You’ve probably all seen cars driving along the freeway with their brake lights on. Assuming that the majority of these cars are not suffering from wiring woes, it seems likely that people are driving along with their left feet on the brakes.
How much does this affect fuel economy?
How much extra wear does this put on the brake pads?
Are the brakes actually engaged at the point where the lights are activated? Or is there enough slop in the system so that people can rest their feet on the pedals without wearing the brakes?
It’s not an easy question to answer exactly. The loss of fuel economy and wear on the brakes will depend on how much pressure is applied. I do know that people can ride ride the brakes to the point where they need new pads every month, as I’ve seen it happen.
Note that riding the clutch can also destroy a clutch quickly if the clutch slips. The mother of a friend liked to rest her foot on the clutch while driving (“that’s what it’s there for.”) and ended up with pretty much annual clutch replacements. She never made the connection, despite innumerable people telling her it was stupid.
As far as slop, it depends on the car. Two cars I had (the FIAT and the Honda) had the tiniest amount of slop between the time the lights came on and the time the pads engaged. My Mustang appears to have no slop at all.
I used to drive a 1980 Datsun 200SX that had quite a bit of slop between the time the light came on and when the brakes actually touched. It was really easy to tell because there was actually a light on the dashboard that meant “your brake lights are lit up”, which was an odd feature, but kind of useful, because sometimes I wanted to get the attention of the person behind me before I actually started slowing down, so I could tell exactly how far I had to push the brake pedal to accomplish that.
I’ve only noticed it a couple of times up here, but many time in L.A. I don’t think I’ve ever sean a rear fog light on a car down there; at least never lit.
A friend’s wife in the late-1980s did this. She couldn’t figure out why Nissan made such crappy clutches that they needed to be replaced at least once a year. And riding along with her was cringeworthy as she accellerated from a stop. I tried to point out that the reason she went through so many clutches was her technique once. Once. You did not suggest she ever did anything wrong.
A whole bunch. Mechanics love two footed drivers. They put our kids through college. The single largest factor in brake pad life is the located between the brake pedal and the seat. I have seen people that managed to wear out brakes in about 15% of the time of what the brakes on my identical car would last. If I go back into fixing cars for a living I hope all my customers use both feet when they drive.
Depends on the car, but my guess is that the customer thinks they have their foot hovering over the pedal, not actually on it. Wrong as the brake lights show. If they think they are hovering over the pedal, how do they know when to stop?
Can someone clarify something.
Regardless of whether your driving an automatic or manual transmission your right foot controls the accellerator and the brake pedal. Is this correct?
Whenever I have driven automatic rentals this is the way I have driven them. Also the pedal position doesn’t lend itself for use by the left foot.
In which case, provided the driver is not indulging is some rally style heel-toe braking why would there foot be on the brake at all?
Surely the car would now be slowing down as the accellerator is not maintaining speed.
Many people, who drive automatics, get into a habit of braking w/ their left foot. Some also believe that they’re being safer by keeping thier foot on, or near, the pedal. They often cause their brake lights to blink on and off, thereby confusing the drivers behind them and also may be causing the brakes to be applied, although lightly. It’s a dangerous habit that can cause ezxcessive brake wear.
If you watch people drive, lots of them are actually constantly speeding up and slowing down. A few different brake-happy driving styles I’ve seen:
Accelerate until something is in your way, then brake. Repeat.
Accelerate until you’re going faster than you want to be, then brake. Repeat. Some people drive like this when they’re distracted (e.g. talking to someone) and not paying very good attention to their speed. Some people drive like this because they’re just crappy drivers who use the gas pedal like an on-off switch.
Tailgating with a foot lightly on the brake for making the micro-adjustments in speed necessary for following so close.
I’ve also seen people who drive like #3 above even when they’re not behind anyone. They’re pretty much going a constant speed, but they just constantly tap their brakes as if somehow their exact speed is so critical that they can’t just let off the gas a little, they must actually brake. I have no explanation for this one other than mental defect.
I just use cruise control. Which doesn’t help when someone races to get alongside of me, then slows down so that they’re abeam, and stay there while I’m gaining on someone in my lane. I’ll move over if I’m being overtaken, but I hate it when people only overtake half way.