Electronic Parking Brake

Global market leader

Actuators at OECHSLER

OECHSLER started developing in the field of actuator technology as early as 1995. The EPB itself was developed from 1997 together with a leading supplier of braking systems. Only four years later the first EPB was installed in a Lancia Thesis and has been a key innovation in the automotive braking market ever since. For its sixth generation of EPB currently in production, OECHSLER thus was able to draw on more than 25 years of expertise in development and production. In 2019, more than 35 percent of newly registered cars worldwide, equipped with a parking brake, featured an EPB made by OECHSLER - ranking OECHSLER as the uncontested global market leader. 

Seeking perfection

EPB at a glance

Over time, the EPB has increasingly substituted the handbrake, which most of us still know from drifting in winter. In addition, the EPB is also essential for the implementation of assistance systems such as the hill start and hill-descent assistants. The brake lever inside the cockpit can be replaced by a button that allows both driver and front passenger to initiate emergency braking.

In 1997 when we first started thinking about the EPB, our focus was to improve driving comfort. Today, parking brak es are a generic feature in most cars. After 20 years, our engineers still seek perfection everyday to offer our customers the most sophisticated solution. Even though previous generations of our EPB were already highly sophisticated products, well developed and successful, there was still room for optimization. In particular, the installation space, weight, and lifetime were to be improved.

The challenge: Despite a reduction of installation space and weight, however, the lifetime of the component should not be impaired but rather extended.