I  will admit that I am not the greatest fan of the electric parking brake. I know it allows more flexibility to the design of the vehicle, and frees up a space on the centre console, but it can be just as troublesome as the cable operated counterpart. And it certainly isn’t without its own problems.

The parking brake on this 2015 BMW 2 Series Active Tourer, had been playing up for a while. Thankfully for the owner, the parking brake automatically released, as it should, when the vehicle was driven off. At least they weren’t stuck with the brake jammed on. But with no emergency release on the parking brake system, the owner was concerned that if the problem wasn’t resolved soon, they could end up stuck.

The parking brakes on these BMWs are known to have software problems. In this case, the fault was associated with the parking brake switch. The switch could be felt to have a little wobble from side to side, when operated. This was allowing enough wiggle room to prevent the switch from releasing the brake on it’s own.

Removing the centre console to access and replace the switch was quite straightforward, but it is always a concern levering up interior trim panels. This one went well, and a new switch was soon in place and working well.

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