Are you Jim Rockford? Does your lifeplan include doing quickie J-turns in the middle of the street? If you answered yes to either of those questions then you might be a candidate for a hand brake-equipped car. Now, to be honest, Rockford’s Firebirds all came with a floor-pedal brakes, but hand brakes can make his eponymous moves all the easier.
Emergency – or parking – brakes are features all cars have, but unlike steering wheels and cup holders, not all cars treat them the same way. The foot-operated brake is perhaps the most common, especially in American cars. The handbrake – typically a console-mounted lever – can be a lot (pun intended) handier, especially if you live in a hilly town like San Francisco. The other option is never using the auxiliary brake at all, common among auto-trans users, and even some stick shifters who are satisfied with just leaving the car in gear. We’ll ignore the automatic brakes as those are too fancy for our blood.
The different means of brake locks align with different driver habits, and today we want to know your preference for parking brake type. What’s your poison, foot, hand, or no brakes at all?
Image: Hyundai-Forums
Hooniverse Asks: What's Your Preference – Foot Brake, Hand Brake, or No Brake?
By Robert Emslie
Jun 11, 2015
Jeff Glucker
Two of the three vehicles in our household have foot brakes that release with a second press. When I occasionally drive my parents cars, they all have foot brakes that release with a pull handle (I think). I always use the parking brake, but occasionally I end up popping the hood instead of releasing the brake in an unfamiliar car. I think I prefer the hand brake.
Malaise Cadillacs such as my Eldorado have vacuum-operated automatic brake releases. There is a little latch you can use if the system malfunctions, but there is not a release with a handle shaped like a hood release.
Hand brake, because of the way it can be used as a convenient auxiliary hill holder with a manual clutch.
Hill holder. Is that like the self-slipping clutch on these newfangled Kias?
Noob mode.
More like “guy behind me at a stoplight is trying to crawl up my tailpipe” mode.
He’s not as close as you think. How far are you rolling back? Tricky clutch in that new ‘Zuki?
Also, I was referring to the clutch on the Kia (which I can’t find evidence of now, but I swear I read about it a couple of years back) as newfangled, not the hill holder. My 2002 WRX had one (supposedly, ’cause it did roll back some, just slowly).
Nothing to do with the Kizashi. As a teenager, I once rolled back a little too far in my mom’s Tercel, the first manual I drove. Caught it from the guy behind me, and again from mom when I got home. I’ve been paranoid ever since.
Those older Tercels also had the lovely problem of a high clutch point and no torque. Not my favorite manual car I’ve ever driven. They’ll work for longer than your refrigerator though. Durable little shitboxes.
I had an ’88 Tercel in college and I lived on the side of one of Seattle’s steep hills. I got really good at hill starts. Never gave me any trouble. Only ever needed oil and an air filter. I have no interest in ever owning another one, though.
Sounds about right, great little cars for reliability, terrible cars otherwise.
Ah.
My dad drilled me over and over on hills in the ’88 Ram50. It had decent clutch feel, though — nicely progressive engagement.
When I tried to drive my friend’s ’91 Accord LX the first time, it was like operating a switch. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Engagestall.
Happened only once, though. I’d rather give it too many beans and chirp ’em than roll back if I’m driving a car with an on/off clutch.
No one has ever accused me of having a surfeit of mechanical sympathy, though. I have had the following things said to me while driving:
– “Are you sure you don’t want to slow down for this turn?”
– “I’m not sure that was illegal, but it sure seemed like it should be.”
– “I felt like we were going to roll just then.”
– Deep breath, followed by tightening the seat belt and gripping anything solid.
This is mostly in my past — I used to be a serious asshole on the streets. I attribute the boldness to youth, learning to drive in a compact pickup on country dirt roads, and time spent autocrossing and learning what a car felt like at the limit.
Time and a very slow car have helped to mellow me, though I still have bouts of insanity (for example, I know where the speed limiter kicks in on the Odyssey), but it has been well over a decade since I used a handbrake to rotate a vehicle, as the last vehicle I did that in was a Saturn SL, which I sold coming up on 10 years ago.
Nothing compares to driving a small, light truck with manual steering and a stick on dirt roads for giving you confidence in any car on asphalt.
I contend that a 91 cheorkee with 32×11.5’s and no brakes is a pretty fucking great confidence builder as well.
I told my girls when teaching them to drive a stick that if they’re on a hill and have trouble, just give it a lot of gas and drop the clutch. You’ll make a lot of noise and look like a fool, but you (likely) won’t stall it and you won’t roll backwards.
