I’m curious: who regularly applies the parking brake when parking his/her car (or truck, van, etc.)? Always? Never? Sometimes? On alternate Tuesdays?
I always do - it’s what I was taught, and I’ve learned nothing since then to make me consider altering my ways. In fact, I regard the PB as the primary means of holding my truck in place when I leave it parked. I leave the (manual) transmission in gear, but in my mind that’s the backup system. I do the same thing with my wife’s automatic (as does she, having been schooled the same as me).
Some folks I’ve encountered have regarded this practice quizzically, which frankly puzzles me.
Now I have heard that setting the parking brake in sub-freezing conditions can cause it to freeze in place, making it impossible to get going again later. This is a fine objection, but not one that’s much of an issue in Los Angeles (where I currently live) or Dallas/Fort Worth (where I learned to drive).
I always set it, and that behavior is probably an artifact from what was learned as I tried to preserve the longevity of the auto-tranny with the obviously weak reverse in the taxicab ('75 Plymouth Gran Fury Police Interceptor) that put me through college.
Always, for all the above mentioned reasons. If the rear brakes are discs, regular use of the parking brake can increase the life of the calipers, which get little use in routine day to day driving.
Plus, if you don’t ever use the parking brake, it is more likely to seize in the long run and then, that one time you really need it, it won’t work. Bummer.
I always do. It’s a law in Germany, IIRC, which helped to cement the habit. I used to never do it. But I really learned to drive and spent the first 8-10 years of my driving career in Florida where a parking brake is sort of redundant. It’s just to flat.
But I learned my lesson when I parked my car in a lot with a very gradual slope in Kentucky. I put my bag in the trunk and slammed the trunk, then went into a store for about 30 minutes. When I came back out my car was gone! My first thought was that I’d parked illegally, but then I began to think my car must have gotten stolen.
Then I realized what had really happened. I walked to the end of the parking lot (it was just about dusk when I’d parked), and there was my car, in a shallow ravine at the end of the lot. It must have rolled down the hill, set in motion when I’d slammed the trunk, rolled over a cyclone fence and into the ravine. Amazingly there were only a few minor scratches on the plastic bumper. Just cost me about $100 to get the car pulled out of the ditch.
Finally, in Bangkok almost no one sets their parking brake. Again, it’s flat (like Florida), and people leave the brake off so that they can push your car out of the way in case someone else needs to get theirs out. The parking can be a bit tight at times.
In my automatic mini-van, I usually don’t. In my manual Tracker, I always do, even though I always leave it in 1st gear. I don’t know why I treat the vehicles differently, I guess I never really thought about it. Maybe because I had my dog with me once, and I ran into a store to get something to drink. It was really hot, so I left the Tracker running with the a/c on for my dog. Put it in neutral, and applied the parking brake, and the brake slipped. The vehicle, with my dog still in it, rolled a short way and stopped at the curb. It freaked me out, and now I always make sure the parking brake is all the way on before I exit that vehicle.
Manual driver here and I use the parking brake exclusively unless my car is parked on a very steep incline. I just make sure that sucker is pulled up tight.
But I used to. Here’s why I changed. I park my car for days at a time on an out-of-the-way street in Brooklyn. Because of the street’s remoteness and cool, gritty surroundings, every now and then some film company would want to film a movie or music video there. With little warning the NYPD would tow all the cars to nearby side streets.
I’ve heard that towtruck operators have ways of releasing a car’s parking brake before towing it, but I don’t trust them to do that. I can see some towtruck moron blithely driving around Brooklyn with my car on his hook as smoke bellows from my rear wheels.
My keys won’t come out of the ignition unless the car is in reverse (which is odd, because in previous manual Saabs, I could pull them out while the car was running - I guess they decided to fix that problem.)
Still, I live in a hilly area. I am always on a hill. I don’t think I’ve ever parked anywhere that was truly flat, the car has the potential to roll. And I always use the parking brake even though I don’t think I need to.
My driveway slopes toward the garage. If I park right by the garage, I don’t bother, but if I have to park on the slope, I have to set the brake. In fact, I need to go into reverse, back up a bit, set the brake, then put it into “Park”. Most other places, I don’t bother - like Shibb said, this is Florida - flat flat flat.
The Perfect Child[sup]TM[/sup] has a 3-speed and she always sets her parking brake.
Always, with the exception of very, very cold weather - think minus 10 degrees celcius and less (“lukewarm” in Canadian terms ;)). The brake cable can get frozen stuck, leaving you stranded in the morning. Of course, my country is 99% flat, so there’s very little use for a parking brake - but I set it anyway.
I had to go out and look where the parking break was in my car! I’ve never used it and never had a car roll away experience. I do use the parking break in golf carts though
Almost never. If I was in a hilly area that might torque-lock my automatic I would use it, but it is dead flat around here.
Automatic 1996 Impala SS.
BTW- Lorenzo, what do you mean the rear calipers get little use in day to day driving? They are actuated any time you step on the brake, just like the front ones. I know they don’t do the majority of the braking, but they always get used. Besides, a lot of 4 wheel disk vehicles don’t even use the calipers for the parking brake.
