Does the parking brake help preserve an AT?

[T-Keith]

Again, I've never even heard of a parking prawl breaking or coming off when parked. Heck I've seen people put a car in park at 10mph and the wheels locked up. If it can withstand that it will last a long time. Then again most of my experience is with GM products, perhaps some manufacturers have inferior parking mechanisms.

Sound like something for the over-paranoid, not a necessity.

 

[gedcruise]

I was just giving you a little nudge, Dawg.
Manuals are becoming very much the minority choice. An American Honda manager was quoted as saying, upon the introduction of the current gen Accord, that the four cylinder automatic is what paid everyones' salaries.
Hondas have usually been pleasant shifters, and my wife has been driving a stick since she had her first car (a VW bug), so we are just used to driving them.
Finally, you get to master interesting skills, like clutchless shifting. This is pretty easy with a tach, and about 150K+ in wear on the Honda transaxle. Do it right, and it just drops into gear with perfect smoothness.

 

[BradC]

I always use the parking brake with AT, whether on a slope or on a flat surface.

It was a habit I got into when I was able to drive MT and just kept doing it. If nothing else, it keeps the parking brake from seazing up from non-use.

 

[Ray H]

Quote:

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Keep the pressure off the transmission by applying the brake, setting the transmission to neutral, putting the parking brake on and then setting the transmission to park. It makes no sense to risk the longevity of your transmission when you can take unnecessary pressure off of it.

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Good advice - except for one pesky little detail. It only applies to rear-wheel drive vehicles. By setting the parking brake (acting on the rear wheels), the load of the vehicle will not be transferred to the transmission in the event of a rear end collision since the braked rear tires will skid rather than roll. But, in a front wheel drive vehicle, the front wheels are connected to the transmission output halfshafts and will merrily attempt to roll even though the rear tires are skidding when some dizzy-brained soccer mom with a cell phone growing out of her right ear plows into your pride and joy. The pawl in the transmission will probably break and send you to a transmission repair shop to make a hefty donation to the owner's kids' college fund.

(Note to JohnBrowning: I'd like to see the parking pawl inside an automatic transmission that's made of nylon plastic, by the way...

)

 

[JohnBrowning]

Actualy T-Keith in all of the cases I have seen it was an older rear wheel drive GM car. Rember age and neglect does strange things to all makes and models.

 

[LouDawg]

Quote:

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I was just giving you a little nudge, Dawg.
Manuals are becoming very much the minority choice. An American Honda manager was quoted as saying, upon the introduction of the current gen Accord, that the four cylinder automatic is what paid everyones' salaries.
Hondas have usually been pleasant shifters, and my wife has been driving a stick since she had her first car (a VW bug), so we are just used to driving them.
Finally, you get to master interesting skills, like clutchless shifting. This is pretty easy with a tach, and about 150K+ in wear on the Honda transaxle. Do it right, and it just drops into gear with perfect smoothness.

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No offense taken. If it were up to only me, I'd love to have a manual. Since I drive a lot of highway miles, it's not a big deal to do a lot of shifting anyway, and it'd be perfect for me. And they're much more fun, and they get better mpg, if you don't hotrod them.

 

[moribundman]

When parking, I always pull the hand brake. Then I put the transmission in 1st gear or reverse, depending on direction of incline. If you never use your supplemental brake it will not work when you need it.

 

[TheTanSedan]

I always use the parking brake. That "someone hasn't had a problem" isn't much of an argument in re safety. Dumb luck is more like it. And parking pawls are NOT sturdy by design. They're a help at best, not a first-line safety device.

It only takes one wreck. Or one wrecked transmission.

I start an auto with foot on service brake and release parking brake on oil pressure rise. A running vehicle should always have a brake engaged when not moving (see vehicle code for your state).

 

[Bryanccfshr]

I set mine on inclines and in my driveway. On my rear drum brakes the parking breaks acts as a rear brake adjuster as well so it is good to use often.

Also it keeps the weight of vehicles off the driveline. Has anyone ever driven an automatic against a parking curb and with their fot on the brake place the vehicle in park then later not be able to get the vehicle out of park? If that is not convincing enough I find it easier to switch into gear or reverse from an incline if when I parked the vehicle I set the Parking break before returning the transmission to the park position. I also never trusted my manual transmissions to stay in gear on inclines so the parking break is smart there too. i have seen pawls fail on autos myself.

 

[Trucku]

I put it on every time If am on a incline I put the truck in nuetral then engage it. When they engage and the truck stops moving, I put her in park. If I don't engage it on incline I have to yank on the column shift lever and you hear a bang to get it out of park.

 

[oli]

Some (possibly many) states have laws requiring the parking brake to be used if the vehicle is parked on a public street or in a parking lot that the public has access to. Read your owners manual. If you didn't learn this in drivers ed, then you should take a refresher course. In some rare cases transmission damage can occur because people don't follow instructions.

 

[gedcruise]

Huh. This "law" is probably as well observed as are speed limits.