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Yes. My 2001 Tacoma has a pull brake lever on the lower dash just over my right knee, all tucked away in its own dedicated cubbyhole so it is a foolproof design. It has come in mighty handy when I've been parked on a steep uphill and I needed to work that brake with the gas to shove-off from the slot. Your point is very good.
Yeah I think Nissan used that same design. Getting back to the old GM/Ford/Dodge trucks that had the floor mounted parking brake and rolling back on hills, can you imagine being on a really steep hill, with a 5000lb trailer behind you and trying not to roll back without using the hand brake???? All that quick footwork is going to put a mean shock on the drivetrain and probably spin the tires or you will stall the engine.
I've never even considered using the handbrake when moving from a stop with a manual on a hill....that's part of the skill involved in driving a manual.
I've never even considered using the handbrake when moving from a stop with a manual on a hill....that's part of the skill involved in driving a manual.
Yes, without a hand brake, or the aforementioned Hill-Holder features, it definitely takes skill....and quick footwork. Some drivers (who don't know any better) hold the car steady on the hill by just slightly engaging the clutch, which adds a lot of heat, and wears out both the clutch-lining and the clutch-disc in a hurry...........not to mention the pressure-plate and throwout bearing.
On the ES 330 I had, the foot parking brake is very close to your left shin when not set. I maintain that the foot parking brake is a terrible, stupid, and unsafe design.
Not sure what that video has to do with the foot brake, and the foot brake wasn't even mentioned when they wrote the description of the dummy's injuries.
If it were an unsafe design, you'd see them stop using it.
I know Lexus uses the left foot parking brake, but its only on automatic models. I'm pretty darn sure that they use the good old console mounted hand brake on manual transmission cars, the few that Lexus has made(early 90's ES300, SC300, early 2000's IS300, and 2nd gen IS250 all had console mounted handbrakes)
I think it's a flawed design, anyone may not. That is OK.
If you worked for the IIHS and had some insight or experience with actual data other than pictures on the Internet, none of which actually show damage being done by that pedal that may have some value.
I'm not qualified to draw any conclusions from those pictures other than what the IIHS posts as a conclusion, and neither are you. If the placement of the foot take had the potential to cause injury, they would have commented on that. As it is, those passenger areas are so deformed foot brake or not the occupant is going to sustain significant injury.
You also haven't posted any pictures of newer cars that do far better in those small overlap tests but still have a foot pedal parking brake. The new ES for instance scores excellent...still has a foot brake.
You don't think the IIHS would have something to say about these pedals causing injury in these crashes? I think they would.
It would probably depend on which way the dash panel above it deforms from the actual crash, and the amount of space the the drivers' side air bag will cushion in the actual impact. The pedal might (?) be blocked from coming up in the impact by the dash-panel itself and the air bag. No two vehicles, of course, will be exactly alike in this manner, and a further complication is how the drivers' seat is adjusted. As I see it, only the actual test itself can determine what would happen in each case.
06-03-16, 05:50 PM
