I think (someone correct me if I’m wrong) the foot operated parking brake was pretty much standard in the US years ago, my first two or three cars had it. My more recent cars have all had the hand operated brake.
I think it depends on whether you have bench or bucket seats.
With a bench there’s no space between the seats, so the parking brake becomes a foot operated pedal on the far left and the shifter is on the steering wheel.
My father, for some reason, hated bucket seats; so his cars always had the foot brake and the shifter on the wheel. My mother still has the last car he bought and it has that arrangement.
I don’t know if the car was an automatic or not, but when I was about 8 a car did exactly this and nearly killed me. My mother took me to the doctors, whose office was in a shopping center with a parking lot with quite a slope. I was in back and was about to get out the driver’s side, which faced up hill, when she told me to get out the other side. I was just closing the door when a car slipped its brake and smashed into the back driver’s side door.
Needless to say I always set my brake.
Don’t, I had the same reaction as you… “my car has an emergency brake? where? there’s an emergency feature I don’t know how to use? read OP ay caramba, the handbrake, why can’t they speak normal…”
I always use it. Every car I’ve owned has been a manual; I use it when I’m driving an automatic too.
“Normal” depends on where you live. In the US, the item in question comes in two different configurations, hand operated and foot operated, so it wouldn’t make a lot of sense to refer to it as a hand brake.
A lot of people here do refer to it as an “emergency brake”. I tend to call it a parking brake. I think that makes the most sense since it describes its main function and isn’t dependent on the configuration.
I think the “emergency brake” designation comes from the idea of using it as an emergency measure if the regular brakes fail on the highway.
When I drove my first car, a big land yacht 70s Cadillac coupe that I inherited from my father, (his dream car) I engaged the parking brake every time, largely because it was a pedal with a nifty release button and I liked using it. Driving that car felt like a ritual, and that was part of it.
On my second car, a manual Honda, I would engage when parking in public and especially on hills (I live in a hilly place), but not in my own level carport.
On subsequent cars, all automatics, I’ve only engaged the brake if parking on a hill which I try not to do on general principle. After reading this thread I might start using the brake occasionally just to keep everything in good order.
I usually engage the emergency brake on my manual transmission car when I park it; my husband does not. This leads to interesting situations when I’ve parked my car and he gets in to drive it next time.
Not only do I drive a manual, but I live in a hilly area, and I still rarely use my parking brake…though to be fair, it’s not very often I actually park on a hill. On when I do park on a hill, I’ll use it…but that’s maybe 5% of the time.
I probably should get in the habit of using it…a manual transmission in gear is nowhere near as safe from rolling as an automatic in park.
My car has a manual transmission. When parked, I leave it in first gear and I always use the parking brake. On a hill, if I leave the parking brake off, the engine will slowly roll over, and the car will creep downhill.
My wife’s car has an automatic. I don’t bother with the parking brake unless I’m on a hill. Going without it isn’t particularly hard on the power-transmitting parts of the transmission, but it does put some strain on the linkage between the gear selector and the transmission when you later try to take it out of park (in some cars on some hills, it can even be physically difficult to get out of park). So to get going again, I put my foot on the main brake, release the parking brake, and take it out of park before releasing the main brake again.
If I’m parallel-parked on a hill in either car, I turn the steering so that the front end of the car will come against the curb if things let loose. This is such an easy step I’m amazed at how rarely I see it done.
It’s been about 20 years since I drove manual, but even with an automatic I always engage the parking/hand/brake at the same time as putting into park, and release it when starting, just as habitually.
Our driveway is very steep. I definitely use my parking brake on it. I use it everywhere else, too, because that’s what my driving instructor taught me.
I’ve noticed on a FWD car, perhaps more then one, that the PARK position does not stop the wheels from rotating, but causes counter rotation of the front wheels. If you jack up the front end and spin the right front tire forward the left front will rotate backwards and visa-versa. But here is is mentioned that the parking prawl locks the gear which would seem to indicate that the wheels should not turn at all. So how does it work?
Kanicbird, that’s because of the differential. RWD cars would do the same thing. There’s a good animation here-
When the car’s in park, the pinion is locked and can’t move. Neither can the ring gear, but the pinion gears can rotate. Turn one wheel, and the pinion gears turn the other wheel in the opposite direction. When both wheels are on the ground, neither can turn.
I have also had cars with bench or bucket seats that had the hand-operated brake located under the dashboard. You pulled the handle out to engage the brake and gave it a twist to release it (usually, but Corvairs were different). Dodge Dart, Corvair, Chevelle, Ford Maverick and Studebaker Lark come to mind. I may have owned others.
I habitually use mine, because otherwise, when I’ve stopped the car, it often will rock a little bit when I take my foot off the brake pedal. Using the e-brake smoothes that out.
My wife’s car is a 2010, and her parking brake is electronic. One just pushes a button instead of yanking on a lever. Progress marches on, I guess, but I kind of miss the sound of the physical parking brake. Also, while I’ve never yet had occasion to drift or do an emergency 180, at least I had the option, but not in her car.
