EPB - is this how it is supposed to work

[bgst]

Hello I'm about to buy a 2010 180.000 km Avensis. I've heard that it is important to check that the EPB works correctly as it is very expensive to fix. I made this video and I'm not sure if it is too slow to lock on? Is this how it is supposed to work? Sorry about the danish language. Thank you!

 

 

[Konrad C]

You video doesn't show everything you are doing or if the car is manual or auto transmission. At least it is not showing any cautions or warning. The EPB is not very fast compared to others I have seen or use on other make of cars. If the car is manual, the EPB will auto release when the car is in gear and you are about to drive off. The clutch will be at biting point and the accelerator is being applied.

If the car does not move after the EPB has released, then there are a couple of faults that may be present, even if there are no cautions or warnings. First one which I recently had, is the brake pads stuck to the disks after washing the car and not driving the car straight after. I had to move off using higher revs till the brakes released with a double thump from each wheel. I could hear the roughness when applying the brakes the first few times, until the brakes cleaned up. My brakes were changed at the beginning of the year. I will check the sliders and re grease them using silicon grease, but the brakes are fine. I did check the cables.

Next fault for manual is the gear position sensor is disconnected not allowing the EPB auto release to work. Normally this is accompanied by the a warning message "check parking brake system" and two warning caution symbols as in the following photo :- 

This means the auto release is disabled until the faults is fixed. The car runs and drives normally, but the driver has to release the EPB manually. But depending on the diagnostic software used, the warnings and cautions can be deleted, but the auto release still not work! This happen to me until we found the disconnected gear position sensor, and plugged it back on.

The car you tested only has auto release, not auto engage when the parking brake comes on when the engine is switched off. That was introduced from 2011 onwards.

Recap - the early Avensis EPB is not the fastest, but it works. Just don't go into deep puddles.

      

  

[bgst]

Thank you so much for this thorough answer! I tried another avensis today and it worked the same.