A foot-operated parking brake device for vehicles comprising a pedal arm attached at one end thereof to a mounting bracket secured to a vehicle body to be pivotable in a vertical plane, the pedal arm being connected at the side of the one end to a parking brake control cable and having a pedal pad attached to the other end thereof;
- and a lock mechanism for locking the pedal arm when the pedal arm is stepped and for releasing the locking of the pedal arm when the pedal arm is stepped again;
- wherein the lock mechanism comprises plural ratchet teeth provided on either one of the mounting bracket and the pedal arm to align along an arc having a center coaxial with a pivot axis of the pedal arm;
- a pole attached to the other of the mounting bracket and the pedal arm to be pivotable and slidable and having an engaging claw disengageably engaged with the ratchet teeth;
- a release lever attached to the other of the mounting bracket and the pedal arm to be approximately coaxial with the pole and to be pivotable;
- a spring for urging the pole and the release lever to pivot in mutually opposite directions;
- a pole pivot limiting portion and a release lever pivot limiting portion for respectively limiting pivot movements of the pole and the release lever;
- and a pole abutting portion and a release lever abutting portion formed on the pole and the release lever for respectively limiting pivot movements of the pole and the release lever upon abutting on each other;
- wherein before the pedal arm is locked, the lock mechanism is in a first state that the pole and the release lever are kept in abutting on each other not to pivot relatively as a result of being pivoted by the urging force of the spring being in a first position in pivot directions which make the pole abutting portion and the release lever abutting portion come close to each other, thereby to bring the pole abutting portion and the release lever abutting portion into abutting on each other, the spring in the first position urging the pole and the release lever to pivot in the pivot directions which make the pole abutting portion and the release lever abutting portion come close to each other, and that the engaging claw of the pole is kept engageable with the ratchet teeth,
- wherein after the locking of the pedal arm is released, the lock mechanism is in a second state that the pole and the release lever are kept not to pivot relatively as a result of being pivoted by the urging force of the spring being in a second direction in pivot directions which make the pole abutting portion and the release lever abutting portion go away from each other, thereby to bring the pole and the release lever into abutting respectively on the pole pivot limiting portion and the release lever pivot limiting portion, the spring in the second position urging the pole and the release lever to pivot in the pivot directions which make the pole abutting portion and the release lever abutting portion go away from each other, and that the engaging claw of the pole is released from the state in which the engaging claw of the pole is engageable with the ratchet teeth,
- wherein there is further provided a shock absorbing member on which a predetermined portion except for the pole abutting portion of the pole is brought into abutting when the pedal arm is moved from an original position where the pedal arm is in abutting on a pedal arm pivot limiting portion without being stepped, to an abutting position where the engaging claw of the pole is brought into abutting on the ratchet teeth;
- and
- wherein an abutting surface of the shock absorbing member is formed to bring the lock mechanism into the first state at least before the pedal arm reaches the abutting position and to form a space between the pole abutting portion and the release lever abutting portion until the lock mechanism is brought into the first state.