Parking brakes

[Randy_Seltzer]

@Earl Snake-Hips Tucker

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.

I’m certainly not a mechanic, but I’d have to call BS on this one for two reasons:

1. The parking brake in my car (a manual transmission–dunno if that makes any difference) works without pressing the brake pedal.
2. The parking brake in any car needs to double as an emergency brake. If the primary brake pedal isn’t working for whatever reason, the emergency brake needs to work.

[GorillaMan]

@Randy Seltzer

I’m certainly not a mechanic, but I’d have to call BS on this one for two reasons:…
2) The parking brake in any car needs to double as an emergency brake.

On more than one occassion, I’ve called BS on comments such as this in parking-brake threads. Have you any cite for reputable driving advice recommending this use? Any manufacturer referring to it as an emergency brake? What good will locking the unpowered wheels do?

[Randy_Seltzer]

@GorillaMan

On more than one occassion, I’ve called BS on comments such as this in parking-brake threads. Have you any cite for reputable driving advice recommending this use? Any manufacturer referring to it as an emergency brake? What good will locking the unpowered wheels do?

My only cite would be my driver’s ed teacher. And was kind of a dick, so I’d be happy for him to be proven wrong.

But the parking-brake-as-emergency-brake always made sense to me. You’re approaching a red light at a busy intersection and you discover that your brake pedal isn’t responding. Do you swerve into traffic or hit your parking/emergency brake?

[Roog]

Back when I learned to drive (1960s) I remember it always referred to as emergency brake. This seems to be confirmed by the Wiki entry here.

[Spiral_Stairs]

@GorillaMan

On more than one occassion, I’ve called BS on comments such as this in parking-brake threads. Have you any cite for reputable driving advice recommending this use? Any manufacturer referring to it as an emergency brake? What good will locking the unpowered wheels do?

Not that you’re asking me, but: I not only consider it an emergency brake, I usually call it an emergency brake. You will find that on car enthusiast forums, it is often, or even usually, called an emergency brake or e-brake. I was taught to use it as an emergency brake. Locking the unpowered wheels does plenty of good while a car is moving (just like it does when the car is not moving – I’m not sure why it would make a difference, since you’re not applying power when you’re applying the brakes). (And sometimes the rear wheels are the powered wheels anyway.)

Oh, and I’ve had to use it as an emergency brake before.

ETA a couple details, and to say: You can use the e-brake and your gas pedal to simulate clutch-popping with an automatic transmission too.

E again TA: You’d be better off using the regular brakes to simulate clutch popping. But you could still use the e-brake in a RWD car.

[GorillaMan]

@Spiral Stairs

You will find that on car enthusiast forums, it is often, or even usually, called an emergency brake or e-brake.

I’ve only ever encountered the name online, and this is part of the reason I’ve assumed the term is an Americanism.

@Roog

Back when I learned to drive (1960s) I remember it always referred to as emergency brake. This seems to be confirmed by the Wiki entry here.

I’m tempted to go and edit the article to change all the references to ‘handbrake’

@Randy Seltzer

But the parking-brake-as-emergency-brake always made sense to me. You’re approaching a red light at a busy intersection and you discover that your brake pedal isn’t responding. Do you swerve into traffic or hit your parking/emergency brake?

I do remember asking my driving instructor what you should do if your brakes fail. The answer was basically ‘stop the engine’ - jump into fifth gear, turn the key, whatever you can.

[Spiral_Stairs]

@GorillaMan

I do remember asking my driving instructor what you should do if your brakes fail. The answer was basically ‘stop the engine’ - jump into fifth gear, turn the key, whatever you can.

Stopping the engine has a limited effect on a car that is already moving.

I am very surprised to see so much resistance to the idea that a “parking brake” is also an “emergency brake.” I am surprised because (i) it conflicts with my experience, and (ii) doesn’t it stand to reason that an auxiliary braking system would be useful in an emergency situation, whether it is denominated as such or not?

[thirdname]

@GorillaMan

I do remember asking my driving instructor what you should do if your brakes fail. The answer was basically ‘stop the engine’ - jump into fifth gear, turn the key, whatever you can.

It’s better to shift into the lowest gear you can without actually blowing up the engine. (In an emergency with a manual you might take it up past the redline a little if it helps, I guess.) You can get some amount of braking by revving the engine up high with the throttle closed.

I drive an automatic and I use the parking brake every time. First of all, it protects the parking pawl somewhat in case the car is bumped. Second, it prevents the car from rolling away if it’s hit, or taken out of Park somehow. This could save the life of a pedestrian. It’s a no-brainer to me. If it’s in adjustment I won’t drive without noticing it’s engaged.

