"Andy Burns" wrote in message
...
NY wrote:

If you were stationary, wouldn't you always have either the footbrake or
handbrake on?

Not when the car has "hold" that keeps the brakes applied for you, without
you having to do anything, no.

What it actually does is use the ABS servo to apply pressure to all four
wheels, but after several minutes (e.g. waiting a busy level crossing) the
ABS can tend to overheat, so then it applies the "wind on" electric
handbrake to the rear wheels only.

Presumably it has to detect that the car really has come to a complete halt
before it locks the brake on (without pedal pressure or handbrake),
otherwise you could be braking to very slow speed, but expect that as soon
as you release the footbrake, the car will roll the last few feet until you
apply it again "for keeps", and find that when it gets below the threshold
it irretrievable brakes and you have to countermand that with a bit of
power.

There are a number of "helpful" features that could very quickly become a
PITA because they override something that you would do yourself. Hill-start
assist *could* be a help, though having unexpectedly had to do on on a 1:3
hill (without psyching myself up for it) and found that it was dead easy, I
can't quite understand why anyone would have problems. But cars which
forcibly apply the brakes until you press the accelerator, or which (for an
EV) apply some regeneration retardation when you come off the power even
without the footbrake being pressed, well those would take a lot of getting
used to and having to work around.

As usual, the moral is "all automatic helpful gadgets should be capable of
being turned off according to personal preference".