Patent ID: 8490756

Claim:
An electric parking brake apparatus having an emergency releasing function for a vehicle, comprising: an actuator having a driven member for controlling a parking brake to be in an actuated state and a released state in response to a driving of an electric motor; and an emergency release mechanism being operable from a vehicle interior, controlling the parking brake to be released without relying on the driving of the electric motor, and including an emergency driving member, which is provided within the actuator and which drives the driven member, and an operation mechanism, which is provided between an operation portion provided at the vehicle interior and the actuator and which drives the emergency driving member, wherein the operation mechanism includes an operation driving member, which is movable towards and away from the emergency driving member so that the operation driving member is engaged with and disengaged from the emergency driving member and which drives the emergency driving member in a case where the operation driving member is engaged with the emergency driving member, and a positioning mechanism, which retains the operation driving member to be disengaged from the emergency driving member in a normal situation, the positioning mechanism is provided at one end portion of the operation mechanism, the one end portion being closer to the actuator relative to an other end portion of the operation mechanism, and the positioning mechanism includes a plate spring, which is provided within a holder fixed at a housing of the actuator and accommodating the operation driving member to be movable towards and away from the emergency driving member, and an engagement portion, which is integrally formed at the operation driving member and is engageable with and disengageable from the plate spring, the plate spring engages with the engagement portion in a case where the operation driving member is disengaged from the emergency driving member, and the plate spring is disengaged from the engagement portion in a case where the operation driving member is engaged with the emergency driving member.