The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
The Guiding Principles and New Rules document is now in effect.
Hand/parking brakes, and driving
GrinninBarrett
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Yesterday I noticed a light on my dashboard was telling me my parking brake was engaged, but I was driving just fine. Why doesn't this stop me from driving? Isn't it a brake?
On a related note, when I was just learning to drive, I was in a car with some other students and we slammed into the back of a jeep at a red light; apparently the brakes had failed, both the driver's and the instructor's. The problem? The parking brake had been engaged the entire time, so that melted the brake, hence the accident (keep in mind this was several years ago, and maybe I'm wrong and just have parking brake prejudice; and no, I wasn't driving).
tl;dr - ok HA, what's the deal with hand/parking brakes in cars?
On a related note, when I was just learning to drive, I was in a car with some other students and we slammed into the back of a jeep at a red light; apparently the brakes had failed, both the driver's and the instructor's. The problem? The parking brake had been engaged the entire time, so that melted the brake, hence the accident (keep in mind this was several years ago, and maybe I'm wrong and just have parking brake prejudice; and no, I wasn't driving).
tl;dr - ok HA, what's the deal with hand/parking brakes in cars?
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
GrinninBarrett on
0
Posts
On my car, the parking brake is a small pad on the right rear wheel, and that's it.
Your ebrake lever is attached to a cable that runs to your rear brake(s). Rear brakes are always smaller in the rear, and they might even be drum brakes vs disk brakes. Thats why it doesn't have as much stopping power as pushing your brake pedal.
See how many books I've read so far in 2010
Like, manual cars, ok. But even then...my Beemer F650 doesn't have one, and I've never had it go down a hill, I just keep it in first and turn it into the curb if I have to park...
Automatic cars... you have fucking park why do they give you a parking brake?
Also, the parking brake is sometimes called the Emergency Brake. On a few cars I had, all it was was a few cables that would directly lock down the back brakes. Better than nothing if you had some catastrophic brake line failure, I guess.
And ditto on the "could be low on fluid" thing. I've had more than one car that used that light as a low fluid indicator as well.
It's not the same thing. A car with automatic transmission in park can still move around a bit. Especially if you're parked on a hill with another car in the next spot down the hill, it is definitely important to use the handbrake as well.
Like you mention, you can put a manual transmission in gear as a kind of supplementary "parking brake" once the engine is off. Does that mean cars with manual transmissions don't need a handbrake? Obviously not. In some areas it's actually illegal to use only one means of securing a parked car on a hill.
The handbrake would also be useful in its original role of "emergency brake" if the hydraulics for the real brakes failed. Or if you wanted to intentionally lock the back wheels to do a bootleg turn or similar maneuver.
http://www.thelostworlds.net/
I've also always heard that you shouldn't leave it in first, and should use either 2nd or reverse.
The first click on the parking brake normally shuts those right off, if you don't like the lights coming on with the sensor. ;-)
And why shouldn't you leave it in first gear? I leave my cars both in first, with the parking brake on when they're parked...
That's why, just in case something goes wrong that might inhibit its normal ability to stop or stay stopped. Makes sense to me at least. That and extra "rollback" protection on hills is definitely nice to have, park works for the most part, but better safe than sorry, no?
I don't kow why not to leave it in first. I think a friend of mine (who's a mechanic) said it was the same for bump starting a manual and parking it (maybe first is a weaker gear or there is a better chance to slip out of it).
Most people say don't leave it in first gear because if you forget that you left it in gear and start the car without your foot on the brake and let go of the clutch...bye bye front-end (the car will jump forward, in to your house or maybe another car).
Do pray tell how your car is going to go anywhere with no gas while in first gear? Whatever car you drive is quite magical in that it can shift into first and start moving of its own accord with no input on the gas pedal.
See how many books I've read so far in 2010
It might be time to change them.
Most automatics either disengage the parking brake when you take it out of park, or significantly reduce its ability to stop the car, as it's pretty easy to drive a car with the parking brake on. it also may be a relatively recent technology change, though, as my old '86 Honda had a parking brake that also stopped the car at all cost.
Edit: I own a 96 Probe GT Manual and a 93 Probe base ATX. There is a huge difference in the parking brake designs with the 96's actually being responsive and effective while the ATX basically has the brake for me to slide around corners in the winter.
Wow...that sounds really dangerous. I'm sure it's not that bad; I haven't tried it, but...yikes. Minnesota winter driving is the tops with an e-brake, though. On lonely roads and in midnight parking lots, nothing beats whipping a shitty in a sexy Geo Prism.