Update on informal poll RE brakes...

[seawasp]

To add my own data point, I call it an emergency brake. I've hardly ever used it for parking, unless I had to park on someplace incredibly steep. I drive a manual transmission, not automatics, in case that's of interest.

I would therefore never think of calling it a parking brake, since I don't use it to park, but HAVE used it on three occasions to stop a car whose brakes had failed (and on one such occasion, had to keep driving that car without main brakes for about a week).


It's clear that "emergency brake" is still fairly commonly used , but only, it appears, in the USA, and handbrake and parking brake are common, becoming effectively universal outside the USA. This fits with a Usenet conversation I have been in.

Comments

[mariness.livejournal.com]

The one time my brakes failed and the steering wheel locked up I apparently didn't have time to reach the parking brake -- which on that model was under the dashboard and not easy to reach in case of emergencies. But maybe if I'd thought of it as an emergency brake the car might have slowed down a touch.

(I wouldn't know; I still have amnesia for most of the accident.)

[autopope.livejournal.com]

It's not an emergency brake -- that implies it's for use only in emergencies -- or a parking brake -- that implies it's for use only when parking -- it's a hand brake, i.e. a hand control you use when your left foot is busy with the clutch and your right foot is busy with the accelerator.

You use it for parking, sure, or in emergencies, but you also use it routinely when carrying out a hill start (i.e. all the time in busy traffic in this part of the world). In fact, you can't pass a UK driving test unless you learn to use it as a hand brake while making a hill start on an inclined surface.

(Unless you drive an automatic car during your test, in which case your license only permits you to drive automatics, which are maybe 10-20% of the cars on the road.)

[claidheamhmor]

This.

[seawasp]

You see, these conversations are the only time I've ever encountered the idea of using a brake, especially the emergency brake, to prevent roll on hills. I've very rarely used it for parking, and I've *never* used it on a hill, no matter how steep; that's what clutch control is all about. On a *very* few hills I've found it important to have my one foot start revving the gas just before moving from the brake, so I suppose if I wanted to try using the emergency brake there it might have been useful, but it would never occur to me.

But, as I said, I've used it several times for emergencies.

[autopope.livejournal.com]

We have lots of steep hills with traffic lights on them. Clutch control is important, too -- you'll fail your driving test here if you roll back at all on a hill -- but they insist that when stationary at lights or for more than 10 seconds on a hill, you use the hand brake. Then successfully execute a "hill start", going to throttle-and-clutch-at-biting-point while the hand brake is engaged, then disengaging the hand brake without rolling back, and accelerating away.

Because we don't come with two left feet and a right foot ...

[ricdavis.livejournal.com]

Isn't routinely balancing the car on the clutch when stopped on a hill rather deleterious to clutch plate life?

[rdmasters.livejournal.com]

Only if you do it for too long. You are expected to perform this routine miracle for about 1/4-1/2 a second as you transition from stopped to moving.

[ricdavis.livejournal.com]

seawasp wrote:

"You see, these conversations are the only time I've ever encountered the idea of using a brake, especially the emergency brake, to prevent roll on hills. I've very rarely used it for parking, and I've *never* used it on a hill, no matter how steep; that's what clutch control is all about"

That to me reads as "I've never used the brake to hold the car on a hill", which implies mucho clutch slip.

[seawasp]

When I'm stopped and not moving, I use the regular brake. But that's not to "prevent roll", it's because I'm stopped. The only time I'd be rolling is when I'm not stepping on the brake, and that's when I'm using accelerator and clutch. No, I don't sit there for 30 seconds with the clutch engaged, hovering on the slope.

I've never used, nor thought of using, the emergency brake in that situation. On *very* steep hills I've done heel-and-toe to activate the accelerator while I'm letting go of the brake so the engine's already up to speed by the time I engage the clutch.

[rdmasters.livejournal.com]

Here in Western Australia we have the same rules and test requirements as the UK (at least as far as hill-starts and stopping goes).

[claidheamhmor]

Handbrake.

I'd never leave a car without using it; it's designed to hold the car stationary, and while a gearbox can, I would rather not put any unnecessary strain on the drivetrain.

[k-kinnison.livejournal.com]

really only good for a parking break.

Too often when trying to use it as an emergency break the cable will break off from the handle