Patent ID: 7325887

Claim:
A parking brake system for a vehicle brake comprising: a parking brake selector movable to a park position; a brake operating member for applying a park load to a vehicle brake in response to said parking brake selector moving into said park position wherein said brake operating member comprises a lever supported by a brake housing; a variable position park latch mechanism having a variable position back stop cooperating with said brake operating member to set said park load at a desired brake load level wherein said variable position back stop directly engages said lever; a brake actuator input directly associated with said lever for selectively supplying a foundation braking force wherein said brake actuator input cooperates with a first portion of said lever and said variable position back stop cooperates with a second portion of said lever different than said first portion; and a control system for determining an initial park brake load level based on at least one static vehicle characteristic, said control system including a controller for controlling actuation of said variable position park latch mechanism to selectively maintain said initial park brake load level during an initial parking phase.