Parking brake won’t release…

Yes…you just need to press the button harder

 

You mention pulling it up then hitting the button. I want to make sure you are pulling it up with some pressure and hitting the button. It seems to work better when you pull it up, as if you are trying to apply more braking force when hitting the button.


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You need to pull more to release than what you pulled to set the brake while pressing the button.
If your parking brake was already very high when you set it, it might be difficult to pull more and release it.
The brake should engage with the handle relatively low in its total travel so you have enough movement left to release it.

I never experienced your problem but I know what you mean. Mine does need quite a bit of "overrun" to release.

 

There are gear teeth that ratchet and lock the lever in place, and can wear, it may be worth removing the brake handle mechanism, and inspect, clean a lubricate the internals. I ended up Dremel tooling a couple of teeth that were rounding off, and sharpened them up a bit, and greasing things lightly, the function was much improved. When you take things off you can also see how the button function works. I pull lightly up on the lever to release tension on the ratchet gear, and the then push the button which retracts the hook that catches on the ratchet gears. There is no need to pull too hard or high to actuate the brake, and leaving a tooth of travel to pull up to release is how this seems to be designed.

 

Keeping mind there is an adjustment through the left wheel well access that can alter the cable length, and so eg. If you pulled the lever to its highest and the brake was not tight enough, you would adjust to shorten the cable. You might have loosen this to more easily put the cable connector back on the lever mechanism if you remove the lever, if is set up to be under a bit of tension in its rest position. No big deal to do this but makes the time associated with removal and replacement of the lever a bit more involved. I shortened my cable a tad, so that I would expose a different tooth of the ratchet to be used when the brake was on.

I also note that once you realize the brake is holding based on a little hook on the ratchet, when I park on an incline I put the car in gear when stopped so if the parking brake failed the car wouldn't roll away. These parking brakes are not so robust, maybe that is so with other cars too, but it all looked a bit flimsy to me.