Sunday 12 July 2015

Do I really need to use the emergency brake when parking my car?

Technically, yes. In the Park position, the output shaft of the automatic transmission is locked in place by means of a pin inside the transmission. In other words, in 'Park' the transmission is locked up and the wheels can't turn. This is why people can get away with not engaging the parking brake. But the pin is relatively tiny and the transmission and output shaft are massive, and relying on this pin (called the prawl) places the entire transmission mechanism under stress. In park, a car can gently be rocked forward and back, evidencing the placement of stress and torsion on the transmission.
The parking brake (it is not typically called the emergency brake, at least not on european auto-transmission cars) engages a drum brake that while not nearly as strong as the disc brakes that you use while driving, are enough to keep the car immobilized.

http://ask.metafilter.com/129712/Do-I-need-to-use-the-emergency-brake-when-parking-a-car-with-a-manual-transmission

Pontiac Montana PARKING BRAKE

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