Silly ME! - Handbrakes on Check!

Honest John Back Room » Motoring discussion
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Thu 4 Jul 2019 07:28
Silly ME! - Handbrakes on Check! - oldroverboy.

A summer smile for all and a reminder to SELF to put handbrake on PROPERLY and leave in Gear!

My driveway slopes down slightly to the front of the house.

The car is 181 cm wide.

The porch gap between walls is 186 cm wide.

Reversed in as usual. Put hand brake on and unloaded, went into house. Few minutes later heard a bump. Car parked neatly inside porch nicely between the walls, but not touching either. A plant pot by the step had stopped it so that the tailgate was still a bit away from the front door.

Huge sigh of relief.

I normally stop, Handbrake on, stop engine and in forward gear!

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Thu 4 Jul 2019 12:08
Silly ME! - Handbrakes on Check! - Falkirk Bairn

Unlike my driveway which is flat, the next door house has a steep slope for the last 12/15 feet or so down to the garage.

Not long after moving into the house the next door neighbour arrived home from work. Parked near the start of the slope, walked into the house, shut the door & then there was a might bang - car had rolled down, caught the middle of the bonnet into the brick side wall - wall was 100% OK but the car was needing 2 wings, bonnet, front grill, bumper.......... it was 6 mths old & promptly sold on it's return from the repairers.

He bought an automatic version of the same car which almost guarantees a non repeat.

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Thu 4 Jul 2019 12:18
Silly ME! - Handbrakes on Check! - bathtub tom

I saw a guy over the road park his car and walk to the front door, then promptly run down the road after his car.

Thought, | used to have a dog that chased cars!

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Thu 4 Jul 2019 12:43
Silly ME! - Handbrakes on Check! - primus 1
Many years ago I used to own an Alfa Romeo alfasud, I was visiting the in-laws, who then used to live in a bungalow with a very steep slope, I’d parked on the drive gone into the house, when I came out there was my car across the road, ( luckily they lived in a cul-de-sac) , sitting in the neighbours front garden, no apparent damage to car or garden but the house owner, had a go at me saying I hadn’t put the handbrake on properly, but I knew I had, although you begin to doubt yourself don’t you?, anyway, a couple of weeks later I reciieved a recall from Alfa stating that there was a possibility the handbrake could fail, even when applied properly, ever since then I always leave the car in gear, handbrake on, if I’m parked on even a slight incline...
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Thu 4 Jul 2019 12:35
Silly ME! - Handbrakes on Check! - Brit_in_Germany

Time for a car with an electronic handbrake which is applied when the engine is switched off?

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Thu 4 Jul 2019 13:35
Silly ME! - Handbrakes on Check! - daveyjp

Like the one on a friend's Vauxhall which let go and wrote his car off after it smashed into the front of this house?

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Thu 4 Jul 2019 16:03
Silly ME! - Handbrakes on Check! - Chris M

A former Hermes delivery driver of ours parked his 2010 Astra (with electronic handbrake) on a customer's drive whilst delivering. Car started to roll and he didn't want it hitting the customer's garage door so stood in front to stop it. Result - badly crushed leg and off work for months. Customer was apparently more concerned about his property than the driver's well-being. Gave up couriering after that.

Edited by Chris M on 04/07/2019 at 16:03

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Sun 7 Jul 2019 11:36
Silly ME! - Handbrakes on Check! - Lee Power

Time for a car with an electronic handbrake which is applied when the engine is switched off?

Peugeot 308 does this, switch the engine off & the electronic handbrake auto engages.

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Thu 4 Jul 2019 13:35
Silly ME! - Handbrakes on Check! - Andrew-T

(smugly) all three houses I have lived at over the last 50 years have had virtually dead-level drives. Very handy, push car in and out of garage without starting engine. Just need a timber stop-bar at the back to prevent damage to the freezer.

