Hurryup&wait:
Juddian:
As already described by Simcor, biggriffin, nji and others the EPB works perfectly in all situations, normal, backup and emergency on the FH Volvo but as already said you do have to disciplined about checking for that red light sometimes to be sure the Park brake is really applied.
Normal. Press the foot pedal.
Backup. Press the pedal harder. This brakes direct and bypasses the ABS system etc if there is a system failure.
Emergency. Fully pull the parking brake “Switch” and it will bring the truck to a controlled stop.[[You seem to differ from Stevieboy who says it can be used progressively.]]
Hill start works beautifully if you don’t fancy burning up the clutch on an auto box as does the trailer brake previously described by the wise one.
[[I don’t burn up clutches, i can release the secondary brake (parking brake gently held not clicked over to Park) just as efficiently as the machine can, the day i can’t i’ll hand me licence in at the nick.]]
If you want parking brakes set on the trailer as well as the tractor unit you can just apply it.
[[That’s handy, haven’t had the pleasure of a Volvo so equipped out on the road yet, used to have to pull the Broms button out to apply trailer brakes previously.]]
There is nothing whatsoever in functionality missing on the new trucks but lots of new options.
[[Maybe, but annoying on these lorries if you reverse with the door open (again as Stevieboy mentions), several reasons i won’t bore or annoy you any more with, because the parking brake comes on automatically with the door open, haven’t tried starting to move with the door open to trick one yet.]]
Hope that helps with your double sudden simultaneous leg seizure problem next time it happens.
[[No need for that]].
The bad news is if you get sudden double hand seizure or eye failure you are [zb] out of luck. More bad news I’m afraid is there is no foot valve fitted so it’s failure or reassuring hissing is not an option.
[[Don’t bite your tongue you’ll poison yourself
]]
Driving Fodens is still an option if that’s your thing but I really don’t get your penchant for knocking modern trucks.
[[Not knocking moderns, some of the advances are great, the EPB however is an anwer to a question no one asked, its not like we’re having to apply a ratchet 4 times to pull the linings in, can’t say as i’ve had any great difficulty applying and controlling a normal parking brake, i’ve heard tales of Scania 4 series brake levers wearing and releasing but that might well have been driver’s exiting the cab with the vehicle on hill hold only and claiming equipment failure…and that is one of the reasons i am against hill hold by the way, get in the habit of relying on it and you might as some have forget one day to apply the park brake whenthere’s umpteen other things on your mind.]]
If you you are curious about how a system works just come on here and ask but stop pretending these new wagons are inferior designs and you know better by giving incorrect descriptions as you may mislead many who value your otherwise well informed and experienced opinion.
[[Blimey, did i upset you in a previous life, OK i get you like these gadgets, thats fine i respect that, doesn’t make me wrong not liking them, or does it?]]
I fully accept your view that despite being simple to drive at a basic level, they are quite complex and varied to get to know in detail.
[[That we agree on, it’s ok if you have a regular vehicle, but having done nights where i got a different vehicles every night, and agency lads have this all the time, its a literal nightmare, Daf’s especially with their confetti switchgear arrangements.]]
But it is simple to get onto the Volvo UK website and download your exact wagons drivers manual by entering your chassis number and the same for Scania and perhaps others as well.
[[Again, that’s fine for a regular driver, not practical for an irregular when some clerk is chasing him out the depot 15 minutes after he clocks on, and we all know this happens, not to me but i know lots of drivers feel under pressure to maintain silly schedules.]]
You can get the Volvo manual as an App or as I prefer a PDF book and it’s full of really good stuff that I would never have figured out from behind the wheel. In our yard the exact same truck in a different model year can vary a lot.
The first night I jumped into a newer model at the time I had no idea what the annoying beep of the lane departure warning was droning on about as my previous motor didn’t have it.
But when I got the heart attack altogether was late one night the windscreen went red and a bugle went off in the cab just as a car cut tight across me to exit the M4, then I said enough is enough and started reading the pristine untouched drivers manual.
Didn’t realize till then how much stuff in those trucks I knew nothing about.
Apologies for going on a bit.
No apology necessary, all criticism welcome.
Thanks for the in depth bollocking/reply/discussion 
Hope you can figure out my replies in brackets, this quoting lark is a bit too modern for me
