While it's not obvious, all Tesla vehicles include an emergency or parking brake. This could be useful in an emergency situation. Tesla's parking brake works a little different than other cars, as it presses and holds the brake pads onto the rear rotors. However, it's not obvious how to enable it.
How to Enable Emergency/Parking Brake
If your vehicle includes a gear stalk, enabling the parking brake is quick and easy. Just press and hold the Park button at the end of the right stalk. When the Emergency Brake is applied the ((P)) or PARK icon (USA only) will be displayed as an indicator light on the vehicle's screen.
If your vehicle doesn't have a gear stalk, you can still enable the parking brake, but it requires use of the touch screen by tapping and holding on the Park icon at the top left corner.
Disable Emergency Brake
To disable the emergency brake, you can just shift into drive or reverse like normal and the emergency brake is automatically disabled.
Backup Gear Selector
On newer vehicles without the gear stalk, there is a backup method to enable the parking brake or change gears if the touch screen isn't working.
On a Model 3 or Model Y, you can press near the hazards light button to enable the backup gear selection. You can use this to change gears or press and hold the Park button to enable the parking brake.
Similarly, on a Model S or Model X, you can press the area beneath the wireless phone chargers to change gear or enable the parking brake.
Emergency Braking While Driving
If you press the "parking brake" while driving, your vehicle will use the vehicle's normal brakes and remove drive torque from the motor while the button is held. The vehicle will not activate the parking brake unless the vehicle is stopped.
Hear are two YouTube videos that help explain the feature.
How to use the e-brake when parking:
How to use the e-brake while driving:
