Driving with the parking/e-brake on

[AmberClad]

I have to admit that I've accidentally done it a few times, usually during the day when the dash warning light isn't as obvious. And without apparent ill effect (I've always caught it within a couple of miles or so). Anyways, I was reading an article where a guy did this with a truck, and one of the tires caught fire :Q.

Is that really possible with a regular car? It'd be handy if the car had an alarm that sounded if both the e-brake is engaged, and the driver tries to accelerate...

 

[Pacfanweb]

All cars have a light that comes on when the E-brake is engaged. So does yours.

And yes, it can cause the same problems on a car.

 

[Zenmervolt]

How can your car even move with the parking brake on? Perhaps you should try setting it fully.

If I tried to take off with the parking brake on in my Volvo, I'd notice the fact that the rear wheels weren't turning pretty quickly, and in the 951, the engine would stall because the parking brake acts on the drive wheels.

ZV

 

[jagec]

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt
How can your car even move with the parking brake on? Perhaps you should try setting it fully.

QFT.

I don't mean to sound judgmental, but if you need an alarm to tell you to release the parking brake before driving, you should probably take the bus. What if, instead of the parking brake, the hatch is open? Or someone let all the air out of your tires? Or someone cut your brakes? You need to be able to quickly identify and react to these problems before causing mechanical damage or a safety hazard.

 

[AmberClad]

The driving characteristics of this particular car doesn't change noticeably at all when it's driven with the e-brake on. And when I've done it, I had a couple of other people in the car with me. Both of them drive this car from time to time too, and they didn't notice anything unusual either.

So, this isn't exactly like all those other things you mentioned, where I'd have to be completely oblivious not to notice them.

No, it's not some hunk of junk lemon, either, and it's a 2004 model. The parking brake does what it's supposed to when the car is actually stopped on an incline and the engine is cut.

 

[Regs]

I did that one too many times in my older car. Could stretch the brake lines or cause the ebrake to stick the drums while normal driving. That's if your car has drums.

 

[exdeath]

I've pulled away with the parking brake on, but first feels like 4th from a stop, so when you look down and see that yes it's in first, it's immediately obvious whats going on.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: AmberClad
The driving characteristics of this particular car doesn't change noticeably at all when it's driven with the e-brake on. And when I've done it, I had a couple of other people in the car with me. Both of them drive this car from time to time too, and they didn't notice anything unusual either.

So, this isn't exactly like all those other things you mentioned, where I'd have to be completely oblivious not to notice them.

No, it's not some hunk of junk lemon, either, and it's a 2004 model. The parking brake does what it's supposed to when the car is actually stopped on an incline and the engine is cut.

If you cannot tell that the parking brake is on when you pull away, then you didn't apply the brake firmly enough. Period. If the brake is applied properly, you will notice.

ZV

 

[exdeath]

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt

Originally posted by: AmberClad
The driving characteristics of this particular car doesn't change noticeably at all when it's driven with the e-brake on. And when I've done it, I had a couple of other people in the car with me. Both of them drive this car from time to time too, and they didn't notice anything unusual either.

So, this isn't exactly like all those other things you mentioned, where I'd have to be completely oblivious not to notice them.

No, it's not some hunk of junk lemon, either, and it's a 2004 model. The parking brake does what it's supposed to when the car is actually stopped on an incline and the engine is cut.

If you cannot tell that the parking brake is on when you pull away, then you didn't apply the brake firmly enough. Period. If the brake is applied properly, you will notice.

ZV

I embarrassed myself while helping my dad trailer a dead vehicle recently.

1979 Dodge truck with a 318 and 3 speed and we were hauling a 60 something Chrysler Newport. The starter was frozen so we ended up having to push it up the trailer, heavy sob.

Anyhow he was doing something and had me ease the truck forward slowly while positioning something with the car and trailer to take advantage of the terrain to make it easier to push the car up.

