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Carmakers around the world are beginning to declare their vehicles as handbrake-free with the traditional levers set to be a thing of the motoring past.
New research has suggested that the mechanical handbrakes will join the likes of manual windows and cassette players as ancient relics. Vehicles such as Land Rover, Jaguar, Mercedes, Porsche and Lexus no longer sell any models with the manual handbrakes in place.
According to the Press Association, a number of manufacturers have been favouring electronic parking devices and simple switches or push-buttons to engage the rear brakes for the past few years, hence this was bound to happen.
Electronic handbrakes are said to disengage automatically when the vehicle pulls away – and more advanced versions offer technology which assists with hill-starts.
Suzuki and Dacia remain the only mainstream manufacturers to have traditional handbrakes fitted across their full range. And while sceptics may not like the loss of a handbrake, this modern solution offers drivers with new safety benefits. For example, it’s not as easy to accidentally partially engage the brake when it’s an ‘on-off’ system. The removal of the handbrake also allows for space-saving and appeals to the gadget savvy car buyer.
With technology taking a front seat in the automotive manufacturing world, it’s only a matter of time before staples such as steering wheels, pedals or key-operated ignitions and doors are also replaced.
Apparently, some of the world’s largest self-driving carmakers want regulators in the US to remove the requirement for steering wheels, pedals and mirrors.
