I've had my 2022 GLE 350 for close to a year. Recently, the parking brake will not disengage when I put the car into gear...I've been manually pulling the lever. I took my car in for Service A and asked them to look at the parking brake as I thought it automatically released once the car was put into gear. They looked at it and I was told the parking brake only releases automatically when the transmission is put into D/R, the seat belt has been fastened AND I depress the accelerator pedal. When I got the car back, this worked and the step I was missing was "depress the accelerator pedal". I know this is not how it functioned previously or in my loaner because once I put the car in gear, the parking brake would release. The manual does state to "depress the accelerator" so I'm curious how this functions for other individuals? Do you have to depress the accelerator or does it disengage once put into gear? Thanks!

 

One thing to think about for those conditions is that order of operation can be impactful too. If you go into D/R before putting on seat belt you would need to depress accelerator. If you seat belt first then go into D/R, parking brake should release without accelerator.

 

Thanks. I have tried multiple things in different order and none have worked. It worked on the loaner car though. My normal order is: Put on seat belt, turn the car on, put in gear and parking brake disengages. That's how it used to function on my car and how it functions on the loaner. Currently in my car I have to: put on seat belt, turn the car on, put in gear, depress accelerator and the brake disengages. It's not a huge deal, but seems wrong.

 

I never paid that much attention to the Parking Brake. It has never been an issue for me. Furthermore, isn't all that matters is that it releases when you step on the accelerator? After all, the car shouldn't move until you accelerate anyway. Isn't that the purpose of a parking brake?

 

I think that is correct if you have Auto Hold on. If Auto Hold is off, when you release the brake, the car will/should move. I don't drive this car often enough to know but that's how it works on my X5. I would think it's the same with MB. The OP might have had Auto Hold off in the past and now it's on.

 

Yeah it's not really an issue at all. More curiosity as to why it functioned one way in the past and is different now and I'm curious if anyone else experienced this or knew why. The loaner functioning the way my car used to peaked my interest.

I don't believe it's auto hold. I can do that at a stop light by depressing the brake quickly. Hitting the accelerator takes the car out of auto hold. Unless I'm mistaken, that's the only way to activate/deactivate auto hold.

 

Just watched a video how active hold works on MB. Lol. You press the brake deeper to activate it. So maybe your foot is too heavy when you stop and park?

 

Has nothing to do with HOLD. It's not the same as X5 - I had one. On MB HOLD disengages every time you accelerate. You then need to re-engage it the next time you want to use it. Parking brake doesn't engage every time one stops. Therefore, I believe the OP is referring to when he/she starts the car then puts it in D or R.

 

I just tested mine and the parking brake releases once I put it in gear (i.e., it rolls).

 

Are you on level ground? If so, it will release automatically when you shift out of P. If not, it will release when you tap on the gas pedal after you shift out of P.

 

I am on level ground in my garage. It does not release automatically like it used to when I first bought the car. However, it does release when I press the gas pedal. So, not a big deal, but it's strange that something changed and now it functions differently. Software update perhaps?

 

MB or BM or Toyota, HOLD always disengages when gas pedal is pressed. As posted below, from P to D or R should release the parking brake. On BMW if HOLD is on, from P to D or R, gas pedal needs to be pressed to release the HOLD. So I think his/her HOLD has some issues. I think somehow HOLD state is stuck on when s/he goes out of P.

 

Got it, yeah that is strange. How long after you start the engine until you shift out of P? More than a minute?

 

Depends, but usually less than a minute. I do have to take my car back in for a whistle on the drivers side mirror so I'm going to show it to the service advisor again and show him how the loaner acts.

 

On my GLE the ebrake will disengage as long as (in this order) you close the door before you start the engine then put in drive/reverse and press the gas pedal. It will not disengage until you press the gas pedal which I prefer. Even if the the seat belt is not latched it will disengage as long as you follow those steps. If I turn off the vehicle it automatically engages. If I leave the car running and put it in P it will shut-off after a few minutes then automatically engages e-brake. The only time it won't disengage even if I put the tranny to D or R is when I leave the door open then start the vehicle. I will have to manually pull the switch to disengage it as no matter how much I step on the gas it won't let go. Another thing is if the car is rolling less than 3 km/hr and you open any of the door that is not locked the car will brake and go to P and engages the ebrake.