Accidentally left handbrake on for the first ten seconds of IMO carwash?

[Mike 2121]

Hi guys , long time no see/hear? 😃

Im probably being silly/daft but i forgot to release the handbrake for the first few seconds of being pulled by the IMO Tesco car wash,  will this cause any problems or issues?

Car seemed ok driving home 🤔

[Saxmaniac]

Shouldn't do any damage, handbrake will stand being dragged along for a bit 

[Cyker]

Yeah, you won't even have flat-spotted the tyre for such a short distance. I drove off with my handbrake stuck on in winter once as my street was icy, and it didn't 'release' until I hit gritted tarmac (That was a scary noise!  ), but the car was fine!

 

[Guest]

Drum brakes, I know and different model, but a couple of winters ago the rear brakes literally froze on. It was the morning after washing the car and I usually leave the handbrake off because of this reason. I didn't!

It took some driving forwards and backwards a couple of times until freedom. Both rear tyres did drag until the brakes released. No harm done. Although the excercise did throw up an ABS code which had to be cleared. Chucking hot water at the drums might have avoided the black rubber deposits on the road no doubt?

 

[AisinW]

It does not damage anything at that speed and less than 5 minutes.  I forgot my handbrake on my Altima 02 for 5 minutes 2 miles driving at 50mph. The brake gets really hot but nothing is wrong. Just let them cool down. 

My friend forgot the handbrake and drove for 8 miles, at the destination, he almost cannot brake or stop the car because the brake fluid was boiling. Part of it, his brake fluid  on the Nissan sentra 98 was 10 years old and never get flushed. 

In Auris2, it will beep annoyingly when you forget the handbrake. Corolla has electric parking brake, it is automatically engaged and disengaged. 

[Guest]

At least some of us do use the handbrake.😄 We seem to be following the U.S. describing it as the parking or "E" brake and just not using it.

Is this where sitting at a red traffic light, at night, has come from? Blinding the driver behind.

My Granddaughter (yes I am old) has recently passed her driving test. The use of handbrake looks to be discouraged now when learning. I went out with her once in her own little KA and had to intervene twice by pulling on the handbrake. First time at a junction, downhill emerge, she stalled and rolled into the main road! Second time, rolled backwards at an uphill emerge. Her instructor has a Fiesta with a "conventional" handbrake, never used except when parking and hillstart assist. Hence thinking the KA was the same.🙄 My daughter asked the instructor about this and she said that it's rarely used now because it's all about "making progress". Yes, into the car behind or in front!

Sorry, mini rant over.😎

[Cyker]

Instructors do vary greatly - I had all the clutch control and handbrake to move of stuff drilled into me by my instructor and I believe my driving was all the better for it - When you can smoothly move off into traffic on a steep hill in a gutless manual BSM Corsa you can drive anything  

I think I used the handbrake much more than the vast majority of drivers - It's also why I was usually first away at the lights in my manual cars - While everyone else was moving their foot off the brake pedal to the accelerator, I'd already be dropping the handbrake and accelerating!

It's why I'd disliked automatics until I got the hybrid - No normal autobox had the reaction speed from a standstill of the good ol' 1st gear+biting+handbrake combination.

Alas that's no longer a thing in the Mk4 so I've been forced to join the blinding brakelight brigade  

[Trewithy]

18 minutes ago, Cyker said:

Alas that's no longer a thing in the Mk4 so I've been forced to join the blinding brakelight brigade  

I don't understand that remark.  I don't use brake hold or keep my foot on the brake pedal.  When I stop at a red light I just flick the parking brake switch up (although I may keep my foot on the brake pedal until the car behind has stopped) then when I apply the throttle to pull away the brake releases automatically. It is not difficult or problematic and when you have done it a few times it becomes an automatic reaction, you don't even have to look down to see where the switch is.

[Rhymes with Paris]

I have noticed a lot of cars with stop start on the offside in traffic, maybe they have other tech too.

A lot of times, I let them in when they have to get to the nearside lane , while thinking that they are driving something far exceeding their driving ability.

I don't do the boy racer thing of drag strip accelerating to keep them out of the inner lane, but admit that it's tempting when they obviously assume an old Yaris is just in the way, and not capable of out accelerating their multi £1000s new flying machine.

 

[Cyker]

58 minutes ago, Trewithy said:

I don't understand that remark.  I don't use brake hold or keep my foot on the brake pedal.  When I stop at a red light I just flick the parking brake switch up (although I may keep my foot on the brake pedal until the car behind has stopped) then when I apply the throttle to pull away the brake releases automatically. It is not difficult or problematic and when you have done it a few times it becomes an automatic reaction, you don't even have to look down to see where the switch is.

I posted the alternatives and why I don't use them in another thread, but in the case of just using the EPB, it's too slow, I'd have to look down every time (It's small and recessed and near-impossible to get at quickly by feel alone), and the car constantly strains against it when it's on because you can't disable the motor creep.