Also, my daughter’s ’98 Escort clutch is a lot like that Accord. one of the most unforgiving sticks I’ve driven. When she got the chance to drive my Mazda3 she was quite envious.
Yep, my 1998 ZX2 had a clutch that gave a lot of people fits. Notoriously difficult clutch.
I used to laugh if we took one in on trade when the lot guy would go to move it. I would get a few of the sales guys around to watch him stall when he went to go.
Plus the most vague shifter I’ve driven. Only feels vaguely connected to anything. Like a broom handle in a bucket of molasses.
When I first learned to drive a manual (30+ years ago, in a ’77 B-210 hatchback, 5-speed), I rolled back (gently) a couple of times and used the car behind me as a hill holder. Fortunately, both times they were cool about it. Today, I’d probably be dodging bullets.
sounds like that scab hasn’t completely healed over
I know Jeep started putting them in the Wranglers with the JK.
And certainly not “newfangled.”
http://galleryplus.ebayimg.com/ws/web/290702273882_1_0_1.jpg
They are a little older than that:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2CzHo15JsP4/VK0kyBuxaqI/AAAAAAAATEI/GzaIoT3ud9s/s1600/1937Studebaker1a.jpg
(see just above Exciting 1937 Studebakers)
Like this?
Clever, but I don’t roll back. I either move forward normally, stall, or chirp the tires, but I do not roll back. My dad drilled it into me that it’s the worst thing you could do in a manual hill start.
But I learned to drive on a compact pickup with ~85hp, so maybe that set me up for being able to hill start anything. Either that, or I’ve just never driven a hard-to-start vehicle.
My 2015 Mazda 6 with manual trans. has a system that automatically applies the brakes for 2 seconds once the system senses the car is rolling backwards. It works brilliantly!
Um… congrats on your manny-nanny?
Sorry, I’m being a bit of a dick about this. I’m not sure why everyone bemoans driver nannies like stability control, but there seems to be a love-fest here for the hill holder.
If nothing else, the Mazda version of “hill-holder” (originally a late 1950s Studebaker innovation if memory serves) is just a clever application of technology developed for anti-lock braking systems. It requires no additional hardware, just a little coding in the brake system controller. The result offers added confidence for the manual transmission driver. Seems like a winner to me….no known drawbacks. Stability control is different. If it can’t be fully deactivated, it impedes hoonage, which is indeed A SIN!
You’re not alone. I started driving manuals in Seattle, WA and then moved to the San Francisco Bay Area. I have never used a hand brake for hill starts, and I’ve been doing them for so long, using the foot brake on a motorcycle to help hill starting feels weird. If you know where your catch point is, you just need to be smooth and a little quicker moving from the brake to the the gas than on the flats, and it’s fine.
If I got a car with a hill hold, I’d figure out how to disable it.
From what I remember, it can be a little dicey to disable them, though — as Roger Henry notes above, they often are implemented via the ABS system, so it’s not as straightforward as pulling a fuse (at least, not if you want your brakes to continue to work as-designed). My WRX has a hillholder set up the same way, which I hated when I got the car. I hate it less now that I’ve learned to work with it, and on occasion it’s nice not to have to think about a hill start, but I still wish I could have simply done without it and forced myself to get better at hill starting without the assistance. Weirdly, from what I understand the STi of the same generation has a button to disable the hillholder, but the WRX does not provide that option. That initially gave me hope that there should be a simple way to defeat it in the WRX, too, but I haven’t come across one yet and am not perturbed enough about it to search through the service manual schematics and try to figure it out.
On my Spyder RS-S, the parking brake is a small push-on, push-off foot pedal; my wife’s RT has an electric dash switch.
— I can disengage the pedal on my Spyder and roll it around without
having the key on me. The RT requires me to go get the key to move it.
Advantage pedal.
— If someone else were so inclined, THEY could disengage the pedal and roll my unattended Spyder around, something they couldn’t do with my wife’s. Advantage switch.
I have twice been in situations (one ice, one moisture) where a vehicle with an automatic transmission was immobilized because of a stuck parking break. I do not normally use them except on those now-rarer occasions I have to park something with a stickshift.
Handbrakes are more preferred for stunt driving, I suppose, but they get in the way the rest of the time, unless it is dash-mounted. Foot brake is fine for me,
Passats with automatic e brakes became a point of ridicule during winters here a time ago. Hand brake engaged automatically, also in typical freeze-the-brakes-weather.
