handbrake on while driving?

Question

So i was driving home from school, and when i got home, i realized that my handbrake had been on the whole drive back!! I had forgot to turn off the handbrake.....first of all, can a car even go 60 mph with the handbrake on, cuz i did, and second, what damage may have been done? (it might be possible that i'm imagining all this and i simply pulled the handbrake when i got home but never realized that i did...but u never know)

Answer 1

Well, depending on how much contact was made with the braking surface (disc or drum) you'd have smelled the brake pads burning...it's a very distinct smell you'd have noticed when you got out of the car...like some sort of a synthetic burning smell (hard to explain). In reality, it shouldn't have done too much damage, especially if you didn't smell the pads burning, but it is possible that it wore them down a bit. Anymore damage than that, and you would've noticed it already.

Answer 2

it screws up the transmission. you have to do it a lot of times though, and while in the process of driving you would use a lot more gas than you usually would because it's much harder to accelerate seeing how the car doesn't idle when the emergency brake is on. yes you can go as fast as you normally would but like i said it would take more gas. i used to do it all the time in my ex's car but never told him cuz i didn't want him to get mad at me...hope i ****ed it up.

Answer 3

You might have burned down the shoes some, but I wouldn't worry too much unless you notice reduced braking power. Most of your braking power comes from your front brakes anyway.