C180 with pedal parking brake.

[S6 Devil]

A friend has a C180 Mercedes 1997 which has a pedal parking brake. His wife won't drive it because of this. Has anyone any idea if a handbrake could be fitted, it doesn't need to be aesthetically pleasing just to function for hill starts?

[pist nbroke]

No.

[S6 Devil]

pist nbroke said:

No.

Useful!

[anonymous-user]

Well I guess there's nothing to stop you re-routing the cable to a conventional style lever but it'd be a lot of work and god knows where you'd fit it, it's probably look a bit of a mess. What's the issue with the pedal?

[S6 Devil]

Rat_Fink_67 said:

Well I guess there's nothing to stop you re-routing the cable to a conventional style lever but it'd be a lot of work and god knows where you'd fit it, it's probably look a bit of a mess. What's the issue with the pedal?

The pedal is fine for my friend but his wife doesn't feel safe doing hill starts with it, hence won't drive it.

[Wacky Racer]

Mrs WR had a C180 coupe.

She got used to the foot parking brake in 24hrs, and eventually preferred it.

[Killwilly]

If the car is auto, which most Mercedes are, then there shouldn't be a problem. Surly this issue should have been considered before purchase.

[mickyveloce]

Leaving aside some inventive and costly engineering , the answer to your original question has to be no. The car will be worth £700-£1000 making any such modification completely pointless .Advise your friend to sell it to someone who has the hand/eye coordination to make the car viable and buy something else .

[Deva Link]

Killwilly said:

If the car is auto, which most Mercedes are, then there shouldn't be a problem.

It's a bit of a palava even in an auto. I never use the "hand"brake in mine unless the car is parked on an obvious slope. The later manual's have hill-hold anyway, so it's not an issue.

It'll be hopeless the OP's friend trying to teach his missus - they'll end up arguing and she'll roll the car back into another vehicle and blame him.

Perhaps he could arrange for a driving instructor to teach her how to do it?

[S6 Devil]

The car has a manual box. They have owned it for 8 years and are considering selling however he wants to keep it but she doesn't. It seems the answer is no. Thanks!

[W124Bob]

Actually something I've been thinking about as I fancy a LHD W123/4 all lefthookers Have the foot parking brake with a release button to the left of the steering wheel.So on a manual car what is the best stopping procedure on a rising slope.Was the XM footparking brake aswell?

[Killwilly]

Deva Link said:

Killwilly said:

If the car is auto, which most Mercedes are, then there shouldn't be a problem.

It's a bit of a palava even in an auto. I never use the "hand"brake in mine unless the car is parked on an obvious slope. The later manual's have hill-hold anyway, so it's not an issue.

It'll be hopeless the OP's friend trying to teach his missus - they'll end up arguing and she'll roll the car back into another vehicle and blame him.

Perhaps he could arrange for a driving instructor to teach her how to do it?

I don't find using the parking brake a problem, in fact I always leave my car with the brake applied, except when it's parked on my front drive, or in the garage.