Makes little or no sense to me. If it's so hard on the tranny why would the manufacturers have a 'park' position to start with? Why not just a neutral slot?

I've used auto trannies most of my life (68 years) and have yet to have 'any' tranny problems. I rest my case.

Can it hurt to use the e-brake? Probably not......but that said......who says you need it?

 

i cannot believe that some of you guys never use the emergency brakes ,, and some don't even know hot to use it!!

i think it's so deadly to the tranny if you don't use the e-brakes,the whole weight of the car will be leaning on your tranny!

what i do everytime is:
put it to N then engage the emergency brakes and let it settle on the e-brake then put it in P.

 

Just 'thinking' it is deadly to the transmission doesn't mean it is. Hundreds of millions of cars are sitting around right now in parking lots and garages WITHOUT their parking brakes engaged. If it was so harmful to tranmissions everyone of these folks would eventually have a problem. But they don't. I've never, ever had any sort of transmission problem in all of the years I've been driving. If I'm parking on an incline I certainly use the e-brake, but on a flat parking spot, or in a parking garage, or my own garage.....Never.

Your procedure is interesting, but don't think it is accomplishing anything other than making you feel good.

 

I always use it. Have done so in every car for many years. It's one of those things that's just second nature. With a stick it's a must and you're crazy for not using it. With an auto, not sure why someone wouldn't use it, but hey, it's not my car they're parking, so do what makes you happy.

 

Parking an auto without usign the ebrake places a lot of stress on the parking pin on the tranny. My parents/friends have gone for years without using the ebrake when parking their cars and nothign bad has ever happend. Does that mean I do it - NO! If you park without using the ebrake will it cause catastrophic damage to your car, highly unlikely. If you use it, it i will minimize wear on the tranny pin and give you some use for your parking brake on your auto tranny.

 

Well put. The "pin" is called a "pawl" and if you saw one you would use the e-brake every time you parked. At least every time you parked on any type of incline. When the weight of the car lurches back (or forward depending on which way the car is pointing on the incline) and then rests on the "pawl" the entire weight of the car is held by that pin/pawl. I've seen those parts and it really does behoove us to use the e-brake and make sure that the weight of the car is first held by it. Will the tranny fall out of the car if we don't? Probably not but to me using the e-brake is like many of the other things we do to care for a car we love.

 

olny thing the e brake is good for is playing in the snow in a fd car going sideways. ps make sure the car is rented ir a pos and not a lexus

 

I always do it, and yeah, I prefer the e-brake near the shiftleaver on the armrest as well.

 

I use the parking brake everytime I park my IS...

 

90% of the time.

 

You can buy into those theories all you want and if it makes you feel good, go for it, use the brake religiously. But I know better and I can prove it. I've been in Kansas for nearly 8 years and it's flat here and I hardly ever never use the parking emergency brake. No problems, my car has never moves and I've never damaged my transmission.

If I were in San Fran and I parked on those hills, of course I would use the brake because not only is it the law but also it could prevent a runaway car. Cars don't usually run away down Kansas streets lol.

 

the "whole weight" of the car doesnt lean on the tranny, that terminology is very misleading

 

Good or bad, right or wrong, it cant hurt to use it while in park.

 

well i can understand if you live in a flat city its fine not to but theres a bunch of hills where I usually park so i use it all the time. (besides most of my previous cars were manual so im used to pulling the ebrake)

 

Give me a break (not the emergency one). Unless you are parking on a steep grade, why bother. I have never heard of anyone having problems as a result of not engaging the emergency brake, in fact you are more likely to cause damage driving off with the emergency brake on, which could happen when on the floor as with most automatics and not so obvious.