Over 75% of new cars have electronic handbrakes.

The mechanical handbrake is on the way out.

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The introduction of the handy electronic handbrake has led to a reduction in the amount of mechanical handbrakes that now come on new cars, and car manufacturers are ever-increasingly ditching the traditional option in favour of electronic parking brakes, according to CarGurus.

They found that just 24% of new cars on sale in the UK today come with a manually operated handbrake, a reduction of 6% from the previous year. Some popular models, such as the BMW 1 Series, have dropped traditional manual handbrakes over the last year, and there are now even brands that opt for electronic handbrakes across their whole range. These include Honda, Jaguar, Land Rover, Lexus, Mercedes, Porsche and Volvo, who all now offer an electronic handbrake as standard, no matter which model you choose.

There is good reason for this, as although traditionalists may argue the tactile feel and mechanical simplicity is somewhat lost with an electronic parking brake, there is a raft of benefits to the modern alternative. Most electronic handbrakes disengage automatically when you pull away, plus they offer improved safety as most examples provide an automatic hill-hold assist function. They require less physical effort too, and help de-clutter cabins too compared to their thick lever predecessors.

For more information from the CarGurus survey, click here.

Chris Knapman, editor at CarGurus UK:

"It looks like the manual handbrake only has a few years left, as it continues its steady decline in the new car market, with nearly two dozen models removing it as an option over the last 12 months.

"We expect the number of cars on sale with traditional handbrakes to decline even further over the coming years, as it continues to be relegated to a feature across a select few sporty and small-volume models.”


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