Because loss of electricity renders electric brake inop...if that is what happened. Also in a panic situation it is easy to grab the hood release instead of the e-brake lever because they are in close proximity to one another (and equally useful in trying to stop the vehicle with no electricity).
Not a Bronco but my wife's 2022 Explorer ST spent the night at a shopping center because the e-brake would not release. Ford could not find a tow company that had a dolly style lift until the next day. They replaced a sensor to fix yikes.
Hey folks! I'm no longer actually a Bronco owner, because I recently sold my beloved Bronco, but I thought I'd chime in with a couple electrical experiences I had that folks might want to be aware of. The first occurred when I was wheeling on the Rubicon and I had one wheel in the air that was spinning at a different RPM than the other three...and immediately thereafter my dashboard lit up like a Christmas tree and I could no longer disconnect the sway bar and my anti-lock brake warning came on and I had to limp back a long distance without being able to use all the whiz bang features that my Bronco had. About 20 minutes after I got on the main road to go back to wherever I was going, the features gradually came back. There were no stored codes, so I was left wondering how long it would be until the next time something similar occurred. Most recently, while the Bronco was on an incline outside my garage door, it was started and then the transmission was put into reverse prior to disengaging the parking brake (I do that so as not to put any pressure on the parking pawl) as soon as it was put into reverse with foot on the brake it just shut off. It then wouldn't start, even after going through several sequences involving returning to park parking brake on walk away from the vehicle lock the vehicle unlock the vehicle etc. After several various sequences, it finally started...again, there were no codes. I really liked my Bronco but it was unnerving to wonder if or when some kind of electrical gremlin that would be beyond my capability of troubleshooting (without having my laptop with me) or being able to address some fault module in the field (without a box of spare modules or sensors) would happen. My hope is that Ford sorts it all out, and I'm not too bummed (because I bought a 2021 and I realize that first year production vehicles are often just extended testing opportunities). Hopefully all your Broncos will not let you down and last for as long as you own them! I will be wheeling with my primitive rig (with 3 pedals and mechanical levers to get me in and out of gears and into low range as well as manually locking hubs to get me some exercise)...hope to meet up with you out on the trails!
Yeah man, I'm starting to see these things becoming an issue. Mine is a 2022 and a 7 speed manual and I still have had these weird concerns. I may be headed your route as well, as if mine situation wasn't scary enough, this lately story was crazy scary. The other issue is this is clearly a back burner issue for Ford. There was nearly $10,000 of damage done to my vehicle and they have no urgency to even assess it and so far they haven't taken any responsibility. I hope in the end I will be wrong, they fix the damage and the issues that caused it and the other folks issues too, but so far I've just seen the Ford CEO admit they have lots of quality issues and then do nothing about them.
This is a good point and I believe it's true based on my "muscle memory". I didn't think about it until reading your comment but that is exactly how I've stopped vehicles that lost their power before. I don't know of any reason it wouldn't be true today. The steering is a different story. I recall having to use nearly my entire body weight on one side of the steering wheel to turn a heavy truck in similar situations. It's not good or safe any way. I know these things happen and probably will always happen as long as a mechanic can be careless and leave a ground cable loose.
Hmm. My experiences with older vehicles, particularly vacuum assisted brakes, is that when you lose the engine there's a certain reserve amount of vacuum left inside that chamber to work with. You get two, maybe three power assisted braking operations before the vacuum is gone and you no longer have assist. You can choose to brake quickly and immediately before you lose it, or you can coast for a bit until you find a safer spot, though the longer you wait the less vacuum you have to use as it does bleed off on its own. Pumping the brakes is for when the brake system itself begins to fail, a fluid leak or air in the lines, that sort of thing...in this case pumping them will sometimes give you enough pressure by compressing air into the line. It's far from ideal, but it can get you stopped in an emergency. In aircraft, the master cylinders can bleed down to the point that the first time you hit the toe brakes it just goes to the floor, but a few pumps will bring it back to life, and that's dangerous if you're landing a taildragger and have to rely on those brakes for directional control. One of the last things I do before landing is give the brakes a couple pumps to make sure they get firm and hold pressure before letting off of them. If they don't hold pressure, I know my brakes aren't working and plan accordingly.