This truck isn't terribly powerful and had fuel pump issues at the time, and that car was heavy so I expected some heavy resistance; stalled it without budging an inch. Next time revved it a little before dumping the clutch to get it going. Big shudder like I was anchored to a sky scraper and stalled it again, didn't move so much as a 1/16th of an inch. I'm thinking damn that car is heavy...

Dad, who drove and parked at the current position before I got in, comes around and says "guess the parking brake works pretty good doesn't it?"

I'm used to hand brakes, it totally didn't register with me in a vehicle with a bench seat and a foot pedal parking brake and under dash release lever.

 

[Dudewithoutapet]

Well I feel that the passengers in your car wouldn't notice mainly because you are the driver, you should have noticed that your pushing on the gas more than you normally do. If the car is going, how the hell would your passengers know the difference. Well given the fact that you didn't notice and piggying back off of ZV, you probably weren't messing up your car as much as having e-brake pulled very high; that would probably lock your wheels more and cause more damage if you don't notice that. Now, I don't know THAT much about cars, but if you've done it a few times already, perhaps you kinda damaged the e-brake a bit already, so its not as strong anymore?

 

[AMCRambler]

My girlfriend did it when I had her drive my car on a trip we took. She's not too good with a standard, so what I'd do when I needed a break from driving was pull off in a rest area. I wouldn't pull into a spot but instead set it up so that all she has to do is get it into first without stalling it and away we would go. So I set the brake, get out and she hops in the drivers seat. I wasn't paying to close attention to her getting all set up over there as I was trying to find my seat belt and get a pillow out of the back. So she revs it and pops the clutch and gets it moving. And she starts telling me something feels wrong, it doesn't want to go. I'm like well give it more gas so she gives it the beans and gets us going pretty good but I can feel the hesitation in the car.
Now I'm trying to figure out what the heck it could be as she shifts to second. It's still bogging down but second in my Contour SVT still has some pretty good torque so it keeps accelerating albeit slowly. I'm still totally baffled but now I'm getting worried as we're on the ramp coming up to the merge. She shifts to third as I notice the red light on the dash and realize the problem. Now the car just bogs down and we're sort of maxxed out at about 35 and she's gotta merge! I'm screaming "It's the e-brake!" as a semi flies by at 55 and we're almost out of merge lane. She kinda freaks out and freezes up, so I grab the e-brake, slap it down, scream "Clutch in!", down shift for her to second, "Clutch up and floor it!" and we finally get some speed on us. Merging at 45 really pisses off the truckers, let me tell you. Thanks to her I will never forget to disengage the e-brake ever!

 

[soydios]

I did that once in a manual-transmission car while I was still learning. I was thinking "wtf, this is supposed to coast further after I let the clutch out! are all the tires flat?"

The engine in any car is far more powerful than the e-brake. In most cars, it's also more powerful than the main brakes, though not by much.

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: soydios
I did that once in a manual-transmission car while I was still learning. I was thinking "wtf, this is supposed to coast further after I let the clutch out! are all the tires flat?"

The engine in any car is far more powerful than the e-brake. In most cars, it's also more powerful than the main brakes, though not by much.

I disagree... most cars can decelerate from 60-0 faster than they can accelerate from 0 to 60.

 

[SVT Cobra]

It is not that big of a deal if you do it once or twice. Just don't make a habit of doing it or pull a huge load for a thousand odd miles.

 

[LTC8K6]

In most cars, it's also more powerful than the main brakes, though not by much.

Only if the brakes have quit working...

 

[jagec]

Originally posted by: soydios
The engine in any car is far more powerful than the e-brake. In most cars, it's also more powerful than the main brakes, though not by much.

That's not true at all. Stop on the brakes and the gas in ANY street-legal car, and you'll come rolling to a stop. This is not recommended, of course.

 

[alimoalem]

Originally posted by: Jeff7181

Originally posted by: soydios
I did that once in a manual-transmission car while I was still learning. I was thinking "wtf, this is supposed to coast further after I let the clutch out! are all the tires flat?"

