Do you use your parking brake?

[DVSNCYNIKL]

Si!

[boingo82]

Originally posted by Moppie
...There is nothing worse than trying to push a car back to make room, or align a car on the hoist, or jack it up and check the suspension and wheel bearings when the fucking hand brake is on....

Hadn't looked at it that way before...if they don't want to get inside the car to release the handbrake, does that mean that the car is left in neutral as well? I just get annoyed because often the car is parked on a hill, ready for pick-up, with the brake not set, and that makes me nervous. I'm sorry for insulting techs, didn't mean they were idiots, I just meant that I like the brake set in my car 'just in case' and it annoys me when someone else drives it and does not set the brake.

[taranaki]

My good lady wife leaves the gearshift in 1st when she parks.The number of times I have hopped in,turned the key and lurched forwards isn't funny. I think she should stick to driving her own damn car!

[YogsVR4]

four of the five cars have a standard transmission - we always use it on them, but not so often with the automatic (the accord)

[Jimster]

Hell yes!!!!!

God, I just spend 5000 Euro's on mods to my Alfa, the last thing I want is to spend more time with that blasted FIAT Marea :finger: :bandit:

[ci5ic]

Yeah. I agree with Boingo and Mr. T...

Whenever I pick my car up at the shop, it's in 1st gear, and I always stall it when I start it up.

So it doesn't make sense that they wouldn't set the hand-brake in order to manually push the car around because it's still in gear, and they'd still have to get in the car to take it out of gear, so why not just set the damn brake?

There's been a couple of dumb-asses that I work with who have failed to set their parking brake for whatever reason, and their cars have rolled across the parking lot hitting someone elses ride. Especially since I just got my car out of the body shop, I don't park anywhere near these other idiots. It's just reckless negligence in my opinion.

My girlfriend doesn't set her parking brake either (and she gets mad when I drive her POS and set it, cuz she forgets to take it off ). Isn't that really bad for the transmission in a slush-box?

My Jeep's e-brake doesn't work, so I can't set it, and haven't gotten around to fixing it yet.

[|Banchi1O5|]

lol
i set mine all the time
specially when i want to do a front wheel burnout :P

[Rich]

Ever since the first time I got behind the wheel, I always set the park-brake. Auto or Standard, it doesnt matter.

Ive noticed where I live, that the ppl who never use there brake, it ends up siezing up, or snapping the cable when they really do need it.

I hate when others borrow my car, and leave it in gear, and never use the brake. I (on more than once occasion) have hopped in and turned the key, only to be greeted by almost being thrown through the windshield.

The previous owner of my sentra cut the wire for the clutch safety switch. (the one where the clutch has to be depressed for the starter to be activated) I dont know why the owner did this, its not very complicated to fix, just a little time consuming.

[replicant_008]

Duh... when I learnt to drive you got in, checked the hand brake was on, pressed the clutch, flicked the shift into neutral, turned the key, checked the warning lights and the gauges and hit the starter...

How anyone starts in gear is beyond me but it does explain why we use to have so many US Tourists drowning off the end of the local wharf before rental cars became mainly automatics...

(I'm not kidding... they regularly fished them out of the tide off Devonport Wharf in Auckland in the 70s and 80s). I also saw one fly out of an elevated supermarket carpark, across a sidewalk, thru a wooden fence and onto the main street...

Next they'll have systems where you can't take the key out unless the automatic is in Park. @#$%! The rental Vectra has this now!

[VideoNasty]

Depends on the parking situation in questiono and what car I am currently driving.
the Nissan is currently sitting in the driveway with its front bumper resting on the CRX's rear bumper out of gear with no parking brake. at work its unessicary because of where it is, flat level ground, I don't even leave it in gear at work. anywhere else I generally leave it out of gear w/ the brake on.

the Teg's parking brake is close to worthless and seizes at the slightest mention of rain, so that one is always parked in 1st gear(or reverse) w/ no brake

automatic trannied vehicles and never parked with the brake on, no need

also It would behoove me to mention that in Florida there are no hills worth the while to mention.

[Steel]

i never leave my car in gear, but i hate it when people do (if they are lucky enough to drive my car). Luckily the parking brake on the Rex is DAMN STRONG , or else i would have smashed into 2 other parked cars by now. My pathfinder's parking brake holds aobut as good as a gay man holds a bar of soap in prison. But if i pulled it hard enough it would hold on a steep hill. still wouldnt leave it in gear, becasue the pathy's egnine was strong enought to make it go a good 4 feet befor it stalled.Drum brakes suck

[Moppie]

Originally posted by replicant_008
Duh... when I learnt to drive you got in, checked the hand brake was on, pressed the clutch, flicked the shift into neutral, turned the key, checked the warning lights and the gauges and hit the starter...

Here here!!!

Its how you should do it, it only takes a few seconds, and you know that everything is alright with the car before you go anywhere.



And yes leaving the car in gear on a steep slope can be bad for it if you do it often enough. The hand brake is there for a reason, and it should be used.


As for having to have your foot on the clutch with American cars, its a classic example of the dumbing down of society, instead of letting people think for themselves some cock head of a beurocrate who thinks he knows better decieds to do all the thinking instead.
The result is a population that is unable think for itself, but is easily controlled and lead like so many sheep. (about 270million of them now I think?)


As for Automatics that don't start unless there in park etc!

But I think there might be a good reason for it, most of it is certianly ppl being paranoid, but I think some modern Autos dont like beging started in drive. Its simply not good for them. (I have no idea why)

[shadowboy]

Originally posted by Moppie

Theres a very good and rational explanition for that, and the tech was not being an idiot. If you ever work in a Garage then you will get to move a lot of cars around, especialy inside the work shop, and if its a busy place, out side. There is nothing worse than trying to push a car back to make room, or align a car on the hoist, or jack it up and check the suspension and wheel bearings when the fucking hand brake is on.
It means extra work getting into the car, often through a gap that is way to small! (ever noticed how cramed into tight spaces many cars are in workshops. Or how close together the posts on a hoist are?).
So you save your self time, and the customers car dents in the door by habbitualy leaving the hand brake off, unless the car is being parked on an uneven surface.

that is still absolutely no excuse for leaving it off when the customer PICKS UP THE CAR after the work is done.

i used to park my car out of gear, with the brake on (integra).. but i don't do that anymore because the rear calipers have problems sometime siezing if the brake is on too long, so i got in the habit of parking with the car in first gear (facing downhill, or level land), or reverse (facing uphill)

[Twist]

Originally posted by shadowboy

i used to park my car out of gear, with the brake on (integra).. but i don't do that anymore because the rear calipers have problems sometime siezing if the brake is on too long, so i got in the habit of parking with the car in first gear (facing downhill, or level land), or reverse (facing uphill)

That's what I do. But i don't have the problems with siezing up. I'm just paranoid (and the brake isn't as strong as I'd like). I often times start the car up in gear (almost always first) and have never had a problem with it. :shrugs shoulders: Should I not being doing this?

Also I ALWAYS ALWAYS use the parking brake. Doesn't matter if it's a hill, flat or whatever. Doesn't matter if it's automatic ( ) or manual ( ). I also use in on occasion when I'm in traffic on a steep hill and some idiot comes right up on my rear bumper and I don't want to drift back at all. (i've had people get within an inch of me before!) :shakes fist:

[KatWoman]

I always use mine.