You can drive off on most autos without hardly noticing the handbrake is on.
You can drive off on most autos without hardly noticing the handbrake is on.
I took a police driving improvement course many years ago, and was taught that (crudely speaking) the gears were to make the car go, and the brakes were to stop it. The only fault they corrected me on during a practical assessment was that I hadn't changed down to the correct gear (directly, not through the box), before a hazard, and found myself 'over-geared' and coasting round a corner, instead of being under power.
It depends almost entirely on how hard it is applied. That's why I said up- thread 'and is applied properly'.
BTW, I don' think a cable-operated brake, which has been around for perhaps
100 years, qualifies as 'modern technology'! Modern technology is this respect would be electric handbrakes, where the applied force is not under the control of the driver. (These have been around since 2002, so maybe not that modern!)Oh, and autos, which make up about 25% of UK sales, do lock the transmission when in Park.
The primary benefit is better car control. Reducing the number of gear changes increases the amount of time the driver's hands are on the steering wheel, according to my driving instructor neighbour.
Chris
LOL. Good thinking!
Chris
In message , "Dave Plowman (News)" writes
By 'autos' do you mean 'automatics' or simply 'vehicles'? From my experience, what you say applies to most vehicles. [Don't you feel silly when you realise that you've done it?!]
In message , "Dave Plowman (News)" writes
I avoid having to waste my time deciding whether to leave the car in gear by always doing it. It's as automatic as putting your seatbelt on.
Once, I realised that was putting my seatbelt on simply to move my car a few feet from the driveway into the garage. [Not these days - too much junk in the garage!]
Similarly, after automatically putting my seatbelt on, I immediately automatically check that the handbrake is adequately applied, press the clutch and move the gear lever to neutral, and keeping my foot on the clutch, start the car.
This is true of hilly places, such as San Francisco, but not everywhere. In San Francisco, it is enforced even on level ground.
In some ways leaving a car in gear is more important nowadays than in the past, as anyone that has had their car roll away with the handbrake normally applied will attest. Many modern vehicles have disc handbrakes which have a tendency to release as the disk cools, some vehicles have very specific instructions as to how to apply the handbrake, others have added a spring loading mechanism to keep adding tension to avoid the problem.
Absolutely, however, I was mainly thinking for people putting their cars on sloping drives, most don't have a kerb to lean against, but a brick can easily be kicked into place.
Which can be difficult to release from Park if allowed to run back downhill against the pawl.
The big difference is that in the USA around 95% of cars are automatics, so putting it in Park is much more effective than leaving a manual in gear. The limited number of drivers that I know in the US pretty much never use the handbrake, they just rely on Park.
Chris
I take it you've not driven an auto for about 40 years? ;-)
Yes - it's possible with either. However I'd guess it's more likely on an auto since the handbrake isn't needed so much as on a manual - hill starts, etc. So possibly more likely to be forgotten. It would be by me - I never use it on an auto.
My handbrake self releases when I drive off and self applies when I turn the engine off. It's very rare I touch the handbrake. This does cause confusion sometimes when I use the wifes car which has a 'normal' cable and rachet setup.
Also, most American cars have traditionally had the foot-operated 'pump' emergency brake instead of a handbrake. The chances of them being usable in an emergency is zero. I found them worth using when parking on a hill, though, to prevent the pawl locking up and making moving out of Park almost impossible. Recently, US cars have been using more proper handbrake designs.
So best not to do it then.
Chris
Such new-fangled dumbing-down will undoubtedly become standard (indeed, one day we'll all be 'driving' driverless cars). However, having learned to drive on a car where double-declutching was required, for the time being I still like to be in charge, and I'm generally content with yesterday's good old tried-and-tested technology!
Whilst some folk may have called them "emergency brakes" they are nothing more than foot operated parking brakes in exactly the same way that hand brakes are just hand operated parking brakes. Both equally feeble when used for slowing a moving vehicle but better than nothing in an emergency.
Tim
I've driven lots of early UK autos. Never found any problem getting it out of park on a hill. So I'd be surprised if the US - the home of the auto - was any worse in this respect. It may require slightly more force on the gear lever, though, but never so much even the weakest driver couldn't manage.
The very first UK auto - Rolls and Bentley - had the parking pawl engaged by a solenoid after a particular sequence. (IIRC, you selected second gear (may have been reverse) and switched off the ignition) No actual park position on the gear selector. That could stick on a hill, but you merely made to move the car up the hill to free it. Ie, reverse or drive.
changing down through the gears when slowing down/approaching red traffic lights was part of the driving test when i took it in the sixties, i could not see the point in it even then.
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