Do you set the parking brake?

I always set the parking brake. Years ago my Dad had an old Ford pickup that would randomly pop out of park and roll back. I had it roll on me one time and it crashed into another truck. Luckily no one was hurt. Ever since I always use the brake. I even put it on in a GMC pickup I had with a broken parking brake just to keep the habit.
I can't stand how loose a car feels climbing in without the brakes on. And I hate it when the dealer parks my car after an oil change and the brake is off.

 

sorry, I meant the '*first* car I've driven since the 1970s.

 

I hardly ever use it unless I'm parking on a hill.

Here's a related question: Who here has seen or heard of a broken parking pawl in an automatic transmission?

 

When I was 24, I had been living for 24 years without ever being mugged or having my life threatened. Therefore, I probably would not during the next year when I turned 25.
When I was 25, I had been living for 25 years without ever being mugged or having my life threatened. Therefore, I probably would not during the next year when I turned 26.
....
When I was 33, I had been living for 33 years without ever being mugged or having my life threatened. Therefore, I probably would not during the next year when I turned 34. And then I was.

Problem of induction - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

As it happens, my parents hated setting the parking brakes, regardless of whether it was hand or foot, regardless of whether they parked on inclines or not. Their reasoning? They never remember to release it so they drive around for a while with it on, so it only damages the engine/wheels and is therefore "completely useless and stupid".

 

when I lived in San Francisco, I made sure to follow those rules. I was particularly careful to turn my front wheels to the curb when parked facing down, but I also turned my wheels away when I was parked facing up. It's a necessary skill in any area with steep hills.

 

So I always saw the rules as parking with wheels turned "toward" the road when parking uphill, no matter how you look at it. You're supposed to turn to the left (and we drive on the right), so, in the event of a parking brake or other failure, the car would roll into the street, hitting any cars parked on the other side as well as obstructing the road. I've never understood that..

 

The closest front wheel is supposed to roll into the curb, which then holds the car.

Absent a curb, or a curb that won't hold the car on that slope, try something else. Chock the wheels.

 

The Prius is my first car with a foot brake and I have to say I prefer the hand brake. It seems easier to remember, at least for me.

 

They're like unicorns or UFOs.
Very few people will actually see one, but everybody knows somebody who has.
Parking pawl - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sometimes people do silly things like put the transmission into park while they're driving at speed, but it's pretty rare for a parking pawl to shear off or be excessively worn in a vehicle that was born in this century.
You want to have some fun?
If your Prius is still under warranty, take it to the dealership and have them adjust the transmission linkage and see what they do.
Priuses (and many other cars these days) are drive by wire, or in this case....park by wire.
Park by wire - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
That means that you can select "P" or "R" on the stubby little shifter while you're driving 100 MPH on the interstate, and the request will be denied down in the engine room.
In other words....you're not "shifting" anything, but rather you're "requesting" that the car place itself into whatever driving mode that you're wanting to be in.
Actually?
I never put the car into Park.
That's extra redundant.
I just turn the car off, and the car places itself into park.
I've heard of many cases where people have left Priuses on when departing the car after placing it into Park, but I've never once heard of somebody turning one OFF and leaving it in Neutral.
This means that the chances that you're going to see a (real) broken or badly worn parking pawl in a Prius (or most other modern cars) is rather rare indeed.

Thus...I'm a skeptic of the "it saves the transmission" theory of parking brake application. The weight of the vehicle doesn't "rest on the transmission" but rather on the tires.
Still and all, applying the parking brake is probably a good habit to get into, and it's undeniably a recommended practice, like eating right and getting plenty of exercise.
Nobody likes to get preached to about those activities either.

 

I love flying buttresses in architecture! Don't discount the fact that the whole center console area makes you feel like you're in Star Trek.

 

If you've got the car in park on a level slab, with parking brake off, then start pushing the car backwards and forwards, the tires offer no resistance. It's the parking pawl alone that prevents the car from rolling off, and all the forces act on it, not the tires.

 

I always set the PB in any car I drive, except when I park my Corvette on a level surface after tracking or spirited driving.

I remember seeing a car roll away from someone after they parked, and it went out into traffic and struck another car. I think of those images every time.

 

Always, I just make it a habit of doing, and it decrease stress on your parking pawl which is a 1/2 inch thick metal bar jamming your final drive that is holding up a 3000+ Lbs car, so yeah that why i always use parking brakes.

 

... especially for those of us who still drive manual transmissions. Both 'other' vehicles in my household are manuals, including the new (replacement) Subaru.

 

So, when parking uphill, one is supposed to turn toward the centerline of the street, the idea being to 'hook' the outer tire on the curb, when there is a curb, and apparently to turn away from the street when there is no curb, the idea being for the car to roll away from the street.

Unfortunately, when I'd learned these rules, the explanation for why was never given. I suspect that was true for many others as well because I frequently see people with wheels turned properly but often people don't get close enough to the curb for their passenger tire to 'hook' onto the curb to begin with (probably because people often have difficulty parallel parking and that explanation wasn't actually given).

It would seem to me to be a much more reliable and fault-tolerant convention to just always turn your tires away from the centerline, because the car will always roll out away from the street, regardless of whether there is a curb there or not.

 

If you walk down a steep hill with cars parked (curb or no) and do survey as you walk along, you'll likely find the majority have their wheels pointing straight.

When I took driver training, in the case pointing uphill with curb, the instructor got me to point the wheels towards the center of road, and let the car roll back in neutral, controlling it with the brake, 'till the wheel nudged into the curb. Then set the brake and put it in park.

I try to do that still, but: sometimes I don't get my initial position just right, and end up kinda butt-hanging-out into the street, lol.

 

I don't use the brake, either, unless I'm parking on a pretty extreme grade. Otherwise it's level in the garage, so I'm not too worried about it. I'm tall and quite large, so it's actually difficult to actuate the parking brake. If it had a hand brake, it'd be a non-issue.

As for broken parking pawl, my 280Z has one. Level ground only for the old girl. I wouldn't trust the handbrake on a hill without a chock.