If I'm going to be waiting for a while I'll slide the shifter to P, but otherwise the brake-hold releases far quicker than the EPB does, doesn't trigger warnings from the hybrid system, and stops MG2 straining against the brakes.

 

[TonyHSD]

Slow crawling in traffic with frequent stops starts I only use footbrake and remain in D, if I stop for longer than a minute than I can do handbrake and for you either way you prefer but remember if you have a hybrid the car should stay in D, R or P and not in N, using handbrake parking brake or brake hold as per your car capability. These days almost no one uses handbrakes and neutral as per the book even and police cars, its an old school thing that may well disappear soon. To prevent your eyesight from the powerful stop lights of modern cars just leave extra gap between the car on the front, job done. 👍

[Derek.w]

Years ago it use to happen all the time and no handbrake light was fitted you can tell by the feel or engine somtimes  cut out.

[Roy124]

With the Mercedes I only every put it in Park.  When it had been valet parked it was invariably with PB set

  As the parking brake was pedal operated it didn't invite routine use during driving. 

[TonyHSD]

31 minutes ago, Roy124 said:

With the Mercedes I only every put it in Park.  When it had been valet parked it was invariably with PB set

  As the parking brake was pedal operated it didn't invite routine use during driving. 

All Priuses has the same pedal operated parking brake , kind of like it. 👍

[Rhymes with Paris]

Oh , I didn't know about the pedal brake on the Prius.

That's those off the possibles list then for me.

Obviously suit some drivers, but I test drove an old Merc a few years (might have been decades) ago , and really struggled to release it, I tried the press and release, but it just kept getting tighter on ,managed in the end, but it was difficult for me.

Are they all like this? Or maybe it was me not used to them.

 

[Cyker]

I always got confused by pedal-operated PBs  

Some you push in and it makes that horrible ratcheting sound, then you  push it more and it releases, but others you have to pull a totally different lever to release it!

I would always ask myself, why make this, what was wrong with a tried and tested normal hand brake??    

3 hours ago, TonyHSD said:

Slow crawling in traffic with frequent stops starts I only use footbrake and remain in D, if I stop for longer than a minute than I can do handbrake and for you either way you prefer but remember if you have a hybrid the car should stay in D, R or P and not in N, using handbrake parking brake or brake hold as per your car capability. These days almost no one uses handbrakes and neutral as per the book even and police cars, its an old school thing that may well disappear soon. To prevent your eyesight from the powerful stop lights of modern cars just leave extra gap between the car on the front, job done. 👍

Yeah, that's the kicker - Even driving instructors, black cabs and police cars all seem to have their brake lights on when stationary, which did put me very much in an "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!" frame of mind when trying to decide what to do in the Mk4.  

Out of curiosity, does yours 'pull' against the handbrake when it's engaged? The biggest reason I use the brake hold and not the EPB is the MG2 creep straining against the EPB; If I engage the EPB and let go of the footbrake it makes the Yaris lurch horribly as the car releases the hydraulic brakes to only hold on the EPB. The only way to make it not do that is to go to N (Which as you alluded to is not a good idea in the HSDs!), or P, which is slow, flashes the reverse light, and I'm slightly worried about the parking pawl from incidents mentioned in much older threads!

 

[TonyHSD]

6 minutes ago, Cyker said:

I always got confused by pedal-operated PBs  

Some you push in and it makes that horrible ratcheting sound, then you  push it more and it releases, but others you have to pull a totally different lever to release it!

I would always ask myself, why make this, what was wrong with a tried and tested normal hand brake??    

Yeah, that's the kicker - Even driving instructors, black cabs and police cars all seem to have their brake lights on when stationary, which did put me very much in an "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!" frame of mind when trying to decide what to do in the Mk4.  

Out of curiosity, does yours 'pull' against the handbrake when it's engaged? The biggest reason I use the brake hold and not the EPB is the MG2 creep straining against the EPB; If I engage the EPB and let go of the footbrake it makes the Yaris lurch horribly as the car releases the hydraulic brakes to only hold on the EPB. The only way to make it not do that is to go to N (Which as you alluded to is not a good idea in the HSDs!), or P, which is slow, flashes the reverse light, and I'm slightly worried about the parking pawl from incidents mentioned in much older threads!

 

Prius parking brake very simple and easy, just press once and brake engages , press second time and it clicks and the brake disengage. For the other questions I have no idea, Auris does not have any extras like yours and has an old school hand brake , very good for fun turnings in the snow 🏎👌 For keeping in N its fine but may start to beep and display message Battery low shift to D or P, other than that no problems keep in N, but really its no need to switch gears and applying parking brakes, just stay in D as everyone else. 

 

[Derek.w]

I can remember a car its handbrake was like a walking stick with a ratchet down one side.

[Rhymes with Paris]

Derek, was it one of those cars where you reached through the top of the door to get to the handbrake outside of the cabin on the running boards?

The bonus with those was you only needed to buy one right glove in winter 🥶 unless the gear lever was out the other door on the left. 😆

 

[Roy124]

Muy Mercs had a 'handle' on the dash, pull to release.  It was definitely not designed for use en route.