Parking/emergency brake

“Also, if your car has rear disc brakes you must use the park brake to keep the rear pads adjusted since the park brake is part of the piston in the rear calipers.”

Sometimes, depending on the design of your rear brakes.

“Also, if your car has rear disc brakes you must use the park brake to keep the rear pads adjusted since the park brake is part of the piston in the rear calipers.”

Sometimes, depending on the design of your rear brakes.

It happened to me once after driving in slush. That was a '67 Valiant so maybe it no longer applies.

and…?

If your car would move after setting the automatic transmission in park, the pawl can jam. It’s hard to get them to release. Sometimes you can do it by rocking the car. I always set the parking break before putting the car in park, it’s just better driving, I think. Bootlegger turns are made by applying the rear parking brakes while turning the wheels, but they aren’t enough to stop the car at speed.

yes the park brake can stop you at speed,just takes a little longer,just do what you are programmed to do.

HAVE A GREAT DAY!

and… what? Even cars with rear disc brakes may have a small drum brake just for the parking brake use. More usually, rear brakes are drum because most of the braking effort is by the front brakes (which are usually disc today). Drum brakes are usually self-adjusting, but the mechanism works only when braking while moving in reverse. The parking brake has no effect on adjustments. It’s something of a misnomer to call it an “emergency” brake, as it has very little stopping power. It’s really only useful to cut the chances of the vehicle rolling on a hill.

The “and…” was that the whole discussion was about all of the good reasons there are for using the parking brake. A suggestion was tacked on to another set about the possibility of an additional positive benefit. A response was made that said the benefit may not exist. Granted, but is that any reason not to use the parking brake? So, for the comment to make sense it should have said “and…[some reason not to use the brake]” That’s all. And in many cars, it is the use of the parking brake that keeps the rears in adjustment.

Absolutely wrong about the EMERGENCY brake function. When the brakes on my VW station wagon failed, I drove 40 miles in stop and go traffic to get to Paramus, NJ in rush hour traffic up to 50 mph. The EMERGENCY brake allowed me to do this successfully. Needless to say, I also used the PARKING brake function, for redundancy.

whats a park brake? me no not know.

mmsamma out

The parking (emergency brake) is the cable (arm) mechanism that sets the rear brakes manually and holds them in place until the cable tension is released. It’s called the parking break, because it keeps the rear drums locked when the car is parked.

I meant brake not break. Maybe I need to take a break. LOL

I only use mine when I park on an incline. In NH that’s often enough that it gets used a few times a week minimum, enough to keep it functional.

It’s a parking brake when your brakes are working properly…and an emergency brake when you suddenly discover they aren’t! Just don’t keep driving using it once you have the car stopped. Do that and you’ll be pushing your luck.

Drum brakes are usually self-adjusting, but the mechanism works only when braking while moving in reverse. The parking brake has no effect on adjustments.

Depends on the vehicle…because my Pathfinders and my wifes Accords rear brakes adjusted by applying the parking brake. Each time you engaged the parking brake it actuated a little lever that turned the adjusting spindle.

As was mentioned, it’s a PARKING brake and not an EMERGENCY brake for good reason.

When you’re driving down the road and you press the brake to stop and the foot goes all they way to the floor with little to no resistance because of hydraulic failure…I suggest you use the PARKING brake to PARK until the tow truck comes.

I recently posted on this adjusting the rear brakes issue, on my 2002 Sienna. The dealer recommended adjusting the rear brakes, and cleaning them for like $80. I was unhappy why I was expected to pay one cent to adjust self-adjusting brakes.

The service writer on my next repair checked and told me the rear brakes are adjusted by exercising the parking brake, period. Backing up is no longer used because it over-does it. He also admitted they just assume people don’t use parking brakes, so they recommend the adjustment without even checking them.

I spend most of my time in the mountains. I don’t even have a flat place near my home to check the oil. So, my brakes are well-adjusted all the time. At 141,000 miles of mostly highway driving, the rear brakes do not yet need replacement. i did the pads in front at I think 85,000 miles or so.

I am impressed at how long and varied the discussion has been, following my original post. While reading some of the posts stating the brake is a “parking” and not an “emergency” brake I first thought it was just an old fashioned name until realized that the olden days cars were all standard shift and didn’t have a parking choice on the grar shift. That is probably why my parents continued to call it an emergency brake. I am almost all the way used to driving an automatic and I habitually use the parking break because it is a habit of 48 years. For you youngsters out there, I got my license in 1960 when I was 16. By then student drivers were no longer required to take the test drive in a standard shift. I had a choice of two standards or one automatic in the family. I chose the bubble gum pink automatic '57 Pontiac. Now THAT was a dandy car :wink:

Three speed with a parking brake (ratchet type) pull-out lever. Yes?

Another difference is that on old cars with drum brakes the “full service” rear drums braking systems were used as parking brakes as well. Many modern cars with 4-wheel disc brakes have cast into the center of the rear discs itty-bitty drums that contain itty-bitty shoes that really aren’t designed to be capable of stopping the car.

But, as I mentioned, If I suddenly lose my brakes I’m pulling the “emergency brake” handle! You might tell me I’m wrong on the internet, but you wouldn’t if you were in the passenger seat next to me!

Hummm. I do recall a car of yore that had that type of brake. I can’t be certain the Pontiac was the one.