10 bad driving habits that damage your car
#31
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■When parking the vehicle
Before you leave the vehicle, set the parking brake, shift the shift lever to P and
make sure that the vehicle does not move.
Before you leave the vehicle, set the parking brake, shift the shift lever to P and
make sure that the vehicle does not move.
#32
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We went down via the Ohio route and came back through Kentucky. Ky. seems to be the more scenic route coming from the north. I'll keep New River Gorge in the plan for a future trip. Thanks.
#33
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#34
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Originally Posted by JDR76
My owner's manual for my GS certainly directs you to use the parking brake:
#35
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I am an engineer, though in aerospace, not automotive, so take this for what it's worth.
We design parts not to fail when used and maintained properly. When a customer does not use something properly, there are no guarantees. That said, we do understand that failures happen, so we design back up systems.
In this case, the pawl would be designed to not fail when used as intended, and the parking brake would be the backup system, intended to take over should the pawl fail.
My assessment? Use the parking brake.
We design parts not to fail when used and maintained properly. When a customer does not use something properly, there are no guarantees. That said, we do understand that failures happen, so we design back up systems.
In this case, the pawl would be designed to not fail when used as intended, and the parking brake would be the backup system, intended to take over should the pawl fail.
My assessment? Use the parking brake.
Fair enough. I have an engineer in my family in the areospace industry, she has told me in the past that there are certain parts that are designed to never fail. Then there are parts that can fail etc etc. Then there is a varying degree of maintenance depending on circumstances.
As for the parking brake, never have I have ever heard of parked vehicle have the park pawl break thus letting the car loose. Perhaps there has been instances of the park wearing but I cannot see a major manufacturer designing a part that could fail while parked. This is why I had said that this article was kind of silly.
#36
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Just because you have never heard of a parking pawl fail does not mean that it does not fail. If your habit is to buy only new cars, the probability that the pawl on your car will fail is low; the probability will only increase with the age of the car. But if used as intended (with the parking brake as backup), the probability will remain low for the period that you own the car.
#37
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I am an engineer also and I agree with what JDR76 said.
Never say never. What we mean when we say that "certain parts that are designed to never fail", it means that it was designed to very likely NOT to fail during the design life of the product (airplanes typically are used for 30 to 40 years). But that does not mean that a part will never fail, before or after the design life of the product -- reliability is expressed as a probability measurement (e.g. likelihood of the part failing in X years is Y%) and you never have 100%.
Never say never. What we mean when we say that "certain parts that are designed to never fail", it means that it was designed to very likely NOT to fail during the design life of the product (airplanes typically are used for 30 to 40 years). But that does not mean that a part will never fail, before or after the design life of the product -- reliability is expressed as a probability measurement (e.g. likelihood of the part failing in X years is Y%) and you never have 100%.
#38
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i live in FL so parking brake is not really needed.
unless i park on someone's steep driveway. then i use it.
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#39
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There is one exception....and you will find it in some manuals. If you are parked in deep or wet snow on a fairly level surface, and there is reason to believe that snow/slush or water underneath the car could freeze up overnight (say, from a fast temperature drop), that could (?) freeze the parking-brake cable still, and not allow one to release it. Only then should one consider not using the brake.
#41
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I use the parking brake ALWAYS on a manual transmission car with the car in 1st. In automatics, only time I use it is on a hill.
I remember years ago renting a big box truck from U-Haul, it was a early/mid 90's GMC or Chevy "TopKick", ie their medium duty truck, interior looked like a late 80's/early 90's Chevy truck, same dash and cab. It was an automatic/gas engine combo(mabye a TBI 454 V8???), I remember the guy saying make sure you always set the park brake, because the transmission is screwed up and it will roll in park(probably a broken parking pawl from people putting it in park on a hill without using the parking brake) I was like okay, that's pretty janky, but the whole truck was pretty janky/beat up and had a bunch of miles on it, and it was the only big truck they had. First thing I did was drive the truck out of their lot and parked it on a hill, did just as he said, set the parking brake while in drive, then put it in park.
Took my foot off the brake, son of a ***** it began to roll down the hill. Took it right back and demanded they refund my credit card. Once they did that I cussed them up and down and sideways, man I've never been more pissed off in my life for them renting me something that was so damn dangerous.
I remember years ago renting a big box truck from U-Haul, it was a early/mid 90's GMC or Chevy "TopKick", ie their medium duty truck, interior looked like a late 80's/early 90's Chevy truck, same dash and cab. It was an automatic/gas engine combo(mabye a TBI 454 V8???), I remember the guy saying make sure you always set the park brake, because the transmission is screwed up and it will roll in park(probably a broken parking pawl from people putting it in park on a hill without using the parking brake) I was like okay, that's pretty janky, but the whole truck was pretty janky/beat up and had a bunch of miles on it, and it was the only big truck they had. First thing I did was drive the truck out of their lot and parked it on a hill, did just as he said, set the parking brake while in drive, then put it in park.
Took my foot off the brake, son of a ***** it began to roll down the hill. Took it right back and demanded they refund my credit card. Once they did that I cussed them up and down and sideways, man I've never been more pissed off in my life for them renting me something that was so damn dangerous.
#42
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Also, on a a manual transmission, if you leave it in gear when you park it, that more or less (but not exactly) acts as a transmission lock, and is a back-up to the parking brake.
Last edited by mmarshall; 09-16-16 at 11:17 AM.
#44
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Well, let's see.........you live in Ontario, where it gets pretty cold in the winter. Assuming you don't use an electric plug-in block-heater to keep the oil warm, I'd guess over-revving the engine too quickly when it's cold.
#45
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unless you're just on some serious next level subtlety and this is sarcasm, i'm going to guess he's talking about not setting the parking brake