Hand brake. Had to tell my wife to put the hand brake on first, then put the cars in gear. Otherwise you leave pressure on the engine without there being any point to it. My ’71 145 had the hand nrake lever on the left hand side between seat and door, instead of between seats. Very odd, but I became quickly used to it.
Similarly, I had to train the wifey to keep her foot on the brake pedal while engaging the footstomp parking brake.
Showing her a diagram of how a parking pawl works, and how small of a piece it actually is, was a one-and-done habit changer for her.
Hand brake! Helpful for low-speed hill-holding and manuevering.
HOWEVER, hand brakes interfere with my desire for a bench seat…unless it’s the excellent design of the Toyota/other Japanese pickups dash-mounted hand brake: http://pad3.whstatic.com/images/thumb/b/b4/Free-a-Frozen-Parking-Brake-Step-2.jpg/670px-Free-a-Frozen-Parking-Brake-Step-2.jpg
That was a nice system in the Tacos. That is until you bent it with an overly enthusiastic entry.
Early Ford Mustangs (and Falcons) had those as well, but on the left.
Mavericks did as well.
Bleh…..I hate Mavericks…….!
I was fine w/ the foot parking brake in my 2010 Challenger R/T 6-speed thanks to the hill hold function in the ABS. The 2015 R/T 8-speed doesn’t need hill-hold help and I prefer center console space over a lever I’ll rarely use.
It is EXTREMELY flat where I live. The only “hills” are either sloped up driveways or boat ramps. I don’t think I’ve ever used the foot actuated brake on my truck.
The rest of the fleet have manual transmissions and they do get engaged often – must be force of habit as simply leaving them in gear is plenty sufficient. The Saab is a hand brake, the GTX and the old F-150 are both foot.
When I were an insolent lad who wouldn’t shy away from a handbrake 180 in midday traffic if I needed to make a U-ey, I would have said the handbrake was indispensable. And if I ever get another FWD manual car, I’d still want one.
Now, since both my current cars are self-shifters, it’s a memorized motion to hold pressure on the car’s main brakes with my right foot on the brake pedal and stomp the foot brake with my left.
For an automatic, foot brake, because a proper design obviates the need for a center console. For a manual, I can go either way.
Fair enough, but a hand brake doesn’t inherently require a center console.
http://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4121/4886398672_a9969e8b52_z.jpg
Indeed, and technically, a shifter doesn’t even require a console around it, either.
Particularly not if it’s on the steering column.
Wait, there was a 140 with column geering?
Yes, but apparently not for the US. The guy who got me hooked on the SAAB 96 is now a Volvo fanatic and tells me they were available in Sweden and perhaps elsewhere.
Scroll down to “pg. 21 OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS” here:
http://new.volvocars.com/ownersdocs/1970/1970_140/70140_01.htm
You know an option is obscure when our CEV hasn’t heard of it!
I agree with those who said that a handbrake is best for a stickshift car while a foot brake is OK for an automatic.
My Sable and Lightning had a foot pedal parking brake, the Sable’s release stopped working over time, so when my grandpa borrowed it for a drive to the store, he couldn’t get the light to turn off. The brake wasn’t engaged, just that the pedal wasn’t 100% back.
It was fixed with a little tape. Right over the light.
My tC, Protege5, ZX2, and Vibe all have/had hand brakes. I prefer them as all of these cars were manual and it’s easier to pull that up when parking.
It’s probably bad for the clutch, but I have never had an issue rolling backwards on hills (there are plenty of them in NJ) as I usually am at the friction point and heel-toe the gas and brake. Maybe it’s the advantage of size 12 shoes (46 for you You’re-All-Peons)
The only issue I have had with the hand brake is that I am 200 pounds and an athlete and my wife is not. So occasionally I will pull the handbrake too high for her to be able to release. This was a bigger problem in my tC as it was a heavier pull than the others.
My SHO, which I assume has the same the same break as your Sable, is about to have the same problem as your Sable.
When fixing the broken hood release, I glanced at the break release, and realised that it was frayed to the point that only a few strands were still intact.
Anybody know where to find one for a 1990 Taurus?
Would these wire rope bulldog clips work for you?
http://wireropeshop.co.uk/wire-store/images/steel-wire-rope-grips-clamps-din742.jpg
They might, if I butted the ends of the wire together, and then used the clips to hold another piece of wire adjacent to the break…
I’ll definitely look into this. It should be cheaper and easier than trying to find an OEM replacement. Thanks for the idea!
