On Mon, 28 Apr 2008 14:12:15 -0400, Jeff Wisnia wrote:

My curious mind just wants to know....

I aquired a used 2004 Lincoln LS and it's the first car I've ever owned
where the parking brake wasn't applied "mechanically" through pulling on
a lever pivoted near the floor or pulled out from under the dash or
stepped on with my left foot.

What's the operating system which responds to the finger operated
parking brake switch located on the console and puts on the parking brake?

Is it as foolproof as the older style mechanically operated "emergency
brakes"?

Since automotive technology and complexity has advanced to a point where
I find myself "fixing my cars with my checkbook" more often than with my
own tools, I haven't bothered to aquire a shop manual for this beast
yet, and may never, so I can't look there.

Thanks guys,

Jeff

This sounds like a totally dumb idea to me.

I want to be able to FEEL what's going on with the parking brake - on a
steep hill, I pull extra notches.

And as my dad used to say about machinery "the more guts, the more
bellyaches".