What Happens When You Pull an Electric Parking Brake While Driving?

Using the parking brake is an effective way in an emergency to gradually slow your vehicle and bring it to a controlled stop, though a bit more slowly than pressing hard on the brake pedal. The techs noted that the Ford F-150 hybrid took longer to stop than the other vehicles, most likely due to its weight.

In an emergency situation, you need to hold the brake switch until the vehicle comes to a complete stop—rather than just pushing or pulling it once, as you would when parking. Some vehicles will show a warning on the dash to indicate the brake is engaged. If you release the switch, the brake disengages; this prevents dramatic braking from an unintended application. Once you stop, the parking brake remains active; then you can release and drive away or put the transmission in Park.

With EVs, such as the Lucid Air, Rivian R1T, and Volkswagen ID.4, you press and hold the Park button to engage the electronic parking brake. EVs are in Park once fully stopped after using the parking brake.

Even though the electronic parking brake is capable of stopping your vehicle, you would only want to do this if there was some failure with the brake system, or if there was something trapped under the brake pedal. The parking brake is applied independently from a vehicle’s central braking system, making it a backup option should your regular brakes fail. Most brake failures come on gradually. Or if there is a sudden failure, often depressing the pedal a second time will provide some stopping power.