New owner of a 2020 Inspiration Series, and am absolutely loving this car. Living in Denver, but grew up in hilly Pittsburgh where parking was pretty sketchy in places due to steep hills. Been poring over the manual to learn about using the parking brake (automatically and manually). From the description, it seems like the automatic brake is engaged AFTER the parking pawl is engaged when parking, which is the opposite of what I learned to do. The manual even has a section that talks about parking on a steep hill, but doesn't address this specifically. Am I missing something, or should I be using the parking brake manually in this case, pushing the brake tab below right of the steering wheel down before pushing the P on the center console? Also, it seems like the parking brake even when set manually automatically gets released when putting the transmission in D(rive)? Thanks! -John

Stopped in Ogden on our way home to Denver after purchasing!

Ignore the silly stickers - they were removed on the first detailing!

 

I was always taught to put the car in neutral, manually apply the e-brake, gently let off the foot brake so the e-brake takes the weight, and then put it in Park (or second gear in a manual). I don’t know the specifics of the Lexus transmission, but this method takes stress off of the transmission and puts it, primarily, on the parking brake. If the brake fails, the transmission should then keep the car from moving.

 

I guess what I'm asking is if anyone knows whether or not the automatic parking brake will work 'correctly' on a steep hill (ie, will it engage BEFORE the parking pawl is engaged)? Or, do I need to change from the automatic parking brake to the manual one, and then do it as I describe?

 

I defer to others with better knowledge of the Lexus parking system. To my knowledge, I haven’t owned any cars where there’s a delay with the pawl engaging until after the e-brake when selecting Park, though. I know my Rover, which has all kinds of specific hill functionality and some of which doesn’t even work on the road, needs me to do it as I described above, or the transmission is taking the weight/stress with the e-brake just holding it in place. Maybe the Lexus is smarter, but I’ve never been in a situation to test it.

 

When using the parking brake in automatic mode: continue holding the brake pedal for two seconds after shifting into park to allow time for the parking brake to engage. The parking brake will lock the rear wheels and prevent the vehicle from rolling forward or back, there will be no tension on the parking pawl and no "clunk" when shifting from park during your next drive.

 

Thanks Nevada!