You should be able to find them at marine hardware stores such as West Marine.
Failing that, you could learn how to splice wire rope 😉
Thanks. I’m pretty sure my dad has some in his “cabinet”. Think of it as the farm version of the household “junk drawer”, but 10 times the size.
And learn how to do it the proper way? What kind of crazy is that?
My truck has a foot operated parking brake and it sure ain’t a good combination with manual transmission. In inner town up-hill roads with traffic lights it’s too difficult to operate, you need a third leg.
My old F-150 had foot operated dimmer switch and a manual transmission. Real fun when you had to try to dim the lights when you were stopped with just the clutch in and the transmission in gear.
My other car a 74 Chevrolet Opala has manual transmission and a foot operated dimmer switch too and a in dash hand brake.
Huh. I thought “Opala” was a typo for “Impala”. Turns out I was wrong.
https://parachoquescromados.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/1974.jpg
That’s a damn cool looking car… I’m jealous.
My Opala is from the same year as the SS you pictured.
Ooooh, I must say I like yours even better than the red one. Less of a Nova SS tribute vibe, and more of a very unique Euro-South American vibe.
The manual Lexus IS has a foot operated parking brake. I was considering buying one until I went to change into second and came to a screeching halt instead.
Handbrake for me.
Easy there, Sasquatch. How do you drive an S2k with such massive feet?
Badly.
It was actually before my first S2k, and the subsequent discovery of Pumas. I was both not especially proficient with manuals and wearing hiking boots (November in Pittsburgh).
I have to wear Pumas too because my feet are too damn wide. If I’m wearing sandals, I take them off because they get caught on multiple pedals.
Living in Denver and driving snow/ice covered streets in my ’99 Integra requires a hand brake. Many times, it’s the only way to complete a turn into a parking lot or driveway. Makes for a spirited and tasteful drive!
I’ve had all kinds – pull-up handle (Vegas, Audi Fox, Corolla, Previas), push-push pedal (Sienna, Tacoma), pedal with handle release (’64 Grand Prix, ’68 Bonnevile, ’95 F-150), handle you pull, then twist and push to release (’66 Rambler American), and handle with trigger release (’66 Corvair). I’d say I generally like the push-push pedal or the pedal with pull handle release, but with the first daughter now learning to drive, I’d really like a pull-up handle. E-brakes I can do without.
http://www.carbasics.co.uk/wheel_chocks.jpg
Ah, the parking brake type known as “broken”.
The “sponsored” type:
http://www.martinhansjensen.dk/wp-content/uploads/1808-lock-wheel-clamp-tire-car-trailer-truck-8.jpg
handbrake, far more of the vehicles I have owned/driven had hand parking brakes, and they are much easier to use with manual transmissions. That said my personal favorite parking brake is the srping set system found on trucks with air brakes.
A foot brake is usually an impediment to having a dead pedal, so I prefer hand brakes. My favorite is the style found in my HMV Freeway, in which the lever is upright when disengaged and is pushed forward to a horizontal position for engagement. In the forward position it locks via overcentering, so no ratchet or button is needed. This frees the top of the lever for rotation as a means of adjusting the brake tension. I’ve only ever seen this design used elsewhere on items like forklifts but it works quite nicely in this application, too. It wouldn’t serve as much of a substitute for a proper fly-off handbrake when the vehicle is in motion, but the Freeway doesn’t lend itself to such spirited driving anyway.
Manual – gotta be a handbrake. Auto – don’t care so much. Anything but those pointless electric handbrakes where you press a button, I can’t see any justification for them, just added complexity, but so many new cars have them.
It will be a sad day when you can’t buy a manual with a handbrake, handbrake turns in abandoned car park are a right of passage for any young driver. It ain’t big or clever, but you’ve got to do it and get it out of your system,
Dash-mounted ratcheting handle, to the left of the wheel.
As a kid I, enjoyed e-brake turns immensely, which led to my naive father asking me why I was always snapping brake cables.
“i just really want to be sure that my car is stopped, dad! you can never be too safe!”
As long as it’s an honest mechanical linkage of some kind, hand or foot is fine (though for a stickshift I’d take a hand lever if I had my druthers). Just, none of this electronically-actuated business.
which do i prefer? handbrake.
which do i have? well, i have a hand lever. i wouldn’t call what it does “braking”, really. it certainly isn’t keeping the car from rolling away.