Why do American cars rock back when you put handbrake on & why don't they have a normal handbrake?

Dogbreath · 24 Jan 2017 at 09:51

paradigm said:
That's not a parking brake, just a parking pawl, and the reason the English do it is because we have a little thing called "mechanical sympathy"

chroniclard · 24 Jan 2017 at 10:15

My 340i does it a little bit.

[TW]Fox · 24 Jan 2017 at 10:26

chroniclard said:
My 340i does it a little bit.

Every automatic does it if left in park. It has nothing to do with country of.origin.

chroniclard · 24 Jan 2017 at 10:33

[TW]Fox;30432664 said:
Every automatic does it if left in park. It has nothing to do with country of.origin.

With the handbrake engaged?

[TW]Fox · 24 Jan 2017 at 12:26

chroniclard said:
With the handbrake engaged?

Pretty much any car will move forward a bit if you apply the handbrake and then release the footbrake on a hill.

This is a really odd thread. Will there be a follow-up about cars that move when you use the throttle?

Ryan-3 · 24 Jan 2017 at 12:37

Did you know the wider the throttle opens, the faster it goes*. The engine will even scream along with you on the ride.

*if the thread can be this simple, that statement can be too.

acemastr · 25 Jan 2017 at 16:02

paradigm said:
That's not a parking brake, just a parking pawl, and the reason the English do it is because we have a little thing called "mechanical sympathy"

On flat ground it makes no difference, I use the handbrake on a hill though, the thud of taking it out of Park isn't nice

Lashout_UK · 25 Jan 2017 at 16:39

I use the handbrake everywhere, because I don't want the car rolling off if it drops out of park - or if someone shunts it and smashes the parking pawl. Unlikely, but I'd rather do everything I can to prevent an accident or issue.

OllyM · 25 Jan 2017 at 17:04

acemastr said:
On flat ground it makes no difference, I use the handbrake on a hill though, the thud of taking it out of Park isn't nice

Florida has hills?!

Blackhawk47 · 25 Jan 2017 at 17:30

Go to 10:40 on this video.

This is why...

ttaskmaster · 25 Jan 2017 at 17:39

Amp34 said:
The footbrake is annoying so rarely used IME.

First few times I drove the wife's Merc, having come from a manual car, I went to use the 'clutch' and nearly applied the parking brake!!
You get used to it, though and pulling the hand lever to release it felt like casting off the docking clamps on a spaceship.... which n that huge great boat of a Merc wasn't so far from the truth!

Amp34 said:
Makes it fun when switching between a VW and a Ford, you have to reconfigure your brain each time, or you turn the windscreen wipers on when trying to put it in drive...

And ^that is why I hate driving the wife's new CR-V - I go to turn on teh lights and wonder why it ain't workin'.... until I realise I'm trying to twiddle the shifter.
Stupid thing also blocks the central air vent in Drive, so my left hand stays freezing cold while the right burns!!

Ryan-3 said:
The engine will even scream along with you on the ride.

Except in England again, because we change up the gears, because... you know... mechanical sympathy.

Joe T · 25 Jan 2017 at 19:47

Lashout_UK said:
I use the handbrake everywhere, because I don't want the car rolling off if it drops out of park - or if someone shunts it and smashes the parking pawl. Unlikely, but I'd rather do everything I can to prevent an accident or issue.

Indeed, it's hardly a lot of effort to go to to be safe.