Setting the Hand Brake every time you park ?

The last time I had a hand brake was back in the 80's-90's when I had a Ford Escort (I had 3 actually).
Every time I parked I set the brake.

At 1st when I got the 'i' I was like .. " Ohh lookie, something to play with" and would pull on it.
I find myself doing it all the time now, every time I park the car. I doesn't matter if I am on a hill or flat, but my driveway does point up a little.

Maybe I just like the noise. Or maybe the noise brings back memories.
Someone wrote on the site that they set it due to backing out with the Charger still plugged in. So maybe that just stuck with me...

Anyone else do this every time ?

Not every time, only when parking on a hill. Of course, one day at Lowe's I forgot to even put it in Park . 'Bout near hit the car in front of me.

Actually, there are two good reasons for pulling the brake handle every time.

1. Since many times we park on a slight incline, setting the hand brake first avoids a lurch which can occur when you put the car into Park and aren't careful with keeping your foot hard on the brake pedal. It has to do with the sprag engaging the drivetrain.

2. On a steeper incline, it's perhaps better to have the car's load be taken up by the brake rather than the sprag.

To minimize wear and tear on the hand brake sprocket ratchet, it's also a good idea to depress the handle pin when engaging the brake, in addition to doing that when disengaging.

The wife uses it every now and then - Not often. I never use it . . . . but 95% of the time, we're not parking on much of an incline. If I lived in San Francisco, I'd probably use it every time ;-)

Don

PV1, don't feel bad I did the same thing the day I got the car. Right in front of my Son !

I guess I need to hold the button harder. I didn't realize that it would hurt it I cut the tendon on the 1st knuckle of that thumb when I was a teen and don't have full "power". I will try and watch how I do it later. Thanks for the tip

...and the other tip (because I obviously don't know how to spell or I am just so bored my eyes are not working)

I used the parking brake when in reverse to check if the reverse lights were on (eek).

Setting the brake is the first thing I do when I park and the last thing that I do when leaving. It's a good safety practice and as others have pointed out it reduces wear on the Park sprag.

I think the habit also comes from driving and preferring standard transmissions my entire life.

Aerowhatt

Always, with any car. On the rare occasions I forget: I brake, shift to Park, release the brake... and the car rolls. (I mean any car, not the i-MiEV.) Just a little, but it's disconcerting, every time.

The only time my cars don't regularly get the parking brake set is when someone else is driving them, which is mostly when they're at a dealer. The dealers never seem to use the parking brake. It makes me think "What's wrong with these people?", and I wonder if I should leave the parking brake off before I hand the car over to them, since it seems like they're not used to it.

The thing that surprised me a little when I got the i-MiEV was how easily and automatically I switched back to using the handbrake, after years of driving a car with a foot-pedal parking brake. But I drove a car with a handbrake for years before that, and I guess the "muscle memory" was still there.

BTW, I've only driven automatics.

howieb said:

I used the parking brake when in reverse to check if the reverse lights were on (eek).

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When I want to see if the brake lights, reverse or turn signal are working I usually find a business with a big front window. Back in and then check the lights.

Funny I do this about ever 5 months just to make sure
I can't trust my Daughter to tell me :roll: She failed once so I don't bother asking

I almost never use it...perhaps when parking on a steep hill, but even so, it is not necessary.

I consider it to be there in the event your hydraulic brakes give out and you need more stopping power...OTW, it's just something to forget when you take off driving...which I have done on my other cars.

I use the parking brake on any vehicle I drive whether its automatic or manual transmissions, incline or flat, foot or hand brake every single time I park. The way I see it, I'll prevent premature wear and tear on the transmission by putting the load on the parking brake rather then the transmission internals. I'd rather be safe then sorry and I'm kind of ocd about a lot of stuff especially my investments so I'll continue doing it till I die. Old habits die hard I guess

another "all the time" user - most likely because that's what I was taught to do when I learnt to drive. Automatic cars are (or certainly were) much rarer and more expensive in the UK, and if you took your driving test in one you were only allowed to drive an automatic, whereas if you took your test in a manual transmission car, you could drive manual and auto transmission cars. That may still be the case.

There is an exception to the general rule: if the car is going to be stored for more than just a couple of days, I leave the hand brake OFF. If the brakes were wet or the car is in a high-humidity environment, I don't want any 'spotting' on the drum. My Insight (drum rear brakes also) is extremely sensitive to this and the brakes will freeze up if I leave the brake set after washing the car, so perhaps best not to set the hand brake on the i-MiEV after a soaking/drenching.

JoeS said:

There is an exception ...the brakes will freeze up if I leave the brake set after washing the car, so perhaps best not to set the hand brake on the i-MiEV after a soaking/drenching.

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Good point Joe- my aircooled VW drum brakes are often frozen after months of storage with the parking brake engaged. Time to switch to wheel chocks! I wonder what the potential for damaging the brake shoe material is when it gets stuck in place by rust and then broken loose?

If it rains or I wash the i-MiEV, my front brakes get stuck. Maybe I need to use them more :lol: .

On a similar note, I've left my golf cart parked for months with the parking brake on through rain and snow, and they didn't seize up (drum brakes).

I only set the parking brake in the i-MiEV when parked on a slope. I don't like the feeling of the gearbox oscillating when taking it out of Park without setting the brake. I don't have that problem at work or home, though, so it doesn't get set.

Living where I do, with the nearest incline being several hundred kilometres away, I have never once used the hand brake while parked. Tempted to use it to drift around hairpin corners at high speed, but I have video games for that...

:lol: OMG I Did that in a parking lot with my 1982 Ford Escort. Found out then that I am not that trilled with the adrenaline rush..... came a little too close to a pole ......... oh and there was Snow, lots of snow

That reminds me: in about-to-be freezing conditions after driving on wet roads I believe one also doesn't want to set the parking brake for fear of the mechanism icing up. Comment from our northern brethren?

I never had an issue back in the 80's & 90's in my Escort -

JoeS said:

That reminds me: in about-to-be freezing conditions after driving on wet roads I believe one also doesn't want to set the parking brake for fear of the mechanism icing up. Comment from our northern brethren?

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Living in frequently frosting up and thawing Toronto, I feel qualified to comment - the last time I had a parking brake freeze up on me was on a 1986 Toyota MR2 about two decades ago.
I do use the parking brake frequently, since I always drove manual transmission cars I am used to setting the parking brake when I park. The MR2 had a cable linkage going to a mechanical actuator on the rear disc brakes. Where the parking brake cable exited its jacket, it had a rubber 'bellows' that deteriorated with age, allowing water to enter with predictable results.

All other cars I drove had the parking brake cable acting on a drum set-up like in the i-MiEV, and I never had any problems with those brakes seizing up during a frost cycle. Even on a 19-year old BMW that had the hybrid set-up of parking brake shoes inside the hats of the rear disc brakes - never had any issues with freezing.