Parking Brake vs Parking Button

[Kablooie]

I know that the pedal parking brake is useful when you park on a hill but is there any advantage to using it on your average flat surface?

[DaWebGuy]

Yes. Manufacturers, police, & driving instructors all recommend that you set your parking brake so that if someone or something hits your car, it won't be pushed out of the parking space or driveway and into another car, moving traffic, a tree, a pedestrian, etc., etc. It's a real good idea!

[Joel]

I use parking break as force of habit and hardly ever hit the "P" unless I intend to stay in the car while it's running - otherwise I just hit the power button and it does the same thing.

[RobertO]

Always use the Parking Prake in conjunction with Park. Best to set it before you select Park to avoid "rocking" the drivetrain.

Bob

[efusco]

There probably are some really good theoretical reasons to use the parking brake all the time, and maybe I'm a bad citizen for not always doing it, but I rarely use mine. I haven't had any issues yet with someone hitting my car and knocking it into traffic from either my garage or any other standard parking place. I rarely, if ever park in a place where, even if someone hit me, I could be pushed into traffic. I do, of course, use it when I'm on inclines/hills.

I think some reasoning and logic can come into play with a very minor issue like this. I go for big things...like bike helmets on kids, encouraging the non-use of trampolines, things that lead to real injuries to real people almost every single day.

In 10 years as an ER doctor I've never once seen an injury due to a parked car being hit and pushed into someone b/c the parking brake wasn't set...ask me how many broken arms I've seen from backyard trampolines!

[mdacmeis]

Surveys have shown that nearly 90% of Americans do not user their parking brake. As a result, loss of function often occurs due to corrosion of the cable assembly and parking brake components. Several OEM's have stated they recommend setting the parking brake at least once a month to counteract the corrosion effects and to insure functionality. This can be critical as several rear brake designs rely on use of the parking brake to perform the self adjustment feature. In these cases, not using the parking brake results in a gradual loss of rear brakes.

[ammiels]

The theoretical reason to set the PB is to use the brake pads to protect the pawl in the transmission which might be damaged by forcing the car to move if only in Park. That said I only use PB on hills, or in City parked next to hydrant.

[fred]

as always being in the minority i always use the parking brake. i put the car in park and put the brake on. one reason of cours is habit but the other reason is to relieve pressur on the tranny.. notice in general that unless the ground is really flat that your car will have a slight tendency to roll. i like to have the p brake take up the slack instead of good ole many thosand dollar tranny.
fred in nashville enjoying smiley my 04 black prius

[efusco]

Originally posted by fred
[snip] but the other reason is to relieve pressur on the tranny.. notice in general that unless the ground is really flat that your car will have a slight tendency to roll. i like to have the p brake take up the slack instead of good ole many thosand dollar tranny.

Well, I've head that logic too, but the deal is this, you put hundreds of times more force on that tranny in normal driving than the static force exerted while parked...I just don't think that logic washes. Again, I'm NOT being critical of anyone who does this, and it's probably a good idea, I see no harm that can come from it, but it can become one of those issues that people become religious about and start condemning others for not doing it when the reality of it is that there are much bigger fish to fry and it's an extraordinarily minor issue.

Also, the corrosion arguement...I'd like some proof or even a good explaination of that one. How does stretching or tensioning a cable prevent or reduce the risk of corrosion?

[bigal]

I seldom use the parking brake, mostly on hills. But maybe I should.

In the "good old days" when I was first driving, setting my father's car parking brake in one of those Western New York winters, it was common that the parking brake cable froze in the set position. Since those days I have been parking my manual transmission cars by putting the transmission in reverse and my automatic transmission cars in park. I really don't believe the parking brake is anywhere as effective as setting the automatic transmission in park. If you have ever taken off in a car with the parking brake set, you'll know that its not all that effective. I don't think bumping a car set in park would cause it to roll off.
In defense of using the parking brake; I have had the experience (not in the Prius) of having the transmission "lock" in park. I couldn't get the transmission out of park without getting out and rocking the car, I could only guess that since I parked on a slight grade, the car was "leaning heavily" on the transmission.
Well it can't hurt to set the parking brake always. It will hold the car from starting to roll and possibly prolong the life of the transmission that is if the parking brake is set before releasing the regular brakes.

Al