All the time. The car doesn’t seem stable without them. They also were very useful when the brake master cylinder failed.
I drive a manual transmission vehicle and sometimes tow a boat or utility trailer. I always use my parking brake.
I never use the parking brake on the Prius, because it’s engaged with a pedal. The Cherokee has a hand brake, but I can’t remember ever using it. I use the hand brake in the MGB on start-up because the driveway is sloped, until I put chocks behind the rear wheels because I back it in and the chocks ensure I don’t go too far back.
I always use my parking brake. Have always driven automatics. I really like that it’s a button now on most cars.
The Prius has a Park button, and a Park position on the selector; but that just puts the transmission into Park. The actual parking brake is a pedal. I hate those.
And I have never once in my life used the parking brake., (when I was driving a car with automatic transmission.)
Nowadays, I love me my manual gears. So I use the parking brake of course,
But when I drive a rental with automatic, I never even think about using the parking brake.
I have always used the parking brake, regardless of the transmission or the terrain. Better safe than sorry.
Ok, a poll.
- I primarily drive a manual and often or always use the parking brake
- I primarily drive a manual and seldom or never use the parking brake
- I primarily drive an automatic and often or always use the parking brake
- I primarily drive an automatic and seldom or never use the parkking brake
- My car doesn’t have a parking brake. I just put it in “park”
- I don’t have a car
0 voters
Long ago, when I was a mechanic at a Ford dealership (and we called it the emergency brake) we would have complaints of cars that were difficult to get out of park.
Invariably the customer was not using the emer…parking brake. The entire rolling weight of the car was resting on the parking pawl and preventing gear selector from moving. Mostly we told the customers to read their owners manual.
Changed a few parking pawls on Ford’s dime as well.
CW
Another problem with not routinely using the parking brake is that it could rust and seize up over time. Which means it won’t work if you suddenly need it.
You got me curious, so I downloaded the Saskatchewan Drivers’ Handbook, which is used to teach people driving skills for the licence examination.
There are exactly two references to the use of the brake in the Handbook, which is 172 pages long.
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p. 108: “The emergency brake should be applied whenever parking on a slope.”
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p. 129, in the section on “Brake failure”: “You can help slow the vehicle by using the parking brake. Try to avoid having the rear wheels lock as this will cause the vehicle to spin around. By adjusting the parking brake release, you will make it easier to vary the pressure and avoid locking.”
That’s it.
Now, it’s odd that they refer to the “emergency brake” when using it in a parking situation, and the “parking brake” when using it in an emergency situation 
, but in Saskatchewan, no general recommendation to use the parking/emergency brake on a regular basis. I don’t remember ever having that mentioned in any driving course I’ve been in.
I always do. I can’t think of any reason not to do it.
It’s like locking your house as you go out. Sure, you’re probably safe not doing it but what are you gaining by taking that risk? The time/effort commitment relative to the value of what you’re protecting just isn’t anything like a balanced ratio.
Always. I couldn’t even tell you why, it was just something ingrained in me when I was taught to drive, 40 years ago. Reading through this thread, it occurs to me that I mainly learned in my Mom’s Honda Civic hatchback, which had a manual transmission.
I always use my parking brake. I learned to drive on a manual transmission, and my first car was a manual, so it’s partly habit, partly not having to think whether I should or not (my driveway is steeply sloped, as is my street, unusual for Long Island), and partly “it’s there for a reason.” My wife has the same habit, so no conflict there if we use each other’s cars.
Interestingly (to me, anyway), all of my cars (VWs, Hondas, and an Acura) until the two most recent had handbrakes whether they were manual or automatic. The two cars we currently have are a Volvo with a sort of paddle/lever switch on the lower left part of the dash: push to engage, pull to disengage; and a Mercedes with what I think of as an old fashioned foot pedal to engage, pull handle to disengage.
The Mercedes (my wife’s car) is a bit of an issue, as the parking brake tends to freeze up in the winter, making it hard to disengage. The dealer suggested not using it during freezing weather if we don’t have to, but it’s hard to get out of the habit.
If the transmission is hard to get out Park, that’s a classic case of excessive pressure on the parking pawl that could damage or break it, and when you absolutely must engage the parking brake first while keeping your foot on the brake pedal before putting the transmission in Park. People don’t seem to realize that a vehicle weighing several tons can exert a tremendous amount of force on even a relatively gentle slope.
All the time. I have a manual transmission though. It is an electric parking brake however, and I do have concerns as to the electric actuator’s longevity.
If I’m parked on a hill, I’ll augment the parking brake by putting the trans in 1st gear if in a nose high attitude, or in reverse if in a tail high attitude.
Always use the parking brake. Also on my tractor. Both are manual.
Interesting tidbit about tractors, on a related theme: it’s not unusual for a clutch to get frozen into position, such that you can press on the pedal but the plates stay engaged. This happens if it’s parked for a long time. So, some tractors, mine included, have a swinging hook down near the clutch pedal, so you can push the clutch in to disengage the plates, and hold it there with the hook. A tractor parked this way has no engine holding it still, leaving that job to the parking brake only (and the parking brake is a similar hook that holds down both the brake pedals, there being separate pedals for each rear wheel and none for the front). Of course, you could also chock the wheels, always a good idea if parked on much of a hill.
Yeah, that jumped out at me too.
I voted that I primarily drive an automatic and always use the parking brake; but it may be relevant that most of my life I drove manuals. I just can’t get them any more, at least not without having enough money to special order a new car.
However, my conscious reasons for continuing to use the parking brake don’t have anything to do with whether the car’s manual or automatic. To what extent the force of habit from having learned to drive fifty years ago is a factor is harder to tell.
I always use the parking brake. In my car, the brake is electronic. There is an option I can set to automatically engage it, so I simply activated that option. I do have to disengage it to drive, however.
I also drive 12-ton motorcoaches. Their automatic transmissions don’t have a parking pawl, so the parking brake is absolutely required. The bus WILL roll away if it is not set. The ground almost always has a slope and it doesn’t take much to get the beast rolling. Even the wind alone can be enough of a push.
My wife drives a small SUV and she pretty much never sets the brake. It really annoys me when I am loading something in the back and the car rolls away from me as I push the cargo in. Yeah, it’s just an inch or two, but I firmly believe that the car should not move AT ALL without a driver’s express permission to do so.