Yep my 2018 had the normal mechanical foot operated parking brake....which I’d prefer.....my new 2020 has the electronic & it must be all of em mines an 801a
another example of tech for tech’s sake as I say......doesn’t improve the driving experience nor make my life any easier & it’s just adding complexity to something that really doesn’t need to be overly complicated lol
I always put my truck in N before using parking brake so I can feel it engage & know that it’s really relieving pressure from the transmission, I would’ve thought you’d have to tug on the switch again to release like Audi but yeah I guess you just put in drive & it releases
I thought the same thing when they first came out, but there are actually a number of advantages over a traditional lever/pedal setup. It eliminates all of the drum-in-hat components (shoes, backing plate, lever assembly, retaining pins) since it uses the caliper, it eliminates the parking brake cables (which can seize, snap, or freeze at higher mileage), and it has higher holding capacity than a manual setup. I have parked my truck on some steep inclines and set the electronic parking brake before putting it in park, and the truck doesn’t budge.
On other vehicles, I’m used to applying the parking brake, hearing the creaking noise as the truck starts to roll, and then pushing the parking brake pedal further to try and secure it before engaging the parking pawl.
As far as complexity, the system uses the ABS module which is already on the truck anyway, and the wires to the caliper motors are run through the existing harness for the wheel speed sensors, so nothing really new there.