Of course, everybody knows the real use for the thing is doing handbrake turns in the snow.

[Kevbo]

Another advocate for always using the parking brake.

If you always use it, then you will always use it when you really need to.

If you always use it, then you will always have to disengage it, and therefore you are much less likely to leave it on than if you only used it when “needed”, and thus never developed the routine of disengaging it before starting out.

The only time I don’t use the parking brake is during slushy/freezing weather. All the cars I’ve ever owned tended to freeze the brake on in those conditions. I keep chocks in the vehicles for those occasions. (Actually, having once had a car fall off a jack when changing a tire, I keep a pair of chocks for that eventuality, and it doubles as the freezing wx parking brake)

[GorillaMan]

@Spiral Stairs

Stopping the engine has a limited effect on a car that is already moving.

Really? With the clutch engaged?

[GorillaMan]

@riker1384

It’s better to shift into the lowest gear you can without actually blowing up the engine.

Ummm, good point.

@Kevbo

The only time I don’t use the parking brake is during slushy/freezing weather. All the cars I’ve ever owned tended to freeze the brake on in those conditions.

What kind of temperatures was this at?

[Spiral_Stairs]

@GorillaMan

Really? With the clutch engaged?

This thread concerns a car with an automatic transmission.

[GorillaMan]

@Spiral Stairs

This thread concerns a car with an automatic transmission.

So all subsequent posts must do, too? :rolleyes:

[GorillaMan]

(Oh, and it also concerned a stationary car)

[Shagnasty]

One more problem, what if your car gets towed? Do you think the tow truck driver cares if he drags your car ten miles to the impound lot wearing the crap out of the brakes? There is also the very real risk of not quite taking the brake off all the way when driving (or especially if someone borrows your car). 25% of the people in the U.S. that put on their parking brake in an automatic transmission on perfectly level ground seem to be participating in this thread. This must be one more of those SDMB oddities.

[Spiral_Stairs]

@GorillaMan

So all subsequent posts must do, too? :rolleyes:

Okay … If I could still edit my post, I would edit it to say:

“Stopping the engine has a limited effect on a car with an automatic transmission that is already moving, and that is why the braking system that we are discussing is a useful emergency stopping mechanism.”

I hope that makes my point a little clearer, since it apparently wasn’t clear before.

[Gary_T]

@GorillaMan

I’ve only ever encountered the name online, and this is part of the reason I’ve assumed the term is an Americanism.
I’m tempted to go and edit the article to change all the references to ‘handbrake’

Which is the word we would use if it weren’t for the fact that a significant percentage of them are operated with a pedal rather than a hand lever.

The term “emergency brake” was common here in the U.S. until some car manufacturers foresaw getting sued by some idiot if said brake didn’t stop the car just as well as the service brakes during an actual emergency. Now the term used is “parking brake”, which more accurately reflects its function most of the time. Nevertheless, it can indeed be helpful in a loss-of-brakes situation if applied with reasonable control (i.e., not suddenly yanked on fully). So the concept of emergency brake has some merit, though the term has found some disfavor.

[gigi]

@Gary T

Nevertheless, it can indeed be helpful in a loss-of-brakes situation if applied with reasonable control (i.e., not suddenly yanked on fully). So the concept of emergency brake has some merit, though the term has found some disfavor.

Thank you for the info; I know my instinct would be to pull hard. I will file this the same place as the “don’t slam on your brakes on ice” anti-instinct item.

[Thudlow_Boink]

@Spiral Stairs

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

Hwuh? Cite?

For that matter, is the middle front seat really dead?

My car ('98 Sable) has a pedal-activated parking brake, and a cup-holder/console that can be folded down to make a middle front seat.

[Spiral_Stairs]

@Thudlow Boink

For that matter, is the middle front seat really dead?

My car ('98 Sable) has a pedal-activated parking brake, and a cup-holder/console that can be folded down to make a middle front seat.

How about this Wikipedia entry:

Even in the United States, the bucket seat has largely replaced the bench seat; the bucket is viewed as “sportier” and smaller cars have made the middle position less viable. For high performance cars, bucket seats help keep the driver in place during high accelerations. Some larger cars are still available with bench seats, as are some trucks, which would only be able to seat two if bucket seats were fitted. … Until recently, they were still favored on large premium sedans, but even in this market, they are becoming rare. The Toyota Avalon is among some of the newest models to drop availablility of this feature, and models such as the Buick LeSabre replaced by new models with bucket seats.

I don’t have a cite yet for the proposition that the vast majority of cars sold today have hand brakes, rather than pedals. I will keep trying though…