Should the parking brake on a car (automatic transmission, if it matters) be used every time the car is parked regardless of slope?
On flat ground? No, of course not. Why should it? There is almost zero benefit to putting it on and the very likely risk that the driver will forget to take it off before driving away causing wear to the brakes.
Well, if you don’t do it EVER, then you lose the correction factor that the parking brake applies to the rear brakes (if drum.) Use of the parking brake takes up the slack in the system as your pads wear. (this activates the self-adjuster, or did in the last set of drum brakes that I looked at the diagram for).
um for the record in the states (at least most of them)
parking your car without turning the wheels in the proper direction and setting the brake means that YOU are laible for any and all damages your car causes should it be struck by a passing vehicle
let me translate. some dumbass hits your parked but unbraked car, it then rolls down the street and into a bus stop full of 8 yr olds and kills 7 of them…yes its your fault.
I always thought rear drum brakes self-adjusted when you applied a decent pedal pressure while reversing.
In Canada our brake cables and hardware rust into non-functionality if we don’t use them. So most of us remember to engage and disengage every time we park.
Gotta disagree with Shagnasty on this one. It’s generally wise to use the parking brake consistently. This helps to prevent its moving parts from seizing up. Occasionally a seldom used parking brake will have to be applied for some reason, and it’s not uncommon for it to go on (lots of force can be applied to the lever or pedal) but not come off (very little force in the retracting springs). If it’s working well and applied fully, it will be difficult or impossible to drive with it on, so that shouldn’t be a concern.
Further, some designs incorporate the parking brake into the rear (most cars) brake calipers, and application of that mechanism performs a self-adjusting function. On these cars, failure to regularly use the parking brake means the rear brakes will get out of adjustment, which can have an affect on total brake operation. This mechanism is also very susceptible to seizing if not used, which means when the brake pads are replaced, the calipers will need to be rebuilt or replaced in order to get the new pads on.
So I would say there’s a definite benefit to using the parking brake regularly, and little or no reason not to.
Actually, the mental part of always using the parking brake works the other way:
ALWAYS use the parking brake in order to develop the practice as a habit, lest you forget when the car is on an incline.
If you use it properly, and the brakes are in proper order, you shouldn’t be able to drive away, and if you manage to, you should quickly realize your error.
Some rear drum brakes self-adjust when applied going backwards, some when applied regardless of direction, some when the parking brake is used. Disc brakes self-adjust when applied, except for the disc-with-parking-brake design I mentioned above.
This sounds like one of those Car Talk debates where people focus on the theory rather than the reality. I have seen (and done myself) dozens of drive-offs with the parking brake applied. I have also seen (and experienced) people getting the parking brake stuck in the upright position and unable to move.
The chances of those outweigh the benefits by a significant factor.
Be honest. How many of you advocating parking brake use in automatics on fairly level ground actually do it? Why?
Not nearly as likely if the driver is in the habit of releasing the brake as part of starting the car, because it’s on every time.
I do.
Because it’s a habit (I’d have to make an effort not to, and even then I might forget),
and because it’s easier to do it all the time rather than think about when I do and don’t need to,
and because I seem to remember hearing that it’s better on the car or the brake to do it regularly rather than intermittently,
and because I still remember an incident from my childhood when I was sitting in a parked car in a driveway when it started rolling back down the driveway and into the street (fortunately, no damage was done),
and because on those rare occasions when I forget to set the parking brake, the car feels weird (comparatively just a leetle shaky and unstable) when I get out of it).
I do it, to keep it operational (prevent seizing). As I said, if it works properly and is applied fully, it either can’t be driven off, or slows the vehicle so much that the driver will definitely notice it. And if it works properly, it will not stick on.
Now, if it’s only occasionally applied and the cables or pivots get rusty, or it’s half-assedly applied and doesn’t hold the car from moving, then the problems you mention are possible, even common. But they are not inevitable.
Every time. Things get rusty pretty easily here in the winter. My wife’s old Taurus, that she had before we met, had a rusted out parking brake. We couldn’t use it even on hills. And it wasn’t worth fixing with everything else that was crumbling on the car.
FWIW some of my techs came to class a couple of years back with picutures. A customer had their car towed in with 2 complaints.
- Car very low on power
- Both rear tires were flat.
Yup, you guessed it. She drove with the e brake on draging the rear wheels until they both went flat. :eek: :smack:
Other than that, I don’t have a dog in this hunt.
That’s strange. I just looked up my owner’s manual, and it indicates that I should use the parking brake every time I park (in normal paragraph, which is generally inconvenient in that I have long legs and it’s one of those ones mounted under the dash along the left side of the car. Even more interesting was that I learned that it auto-releases every time I put the transmission into a forward gear. Guess I don’t have to accidently pop my hood release anymore when looking for the brake release ;).
I just looked up the owner’s manual for the new car that I have the use of (same marque). It’s got one of those cheap-car hand activated parking brakes (and it’s not a cheap car). It has an exclamatory icon and a shaded callout indicating “Always set the parking brake fully…” Actually kind of would prefer the under dash mounted brake. The brake lever position when the brakes are fully opened (i.e., all the time) gets in my way, and I always try to lower it.
Aside: Out of curiosity, what do you mean by “cheap-car hand activated” brake? The vast majority of cars sold in the U.S. at all price points have hand-activated “parking” (or emergency) brakes. With only a few exceptions, the floor-mounted e-brake pedal died with the middle-front seat (which obviously precluded a console-mounted e-brake). (See, e.g., BMW 5-series; Porsche 911.) Some ultra-luxury cars (like the 7-series BMW and the S-class Mercedes) and some lower-end (primarily American) cars do not have hand-activated e-brakes, but they are exceptional.
As to the original question, I always use the e-brake on my automatic transmissioned car, even on flat ground, because I have this fear (perhaps unfounded) that if the ground is on a very slight grade, the transmission will end up absorbing some force as the car leans forward or backward. (Also, I do think it is a good habit.)
I’ll add my voice to the chorus of those who use the parking brake every time. I rarely drive an automatic, but when I do, I’d have to make a conscious effort not to use it.
BTW, I heard once (in a *Safe Driving class) that the parking brake does not engage unless you have the brakes pressed while you’re setting it. Any truth to that???
*And, no, it wasn’t because I had been deemed unsafe. Our whole department at work listened to a lecture about the Smith System. The instructor made this comment. It was not in any of the Smith material.
Alternating between an automatic and a manual, I try and keep habits as similar as possible. So I’m onto the parking brake in the automatic whenever stationary.
My complaint is other people leaving the manual in gear when parked on the level, and the resulting unpleasantness when I turn the key.
My car’s manual recommends always applying the parking brake before shifting into park. (It’s a Ford Taurus automatic.) Supposedly, it keeps tension off the transmission as well as keep the mechanical pieces in good working order. The engine can’t overcome the parking brake when it’s fully engaged.
And I always apply it. Why wouldn’t I? The manual recommends it, it’s not an inconvenience, and I don’t see any downsides.
No.
There’s some sense to applying the parking brake before removing your foot from the service brake pedal, so as to keep the car from rolling and putting pressure on the transmission’s parking pawl. But it’s certainly not necessary to do it that way in order for the parking brake to work.