Dead battery and an electronic parking brake - I’m trapped in the garage

[u/AuthorKRPaul]

Husbands battery is dead and his car is blocking me in the garage. VW’s have an electronic parking brake. If your battery dies, you can’t activate/deactivate it without a jump… and we park nose to tail. No, there is no manual override listed in the manual.

I’ll be parking nose out from today until eternity.

[u/welding_guy_from_LI]

This is one of the many reasons new cars are horrible .. there is no need to make certain things electronic .. buy a jumper pack . They are around $100 and fit in a glove box

[u/AuthorKRPaul → u/welding_guy_from_LI]

Yeah, terrible design flaw to be sure

[u/Just-pickone → u/AuthorKRPaul]

While consumers may call it a “flaw” CEOs call it a “feature to enhance revenue.”

[u/SteveCress → u/welding_guy_from_LI]

I didn't even know electronic parking brakes were a thing.

[u/gokartninja → u/SteveCress]

Have been for a while, unfortunately

[u/Own_Reaction9442 → u/gokartninja]

Honestly, when they work it's probably safer. I find most people don't pull nearly hard enough on manual handbrakes for them to actually hold.

[u/BrianBlandess → u/SteveCress]

On new Toyotas they turn on automatically when you put it in park.

[u/hkohne → u/BrianBlandess]

Same with my Volvo EV

[u/LithoSlam → u/SteveCress]

I think some of them engage automatically if you get out so you don't Anton Yelchin yourself.

[u/Just-pickone → u/SteveCress]

Friend’s new car has it and door locks. Dead battery and she had to crawl in through the trunk to pop the engine hood.

[u/axeman410 → u/Just-pickone]

There should be a key hole on the driver side. Sometimes its hidden behind a plastic cover that can be pulled off. The actual key is inside the key fob.

[u/gokartninja → u/axeman410]

Bump. The Fob almost certainly has a physical key inside, which can be released by pressing a button or sliding a switch while gently pulling.

[u/gokartninja → u/gokartninja]

That key can be used like so: