Driving with Parking Brakes Engaged

[Sudhakar Shekar]

I have committed this mistake couple of times, may be drove around 3-4 kms in total with the hand brakes ON. Car is very new and I wasn't very used to this parking brakes, but realized that the brakes are ON very soon every time I repeated the mistake.

how does this affect the Rear Braking system of the car, when I spoke to the Service Advisor at MASS he said that it doesn't affect the braking system but puts load on the engine and affects the clutch.


Well, I haven't noticed any difference in the braking as of now, but would it have affected anything internally ?

 

[Shantanu.lko]

Re: Driving with praking brakes on

how does this affect the Rear Braking system of the car, when I spoke to the Service Advisor at MASS he said that it doesn't affect the braking system but puts load on the engine and affects the clutch.

This affects the rear brake shoes. When the parking brake is engaged a cable pushes the brake shoes towards the drum. As the car starts moving, the brake shoes start wearing out due to the friction between the drum and shoes. If you drive with hand brake pulled, the engine will be affected at it would require more power to rotate the wheels.

To avoid this mistake, make a habit of disengaging the parking brake before shifting to the first gear.

 

[Ad!tya]

Re: Driving with praking brakes on

+1 to Shantanu. This will lead to excessive wearing of the rear brake shoes.

One way is to check the meter console of the car. If handbrake is pulled, it will show a warning light like "(!)". This is the case in my Alto. I think, most of the cars have it.

 

[350Z]

Re: Driving with Parking / Hand Brakes On

I have committed this mistake couple of times, may be drove around 3-4 kms in total with the hand brakes ON. Car is very new and I wasn't very used to this parking brakes, but realized that the brakes are ON very soon every time I repeated the mistake.

You have raised this question on right time. Although I have a habit of checking the hand brake and gear lever before switching on the car but somehow this happened with me last week after refueling the car. Thankfully, I realized the parking brake was engaged before moving out of the fuel station. I don’t think it would have caused much damage in my case. Anyways, You should be cautious if this is happening often as it could affect the braking system in long term and of course, cause the premature wear of the brake pads. Make a habit to check the hand brake before setting off or at least keep a check on the instrument cluster for any indications.

Drive Safe,
350Z

 

[gns_blr]

I have committed this mistake couple of times, may be drove around 3-4 kms in total with the hand brakes ON.

Is it Possible? which car it is? Running 200m with Hand brake ON will definetely make your drive uncomfortable.
I too tried few times to move the car unknowingly when handbrake is ON. But there was an abnormal sound which alert me and immediately released brake every time. Now I have a habbit of startig the engine as soon as I enter then release handbrake before shifting gear.

 

[freakdude]

3-4 kms of driving with the hand brake pulled wouldn't have caused any damage to any of the engine/clutch/braking components apart for a severely heated brake pads. As far as your brakes are working fine then nothing need inspection. If you feel the lack of bite in the brakes then get them checked. Also, as a future safety measure, make a habit to have a glance at the dashboard for any indicators lit before moving.

freakdude.

 

[sanket91]

It happens to a lot of people I guess. Pretty common. Main thing is to look out for is as you pick up on 1st gear there will definitely be a strained sound from the engine. That sound should be a definite indicator. Release the brake and the sound should go. If you notice the sound in the 1st gear itself, there should not be a lot of strain since you wouldn't have driven more than a kilometer. Keep it in mind. Hope it helps!

 

[autosafari]

Sometime ago, after driving 10 km to service station (for routine service), realised that hand brake is engaged.

During this 10 km, there were spead breakers, potholes and upward slopes and did overtake a few cars too. It was strange that I did not notice anything unusual and also failed to notice the warning light in instrument panel.

Anyway nothing happened as per SA.

Similar case - of driving with hand brakes engaged - happened 2 more times with the same car (5 to 6 km each time).

Hand brake is still effective and no other issues so far.

 

[fusion_defusion]

I was planning to DIY this stuff a long time ago, to purchase an aftermarket seatbelt warning buzzer and connect it to the (!) light circuit. But its still in planning stage I have no idea where to lookout for parts in pune, I especially want that "tang tang tang" seatbelt buzzer which is fitted in i'20's.

 

[rajvardhanraje]

I experienced a similar incident a few months ago. We were in a friend's Linea (I wasn't driving). After about 3-4 kms we noticed some burning smell which eventually made us realize. The person driving the car didn't feel anything different while driving.

 

[Silver Dove]

This happened to me a lot of times and still the car (M800) works fine , handbrake is still effective. the strain and top speed is felt when you accelerate with hand brakes also zittering is felt at speeds of 40 to 60 in my M800 while hand brake is on. so far no problem.

i had one question does it damage the cylinder of the drum brake

 

[sethumurugan]

i do this mistake regularly with my M800. When I checked with service guys they have told me if I do this regularly then my break as well my clutch plate might get affected. Never did this more than 1 KM. 200 KM is big surprise for me.

 

[Prads]

I have never done it so far,been pretty precise with my handbrake & seat belt manners.

But i remember some 8 years ago,one of our workers took our Santro to get something,the moment i heard he had taken it,i yelled at my manager for allowing him.I was almost sure he would have left handbrake on as he was used to driving jeep(jeeps dont use similar handbrakes) & never used a car before.

After car came back from the 5 km drive. I rushed to check on the car. As i got near i could see the rear drums smoking white.
It smoked like that for around 2 mins,had a bucket of water kept around in case we spotted fire. After 5 mins (expecting things had cooled off) poured water on the rear drums,the thing kept smoking even after pouring around 4 mugs of water.

Since they were drums i dont thing there was any damage other than pads, but in our rear disc cars am sure we will end up with an expensive bill.

 

[generalmax]

Whenever this happened to me ,I performed to more actions.
First I do a small break test on the car myself by going on a non crowded road as well as check the effectiveness of the parking brake.
Second tell the service guys to check and R&R the rear breaks during the next visit to service center.
T

 

[soumen.sam]

@ Sudhakar Shekar it’s a common problem for most of the new drivers. This is just a thing of habituate. If you can make it a habit, always check the hand break before moving the car after start then its fine, otherwise big problems.

Like other said this will reduce the life of the break pad, clutch, rear break strength (if cable type) no issues with hydraulic rear disc brakes.

In my old car I too had the same thing, it has a wire type rear drum break and by time with these mistakes the rear break looses its capacity, but didn’t found any damaged with the clutch since last 10 years. I did this mistake many times earlier.

The warning sound system like the seatbelt is a good idea but doing this is time consuming. I will try this with my new car too if I get time.

The best solution for you is which I did, if you cant make yourself habituated to check the HB each time, then never use it and instead use 1st gear. Whenever you park the car put it in 1st gear and leave. It will work similar. I’ve been doing this since last 10 years and use the HB unless I parking at a slope.