The engine in any car is far more powerful than the e-brake. In most cars, it's also more powerful than the main brakes, though not by much.

I disagree... most cars can decelerate from 60-0 faster than they can accelerate from 0 to 60.

is it just me or does that sound like it'll only make sense in a perfectly frictionless world?

but i agree, soydios is wrong, as several have mentioned before me.


btw, those of you saying the car wouldn't move if the e-brake is properly engaged, i have a question for you. i only drive a MT sedan and an AT van so i never use an e-brake with an AT vehicle (our van just has the "P" option with no e-brake). my thought is that AT cars have a weaker e-brake cause it has the regular "P" for Park and the e-brake. idk if it's true but it make sense to me cause i have friends that have driven with the e-brake up in their automatics.

 

[LTC8K6]

I don't think they use a weaker e-brake on autos.

Some vehicles have an entirely seperate brake for the e-brake, some use the regular brakes as the e-brake.

I have a 1995 Taurus 3.8L with 4 wheel discs, a 1997 Z24 with discs/drums, and a 1996 Lumina company car with discs/drums. The e-brake works very well on all of them when it's properly adjusted.

I don't know how people with autos go without using the parking brake. Not using it puts so much strain on the park pin, and often makes it hard to get it out of park, particularly if you are on a hill. The park pin was not meant to do the job of a park brake.

You should let the park brake take the load, and then put it in park.

 

[jagec]

Originally posted by: alimoalem

Originally posted by: Jeff7181

Originally posted by: soydios
I did that once in a manual-transmission car while I was still learning. I was thinking "wtf, this is supposed to coast further after I let the clutch out! are all the tires flat?"

The engine in any car is far more powerful than the e-brake. In most cars, it's also more powerful than the main brakes, though not by much.

I disagree... most cars can decelerate from 60-0 faster than they can accelerate from 0 to 60.

is it just me or does that sound like it'll only make sense in a perfectly frictionless world?

but i agree, soydios is wrong, as several have mentioned before me.


btw, those of you saying the car wouldn't move if the e-brake is properly engaged, i have a question for you. i only drive a MT sedan and an AT van so i never use an e-brake with an AT vehicle (our van just has the "P" option with no e-brake). my thought is that AT cars have a weaker e-brake cause it has the regular "P" for Park and the e-brake. idk if it's true but it make sense to me cause i have friends that have driven with the e-brake up in their automatics.

Even in a "perfect" world, most cars are only accelerating with 2 wheels, and they brake with all 4.

I doubt your van actually didn't have an E-brake. You sure it wasn't an additional pedal to the far left, or a handbrake below and to one side of the steering wheel? Unless someone deliberately removed the E-brake for no good reason.

Even automatics should use their E-brake. The car rocking back and forth against the parking prawl isn't good for it, and neither is shifting out of Park while there's weight on the parking prawl. Sure, you can get away with it over and over and over, but it's still best to use the E-brake.

I take a ferry to work as part of my commute, and they always tell you to engage your E-brake. Yet every time we dock, I see a number of cars rock back and forth when the boat hits the stop. Not good for your transmission, and not safe for you to be on a moving boat without the extra level of security provided by the E-brake.

 

[Demo24]

Originally posted by: AmberClad
The driving characteristics of this particular car doesn't change noticeably at all when it's driven with the e-brake on. And when I've done it, I had a couple of other people in the car with me. Both of them drive this car from time to time too, and they didn't notice anything unusual either.

So, this isn't exactly like all those other things you mentioned, where I'd have to be completely oblivious not to notice them.

No, it's not some hunk of junk lemon, either, and it's a 2004 model. The parking brake does what it's supposed to when the car is actually stopped on an incline and the engine is cut.

what are you driving?


sounds like your ebrake is worn out for one, and most cars do have an alarm. I tested it in an accord (pulled it just enough to set off the light but not actually engage) and after about 100 or so feet the alarm goes off.