Do you use parking brake?

Because I've helped too many people who left their parking brake on only to have it freeze in place, thus rendering their car useless, and them stranded.

 

But don't you get free Celine Dion tickets when that happens?

I knew somebody would come up with the ONE singular bad thing that "might" happen.

All I know, is in the temperate region of the Pacific Northwest I've been a automobile owner and operator for decades and NEVER, never had a parking brake freeze in place.

But seriously, I know this does and can happen in colder climates or in any sudden winter storm.

So OK..we can caveat that when it's below freezing OR if you live in Point Bucket Alaska....you can refrain from using your Parking Brake.
The rest of the time? I'm using it...

 

All I know is that I've never, ever used the parking brake on an automatic, and I've never had my car end up anywhere but where I left it. And I've never had it freeze in the "on" position either.

 

I watched a truck slowly roll into my vehicle when the owner exited and did not use his parking brake.
So I'm just going to stay in the camp of saying..."Above Freezing?...why not use it?".

 

I've never had it lock up, regardless of the weather.

 

It must have been a manual, and he must have left it in neutral. I use it in my manual-transmission car when I'm on any sort of significant slope. In an automatic, the parking brake has the same holding power as the engine has traction. I can drive up my 10% grade driveway without spinning the tires, so the parking brake will hold it there.

I was standing outside my house when the temperature went from 65 degrees to 25 degrees in 15 minutes.

It's a bad habit to get into. That's why I don't use it.

 

I've had a parking brake cable break. I only use the parking brake when necessary so not to wear out the cable.

 

You can modulate the tension, how hard you push the pedal down. In our garage, level, it doesn't take a hard push to make it secure. I try to push it a little less in such situations.

 

What are the statistics for automatic transmission vehicles parked on level ground, with the engine off, and the transmission placed in park, causing damage or injury because the driver didn't set the parking brake? If someone wants to set the parking brake in that situation, go for it. But the argument that it's easy to do or somehow "proper driving" doesn't compel me to start doing something that seems unnecessary.

 

As far as I can tell, every incident of that type is associated with a car defect. I can't find a single incident where a car in park and not running, started moving on its own.

 

This is looking more and more like the toilet paper over or under debate.

 

Over is better. Everyone knows that!

 

That is a great debate. My wife and I have been having it for years.

Of course you are right. Everyone but my wife knows that.

 

In eight years of owning my Prius, I have never used my parking brake. A dealer that serviced my car near Hilton Head Island parked the car outside their service dept. with the parking brake on, and I was actually stymied on how to release it.

 

I agree, I'm partial to the car remaining still as I exit. Any car, any transmission, and variables.

 

If I neglect to set the parking brake in the garage, that slop almost gives me vertigo. You're expecting to be immobile, but the "world" is shifting and inch or so, don't like that feeling.

 

Throws my wife for a loop too...


iPhone ? Pro

 

Now that you mention.

 

I've been using the parking brake every time for more than four decades (except that -41F night in Big Sky, Montana), and have never had it freeze stuck. Does the daily exercise of the mechanism help prevent this problem?

But for the past three+ decades, the Prius has been my household's only non-manual transmission. I have been known to (very infrequently) leave cars in neutral (no Park interlock to retrieve key, in fact no Park gear at all), so this brake has prevented a few roll-aways. One long-ago car also developed poor engine compression, such that it couldn't hold the car on a certain incline without the parking brake. So setting the front wheel angle was also essential to make sure a roll-away would go into a curb or yard, not the street.

As a result of my mostly-manual-transmission life experience -- which hasn't ended, this household is still 2/3rds manual -- I'll keep this parking brake habit.

 

No. It freezes on because any water inside when you engage it freezes to ice and essentially glues the shoes to the drum. Doesn't seem to happen as often with rear disk brakes maybe because they drain better.