What's the point of a parking brake?

Answer 1

This is why Driver's Education is an important part of school.

The parking pawl in an automatic transmission can break. When that breaks, there's *nothing* holding the car in place. This is because when the car is in Park it's also in Neutral, lacking a connection of the engine to the wheels. This is why, when you park a car with a manual transmission, you should put the transmission in First or Reverse, so that rather than roll as it would in Neutral, it'll have to move the engine. In either case (having a manual or automatic transmission), the handbrake should be set.

Also, as the handbrake is not hydraulic, it can be used as an 'emergency' brake should the hydraulic brakes fail (although it only works on one axle and stopping distances are greatly increased.)

Do NOT use the handbrake to augment emergency braking when your car's normal brakes are working. This will simply cause the wheels on that axle to lock up, causing skidding and loss of the ability to steer the car, and may also increase stopping distance because of the coefficients of starting and sliding friction. (This is easy to illustrate by imagining the amount of effort it takes to slide a cinder block across concrete-- it's easier to keep it sliding once it starts than to start it sliding in the first place. The same thing with tires-- the moment you enter a skid it skids more easily than it would roll under heavy braking.) It's called the "emergency brake" solely because the emergency that would require using it is failure of the normal braking system.

Answer 2

The point of a parking brake or emergency brake
serves two functions.
One to provide a alternative braking solution
to standard hydrualic brakes or service brakes.
It eliminates the hydraulic master slave cylinder
actuation system and uses a electronic cable
or mechanical actuation system.
Another function of the emergency brake or parking brake
is to protect the transmission and drivetrain from collision
lash.
Example: vehicle is parked with transmission in park the parking pawl locked for an automatic or a manual transmission with the transmission in low gear.
The collision will drive the wheels through the differential system through the universal joints and trasnmission.
Now if that system is immobilized by a physical mechanical impairment something has to take the brunt of the force.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand_brake

Answer 3

It is unfortunate you should ask such a question, because it points out the weakness in American driving. Many people do not have knowledge and principles of driving. No wonder there is an accident like every 6 seconds or something in America. Parking brakes are essential for Manual transmission, else you would be hard pressed to park in many areas.In the face of an accident, the average point A to B car can only stop from 120-150 feet from 60mph. Using your parking brake however will greatly improve your chances of stopping sooner. This is why, parking brakes were called EMERGENCY BRAKES. Good to know many people do really think about using the E-brake in case of an accident.

Answer 4

First answer is incorrect. In manual transmissions, you park the car in reverse or first gear, and this accomplishes the same things that the automatic car would do if left in "P".

The hand brake has the following possible uses:
-To assist in starting up a steep slope when driving a manual transmission. In this case, there is a risk of the car rolling backward when you try to engage first gear. To prevent this, you can use a little bit of hand brake (holding the button down).
-Extra protection when parking the vehicle (whether you have an automatic or manual transmission). The brake locks the rear wheels, so that if the car were to slip out of gear, it still wouldn't move. In reality, of course, I've never heard of parked cars slipping out of gears, unless we're talking about some ratty old junk box.
-A high performance driver with a manual transmission can use the hand brake to "turn on a dime". (e.g. you start by going forward and all of a sudden you are point 180 degrees in the opposite direction).

Answer 5

On a manual transmission , it will hold the car on a hill.. It can help a beginner when they try to get started going up hill and have to juggle clutch, brake , and gas.

On an automatic it will hold you on a hill and will do so better than "park". Sometimes if you put a car in park on a steep hill, it will be difficult to take it out of 'park' when the weight of the car is holding it in

In all cars, it is a mechanical system in the unlikely case that the hydraulic system totally fails

For some people it is a handy device for making dramatic U-turns

Answer 6

Its purpose is to keep the vehicle stationary when not in motion. Basically added security for a automatic transmission and a manual transmission. Also in case your regular brake system fails you have your Emergency brake/Parking brake Lever. It's set up seperate from your regular brakes in which the regular brakes all wheels try to slow down. With the Emergency brakes only the rear wheels have stopping power.

Answer 7

i own a shop and its good to have a parking brake on any car even if its an automatic,because in some cases automatic can jump out of park so they put the brake on there as safety device,and especially on standard shift cars they wont always hold there self in gear,many have been known to actually jump out of gear and roll away,so with an extra brake on there,you stand a better chance of the car not getting loose on you ,good luck i hope this helps.

Answer 8

In an automatic transmission car the E-brake serves as a back up if you park on a hill. It also takes the stress off the transmission if you park on an incline. It is mostly a saftey feature. (of coarse you could use it to drift)

Answer 9

so when your car is parked, and with the parking brake engaged, your car wont roll anywhere. not so important for auto transmission car but important for manual

Answer 10

in cars with a manual transmission it is used to stop the vehicle from moving while it is parked because most of them are not in any gear like in an automatic which has a park gear that will stop the car from moving. in automatics it is to provide added security to make sure that it is not moving when you dont want it to.