2020 CX-5 Touring. Electronic parking brake mysteriously applies itself randomly after shifting to park. Sometimes before shutting off engine and sometimes after engine is shut down. If car is parked on an incline, even a slight one after putting in park, shutting off the engine and removing foot from brake it will occasionally apply itself. Maybe an unknown Mazda safety feature :-)

 

Using the parking brake is mostly like holding the brake pedal down. The biggest difference (for this case) between the brake pedal and a parking brake/hand brake/whatever term one wants to use is the parking brake works only on the rear, while the brake pedal works on both front and rear. If you're already stopped and not trying to accelerate (as in your example), this is mostly irrelevant. The big difference between the two that isn't important here is the brake pedal is boosted while arking/hand brake is not

 

The CX-5 will automatically “test” the EPB system if it is not used regularly. This may be what the OP is experiencing. BTW the EPB is electrically powered, so it is not just like the regular brake. The Owner’s Manual explains all this.

 

Realized it only does this if I have the brake "hold" feature activated.