Toyota Camry How-To: Electronic Parking Brake and Brake Hold

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Toyota is committed to developing technology that helps make driving as simple and enjoyable as possible. This is particularly evident in its seemingly endless list of advanced driver convenience features. In this post, we’ll have a closer look at one of the newest examples: Electronic Parking Brake (EPB) with Brake Hold.

This new feature helps simplify many everyday driving situations, like parking, sitting at a stop light, or navigating stop-and-go traffic. So, what is it?

Electronic Parking Brake with Brake Hold is an advanced braking system equipped on select new Toyota vehicles, including the 2018 CH-R and 2018 Camry, XSE, XLE, and Hybrid models. This system uses a new type of parking brake that’s as easy as pressing a button — literally. The new Electronic Parking Brake (or EPB), uses a button located below the shift lever to take the place of a traditional lever or foot pedal, putting an electronic hold on the vehicle’s break whenever activated.

To set the parking brake, simply pull the button up. The indicator will light up to confirm the system is active. To release the parking brake, press it down.

It’s as simple as that. Plus, the EPB system can also be set to automatically engage based on the vehicle’s shifter position. To activate this automatic mode, pull the button up and hold it until a EPB shift interlock function message appears on the multi-information display (or MID). The parking brake will now automatically engage whenever the shift lever is in park and disengage whenever the shift lever is moved out of park.

To deactivate automatic mode, press the button down and hold it until the MID and indicator acknowledge it has been deactivated.

But it gets even better. Thanks to its advanced electronic design, the electronic parking brake is also able to offer a seriously handy new driver assistance feature called Brake Hold. When Brake Hold is active, the vehicle will automatically hold the brakes for you when the vehicle comes to a complete stop, until the accelerator pedal is depressed, of course. You no longer need to keep your foot pressed on the brake pedal while you wait in traffic or at a stoplight.

By default, Brake Hold will be off whenever the ignition is first turned on. To activate the system after an ignition cycle, simply press the hold button located above the EPB button while you’re stopped with the brake pedal depressed. A green indicator will appear, indicating that the system is on and in standby mode, and a yellow indicator will appear while the system is actively holding the brakes. This system will not activate if the shift lever is in reverse or park, or if the driver door is open or driver seatbelt unfastened. In fact, if these situations arise while Brake Hold is enabled, the system will deactivate unless it was actively holding the brakes at the time, in which case the Brake Hold indicator will go off and the Electronic Parking Brake will engage instead.

Similarly, if the brakes are held for three minutes or more, the Brake Hold indicator will go off and the Electronic Parking Brake system will engage. Outside of these conditions, the Brake Hold system will stay active until turned off, either via pressing the hold button again or by shutting the vehicle off entirely.

So, that’s it. That’s all there is to the new Electronic Parking Brake with Brake Hold feature. If you need additional information on this system, please refer to the vehicle’s owner’s manual.