# car emergency brakes

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-emergency-brakes/309040>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 20, 2005, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-emergency-brakes/309040 "2005-06-20T13:25:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-emergency-brakes/309040/21 "2005-06-21T23:56:07Z")

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Parking Brake. Yep.

Emergency Brake? Well any port in a storm. But you would need to be quite careful. Might just make you spin out (if there powerful enough, adjusted to lock up the rear end).

I always use mine. Really should be a habit in either a manual or auto transmission.

I get the most use out of mine when I back up my steep gravel drive trying to hook up my trailer. My brake is strong enough to hold the car (I turn the engine off in gear as well).

In this way I can get close, stop the car, get out and look how much closer I have to go, and using the break, and slipping the clutch a little, move the few inches I need to line up the ball and hitch with out worrying about rolling forward a couple inches first.

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**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\
**Post date:** [June 22, 2005, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-emergency-brakes/309040/22 "2005-06-22T03:09:34Z")

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> [@Rick](#):
>
> **Gary** …IMHO opinion draging the rear pads for 50 miles is worse than draging them for 5 feet…

Agreed. I guess I wasn’t making myself clear.

The OP said (in paraphrase) “Not only was I able to drive with the parking brake on, but I was able to drive for **FIFTY FREAKING MILES.** This thing’s so useless it let me drive with it **ON** not just for **one** mile, not just for **ten** miles, but **FOR FIFTY FREAKING MILES!** ” It sounded like he wouldn’t have found the parking brake performance so disappointing if he had only gone one mile, or ten miles.

My point was that if the parking brake is going to let you go 5 feet, it’s going to let you go 5,000 miles. **How far you went doesn’t say anything about how poorly the parking brake worked.**

How far you went does make a difference in how damage you might have done, as you say. That’s not the issue I was referring to.

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**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\
**Post date:** [June 22, 2005, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-emergency-brakes/309040/23 "2005-06-22T03:11:06Z")

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“…how **much** damage…”

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