Emergency Brakes

[aps45819]

Tracey's Ford Explorer had a strange set up.. .

OK :shrug: maybe I exaggerated by referring to a Ford as being designed by experienced, well educated engineers

 

[desertrat]

I always use my parking brake when parked as proscribed in my owners manual.

I use the hydraulic brakes in all other situations.

What's an emergency brake?

Tracey's Ford Explorer had a strange set up.. 4 wheel disc.. but the parking brake was a drum, on the inside of the hub.. made it a real pain to remove the rotor .. And the pads were the cheapest.. lost all the pads when I forgot to disengage the brake in San Souci. Not even a 1/4 mile down the road I realized I forgot the brake went to pull over and "pop" all the pads let go.

One that works when your hydraulics fail. Like the explorer. Like my chevy truck.

 

[migtig]

OK :shrug: maybe I exaggerated by referring to a Ford as being designed by experienced, well educated engineers

They probably used interns. :shrug:

I drove a manual most of my life and tend to set the emergency brake out of habit. I also have tried to park my automatic car in neutral a time or two (out of habit) and found out that the car is so smart it won't let me turn it off unless I put it in park.

 

[Beta84]

I think person even told me its bad to use the emergency/parking brake on automatics. Any validity to that? :shrug:

it's bad when you're driving, that's for sure! As Bob said, it can wear down the pad pretty easily...especially if you forget to pop out of it when you start driving which, to me, is a flaw -- it should NOT be allowed to happen. I honestly don't know when I'd need it in a normal driving situation, but if my normal breaks fail I guess I'd at least try it then. Otherwise, only when I'm parked on a steep hill.

 

[Cowgirl]

Use it all the time in the truck (manual), we now use it in the AWD Explorer because the front drive shaft is out and it'll roll if we don't use it. We only use it in the car if it's on a steep hill.

 

[K_Jo]

San Francisco hills.

I love your hills.

 

[Otter]

I love your hills.

Mt Helen or Mt Keller?

 

[desertrat]

They were pretty good for gettin' the rear end around on a gravel road.

 

[Floyd2004]

Always with a manual transmission and only when needed in an auto.
I also leave my car in 1st never in neutral.

 

[aps45819]

They were pretty good for gettin' the rear end around on a gravel road.

We still talking about RR's hills?

 

[Dye Tied]

Always with a manual transmission and only when needed in an auto.
I also leave my car in 1st never in neutral.

I had to use it once when my brakes went out on 235. That and downshifting got me to a stop.

 

[RoseRed]

I love your hills.

Mt Helen or Mt Keller?

How did I miss this?

 

[GWguy]

It used to be called an emergency brake back in the days when there was no power assist. Pressing the brake pedal or pulling on the emergency handle had basically the same effect (although you were only activating the rear brakes). In today's vehicles, if you loose engine power, you've basically lost your brakes as well. You can pretty much stand on the brake pedal and hope you don't get a cramp while praying that you don't slam into something! The "emergency" brake is no longer called that for a reason, it's not for emergencies. It's for parking, although if you had a situation, I would attempt to use it regardless of what it's called.

And for those of you that have ever seen that little, tiny piece of metal that gets wedged in the gears when you put an automatic in PARK, you'd probably never depend on it again and would use that parking brake. It's not much of anything and can easily be broken.

 

[glhs837]

It used to be called an emergency brake back in the days when there was no power assist. Pressing the brake pedal or pulling on the emergency handle had basically the same effect (although you were only activating the rear brakes). In today's vehicles, if you loose engine power, you've basically lost your brakes as well. You can pretty much stand on the brake pedal and hope you don't get a cramp while praying that you don't slam into something! The "emergency" brake is no longer called that for a reason, it's not for emergencies. It's for parking, although if you had a situation, I would attempt to use it regardless of what it's called.

And for those of you that have ever seen that little, tiny piece of metal that gets wedged in the gears when you put an automatic in PARK, you'd probably never depend on it again and would use that parking brake. It's not much of anything and can easily be broken.

Oh, I dont know about that. Now, most folks would give half hearted attempted, and think they had no brakes, but even without the power boost, you still have brakes, just takes %150 more effort than your used to. Still little enough that any healthy human can do it.

Having rebuilt a C4 in my basement once, I know whereof you speak, and agree completely.

 

[bohman]

And for those of you that have ever seen that little, tiny piece of metal that gets wedged in the gears when you put an automatic in PARK, you'd probably never depend on it again and would use that parking brake. It's not much of anything and can easily be broken.

And, it can easily get wedged in there and make it difficult to get the car back out of Park.

I use my parking brake all the time, even on level ground. Don't need it on level ground, but it's a good habit.

And pardon me for having a Black Francis moment in this thread, but they are BRAKES, not BREAKS, you big dummies!