How would my car react if I pulled the e-brake while on the freeway?

Question

I am not thinking of doing this; i'm just curious. Let's say I was going 70 mph...would the car slow down gradually as though I were pressing on the brake, would the car just come to a sudden stop, or would the car start to skid? What would happen?

Answer 1

Actually, the emergency brake only affects the rear wheels, and is mechanical in nature. If you were going straight down the road and held the front wheels straight, and assuming the emergency brake is properly adjusted, it would just lock up the rear wheels and bring you to a relatively quick and loud stop. Since about 70% or more of your braking is done on the front wheels, your stopping distance would be considerably longer than if you just used the foot brake. ABS would not come into play, which is why I mentioned that the e-brake was mechanical. Fair warning,it is pretty tough on your rear tires! Also, if your front wheels were turned, even a little bit, it would probably throw you in a spin which would be almost impossible to recover from without releasing the e-brake. At that speed, by the way, you will probably do at least some damage to the rear brakes.

Answer 2

Accidentally pushed the e-brake once while looking for light switch in an unfamiliar car, and the pedal snapped back against my foot and vibrated for a couple seconds. The car spun, like the previous answer said, (which may have been from my jerking the wheel when it snapped against my foot)and then smelled awful for days afterward.
If you were going a slower speed, like 35, and found out your brakes had failed, you would need to steer into grass or the crub to slow your vehicle down and then apply the e-brake gently, and it would come to a stop.
Just don't do it unless you need to.

Answer 3

it depends on how hard you pull the brake, the e-brake isnt hydrolically assisted like the regular brakes so it takes a pretty good pull to lock up. your back tires will more then likely lock up, and you may loose control and spin around which would result in a wreck.

the e-brake is used by stunt drivers to start a tail whip type turn, where the rear end slides out int he corner. Also used in drifting to get the car sideways.

i wouldn't do it on the highway at 70, but its fun to play around with at slow speeds. NOT on a public road!

Answer 4

Applying your emergency brake carefully and gradually should stop the car, although more slowly than with your normal brakes.

If you apply your emergency brake too hard or too fast you can lock your tires and lose control of the car, the same as with your normal brakes. The car might even spin out.

Answer 5

You can take the shifter knob off and there should be a button on top u can push down and then move it in to park. it might have a screw holding it on or a clip. You n ever know about the damage. Since you pulled the E brake it might have caused the brakes to mess up and ur tires could be pretty damaged.

Answer 6

Emergency brakes are generally pretty weak and usually act on only 2 of the 4 wheels. You'd start slowing down. No biggie. If you yanked hard enough, I suppose you could lock them up and then would cause a loss of control.

Answer 7

you would slow down, it just uses you rear brakes only, it takes longer to stop. I had a brake line burst and I continued to drive home by downshifting and using hand brake to slow/stop, it takes about tripple the space to stop though.

If you lock the ebrake, it might make the wheels skid, if you would then steer you may spin

Answer 8

Most cars do not have an "e-brake." If you do, then you'll lock up your back tires and skid if you use it. A parking break wont do anything but burn out. It's only function is to keep a car in one place while parked, especially on a hill.

Answer 9

Depending on how fast you pulled the e-brake, it could gradually slow down or lock up your rear wheels.

Answer 10

watch the movie fast and the furious Tokoyo drift that pretty much sums it up not a good idea to do on the highway