where is the Emergency Park Brake on the XK, and how is it accessed and operated?

I don't intend to fiddle with it, but I am curious to know about it and why it is mentioned but not explained nor shown in the manual.

 

Is in not in the same place on an '12 as it is on my '07?
An electronic switch located rearward of the shift selector. Unlike old pull hand brakes or push foot peddle actuators, the Jag uses an electronic switch to actuate it (which in my mind is somewhat foolish).

I hate the term "Park Brake", when the original function was intended as an "Emergency brake".


Vince

 

It very much is still a parking brake. In cars with engines that have poor compression, your car can still very well roll away when parked in gear and on an incline.

I, too, have wondered what to do when you want to use your Jag's parking brake as an emergency brake. It won't actuate until you're going <5 mph or so!

 

The argument I have is based on safety.

The hand and foot brake were always designed as a secondary safety device. Hydraulics’ have one major flaw known to car makers. A pump failure, air leak, overheated and boiled fluids (or worse, a severed line) renders the system completely in-op. Engineers knew this as a potential risk to driver and public safety, so a secondary system was designed and installed that remained completely independent of the primary brakes.
Physical cables (connected to a hand or foot lever) were run to the rear brakes and attached to a spiral actuator screw housed inside the rear calipers. At no time did it rely on fluids to operate. In the event of a hydraulic failure, the fully mechanical system was capable of safely bringing a car to a stop.

Over the years owners, (most having never experienced a brake failure) started calling the device a "parking brake" because of the commonly used purpose.

I think it is sad to see Jaguar will provide a fail-safe mode to “limp” your car to the nearest shop in the event of numerous systems failures, yet ignore the risk of putting all your stopping power (like eggs) in a single basket…


Vince

 

Oh, I thought you were making an argument that the Jag's parking/e-brake should be called an e-brake because it actually serves that purpose, which it does not! Unless your "emergency" is happening at 5 mph or less!

Maybe this is why there is no manual XK option--if you wanted get started on a hill, you wouldn't be able to use the handbrake to help you get going!

 

I'm assuming Jaguar calls it a park brake because that is the British terminoligy.
In the UK learner drivers are taught to apply the parking / hand brake when parked, stopped at a light, junction, etc.
So it is not an emergency brake as it is used constantly.

 

Understood and agree... This is not an e-brake.

Question: When did Jag depart from the e-brake (fully mechanical device) to the electronic parking brake? Is that an XK intro, or even earlier?

Vince

 

I think the XK8/Rs all had the manual brake up to the 2006 makeover to XK/R.
The S Types used the EPB from 2003 (2002.5 in the UK) for certain, I don't think the earlier cars had them, XJ's got them in late 2002 also.
I haven't seen the XK set up, but it sounds to me like the S Type set up with a paddle lever in the traditional handbrake position would be more driver friendly, but perhaps they are taking the emergency brake viewpoint now.

 

FWIW, all the new Subaru's are going to electronic parking brake as well. We're going to see more and more of them because it's easier for the unwashed masses to use. Admittedly it is convenient not to have to turn it off when you get in the car. Turn the knob and off you go! The major disadvantage is, of course, the inability to use the parking brake as a hooning tool for flipping 180s. O.o

 

A few times, the parking brake on my Mustang has mysteriously reset itself. If you don't pull it up and make sure it's really set (jiggle it), sometimes when you're not at the car there will be a big THUD (I've caught it once or twice) and when you come back to the car, you'll think you forgot to set the parking brake!

 

My apologies, I used the wrong term. I meant "Emergency Park Release". I acknowledge that my erroneous use of the term "Emergency Park Brake" led to confusion with the "Electric Parking Brake", to which respondents here are referring.

The "Emergency Park Release" is apparently a bypass for the transmission's "feature" of automatically switching to Park if left in Neutral for 10 minutes.

See the XF version of the Emergency Park Release at the following site If the car will not START, How can we select Neutral?

I'm looking for the XK equivalent. There must be one, since it's referred to in the XK manual's Vehicle Recovery section.

 

As long as you have the key inside the car and the electrical works, just press the start button to the ACC mode. Put your foot on the brake and it releases the shift lever lock.

Is that what your looking for?

V

 

2010+ have no shift lever! They have that circular selector! Aka electrics!

 

The Emergency Park Release is supposed to allow the car to move in neutral even when electric is dead, e.g. for vehicle recovery. See my earlier reply in which I link to another forum's thread about the XF's version of the Emergency Park Release - - note the graphic contained therein.

There must be one for the XK, but it's a well hidden secret, apparently.

 

Isn't this it? From the 2011 handbook recovery section.

 

Aha! That's it, Norri! Those pages are not contained in the 2012 XK Owner's Handbook, nor were they among the handbook's post-publication supplementary inserts. Quite an oversight, in my opinion.

Thanks greatly for your help!

 

What a palaver!!