almalave

Hi, I noticed that my ebrake wont hold my car when I apply it while in neutral on a really not steep hill in front of my house. When I put it in park, the only thing holding the car is the transmission so when I turn it on again when going out AND put the transmission in drive it makes a clunking sound.
Went to the dealer for my 5k maintenance checkup and explained this. The guy said that the ebrake was not suppossed to hold your car like that and that all cars did that when parked on a hill. He said that the ebrake had really limited adjustability and since it did hold the car on a falt surface, it was ok.

Strucked me a BS.

Opinions?

Belex1

I have found the ebrake work better from letting you go forward than rolling back not just on the IS but all cars. If I forget and leave thee brake on my car it will still back up in reverse but it struggles to go forward in drive. Just my observation.

almalave

Seems to me it may damage the transmission over time since in catches on the park gear.

Mesh704

My car was like urs I took it back to the dealer so they can tight the ebrake for me !! It works good right now

almalave

Will have to take it back. Again. The guy was lucky I was in a hurry the last time and didn't have the time to argue with him about his ridiculous answer.

FinaLpeace

I suppose this is probably your first time owning a Toyota/ Lexus. I've owned an 07 IS250 and now the current IS350 as well as a Honda Civic. I was surprise to see your post because I thought this situation should be normal since this was in all the cars I've owned. I'm not sure if pulling the car from park to drive in a down hill and making that noise and damaging the transmission should be a concern because Lexus' reliability proves their engine/transmission as bullet proof

I've always questioned though if this should be normal since the e-brake didn't seem like it was doing it's job for me, although if it happens in all Toyotas/ Lexus' then we shouldn't be too worry about it. As for going back to the dealer and tightening the e-brake, maybe there is a reason why Lexus made the e-brake this way, adjusting it might cause the reliability of the car to go better or worse

almalave

It might well be that this is my first Lexus. But what's the point of the ebrake then? I've owned a Nissan Altima, Mercedes C Class 2008 and currently have a 2012 GLK, all with the same type of ebrake and all of them do not suffer from this. In all three I can depress the ebrake and it will hold the car so that when putting it on park on a hill won't put any strain on the transmission. I guess I don't like when a technician uses the phrase " they all do that"

jbkhat303

OP you should definitely get it tightened up. You should always use the parking brake when parking the car. Its a much better practice to let the car to be resting against the brakes than to allow all 4000 lbs be held by the parking pawl of the transmission.