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Thu 4 Jul 2019 16:13
Silly ME! - Handbrakes on Check! - skidpan

At the previous house whilst our drive was virtually level the neighbours drive had quite a slope (probably 2ft in the length of a car). One morning during the winter the neighbour had his Ducatto idling away warming up and I heard quite a few expletives and went to look. Either the handbrake had failed or not been applied and the van had rolled back into the gap between his house and our garage. The gap was just bigger than the width of the van and whilst the van had not actually contacted the house or our garage it had folded the mirrors back and was neatly stuck. He could not open either door and since his only keys were in the ignition he could not use the locked back door for entry.

He phoned his dad to tow him out but when I left the Honda Accord would not budge it. No idea how he got it out.

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Thu 4 Jul 2019 16:37
Silly ME! - Handbrakes on Check! - Bilboman

A habit I got into after a visit to San Francisco is the third failsafe precaution - as well as engaging "opposite" gear and putting handbrake on I turn the wheels into the kerb if there is one, or failing that turned towards the direction of "least possible damage", so that if the very worst case scenario occurs, the car will roll towards somewhere innocuous such as an expanse of grass or convenient low wall, or even a lamppost or tree.
It is absolutely compulsory to turn wheels in towards the kerb when parked on San Francisco's legendary streets for very obvious reasons: American drivers tend to ignore the parking brake and shift into "Park" and rely on the tyres "biting" the kerb, which is a fairly reliable way of avoiding runaways.

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Thu 4 Jul 2019 17:36
Silly ME! - Handbrakes on Check! - bathtub tom

so that if the very worst case scenario occurs, the car will roll towards somewhere innocuous such as an expanse of grass or convenient low wall, or even a lamppost or tree.

Don't rely on lampposts, they fall over very easily - don't ask me how I know!

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Fri 5 Jul 2019 01:33
Silly ME! - Handbrakes on Check! - Avant

Every time this topic comes up, I'm amazed by the number of people who park their manual cars without leaving them in gear, as my parents taught me to do 50+ years ago when I first learned to drive. (And also to start the engine with the clutch pedal down....which on most modern cars you have to anyway.)

Not such a problem with automatics / DSGs, but if you park on a slope and rely on the transmission lock, it must put quite a strain on the system.

SWMBO and I have got used to the EPB engaging and disengaging automatically on Audis, but the autohold 'A' switch has to be on, and occasionally we find that it's turned off, possibly because we may have knocked it accidentally.

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Fri 5 Jul 2019 23:26
Silly ME! - Handbrakes on Check! - Smileyman

I only leave the car in gear when on an incline - then I park San Francisco style as already described - learnt that when holidaying in San Francisco not in the UK. In autos I use both hand brake and "P" setting, since I only drive autos if I've hired a car probably this confuses the hire company drivers as the hand brake is rarely engaged on collecting the car.

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Sat 6 Jul 2019 02:00
Silly ME! - Handbrakes on Check! - edlithgow

I always park in first gear.

When I worked for the NHS I drove a pool Metro which was parked in front of a granite block wall when not in use

Everybody hated me.

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Sat 6 Jul 2019 10:23
Silly ME! - Handbrakes on Check! - bathtub tom

My drive's on a slope and I had one car that had a habit of the handbrake sticking on if it was left applied over several hours, so I used to leave it in gear. SWMBO could never get the hang of it and would lurch forward on the starter.

Cost me a new starter eventually.

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Sun 7 Jul 2019 19:55
Silly ME! - Handbrakes on Check! - piggy

Don't you just hate it when people pull on the handbrake without pressing the knob on the handle. Sheer laziness!

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Mon 8 Jul 2019 09:47
Silly ME! - Handbrakes on Check! - paul 1963

Don't you just hate it when people pull on the handbrake without pressing the knob on the handle. Sheer laziness!

That's another one on my rather long list of pet hates!

I must admit that I never leave my car in gear, surely if the handbrake is adjusted correctly there's no need? Although to be honest I can't remember the last time I had to park on a steep slope.

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