[macrolime]

Handbrake can freeze and get stuck in the winter. Unless it's very cold it's best to use first and hand brake as each may fail by themselves leaving the car rolling.I once put on the hand brake and neutral and when I came out of the shop my car had crashed into another car as the hand brake had gotten broken. Now I always use first plus handbrake.

[semi-extrinsic]

In my experience, at least manual handbrakes tend to freeze in the "brake engaged" position. If it's frozen in the "brake disengaged" position, you won't be able to turn it on, and you definitely notice it (the lever won't budge then).

Not sure how this applies to electric hand brakes, but I would hope they have a sensor to detect if the motor has engaged the brake or if it's just stalled out.