The contact owns a 2011 Subaru Outback. While the vehicle was parked, the contact was unable to release the emergency brake. In addition, the brake warning indicator was illuminated. The contact removed the battery to reset the vehicle and was able to release the emergency brake. The contact stated that he continued to experience the failure and associated it with NHTSA campaign number: 18V626000 (parking brake). The vehicle was taken to carlsen Subaru (located at 480 veterans blvd, redwood city, ca 94063, (888) 520-5916) where it was diagnosed that the epb module needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified. The failure mileage was 110,000.

- Sunnyvale, CA, USA

I turned right into a driveway with a steep upward incline and had to stop my car briefly to speak to a person helping with parking for an event. My car has a manual transmission, so I engaged the electronic parking brake to hold the car so I could get moving again without rolling backwards. However, the parking brake on my car automatically disengages as soon as the gas pedal is depressed (or even, actually, touched at all). Because of the very steep incline, by the time I had enough revs to engage the clutch, my car had rolled back into the street behind me. Fortunately no vehicle was passing at the time, though a serious accident could have occurred. I have noticed that the electronic parking brake needs to be manually disengaged if the driver seatbelt is unfastened, presumably as a reminder to fasten the seatbelt. In the future in a similar driving situation I would be tempted to unfasten my seatbelt before attempting the steep hill start, which would be the less dangerous of two dangerous options. I emailed Subaru to point out the problem and ask whether it would be possible to modify these vehicles such that the parking brake is always controllable by the driver. My concern was dismissed, seemingly without much consideration. I live in an area where steep hills are the norm, and have always driven a manual transmission car without incident, but the electronic parking brake on my new car presents a serious hazard. I would like to have this addressed before someone is injured or killed.

- Canby, OR, USA