2010 Prius - Parking Brake Question - how far to press?

its a feel thing, and depends on the grade your on. i practiced with the car in neutral and developed muscle memory to engage it enough, again depending on the grade.

i always put the car in neutral and slowly release the foot brake to make sure its holding, before pressing park and shutting down.
if it isn't, i try again.

i don't like just using it in as far as possible every time, it seems like that would put a lot of strain on everything.

 

For starters, I always use it. For one thing, if I forget, and my wife is in the car, I catch hell, for that weird little roll-back that happen, lol. But yeah anyways, always use it. But how much:

If it's after rolling into the garage, I put it on relatively gently, figure less stress on the cable. In a level parking space somewhere, a little more firmly, considering the car might get bumped.

Parking on a steep hill or driveway: I push it down pretty firmly, then gently release the regular brake. If I hear a groan and it's starting to move, I'll release and reapply it, even more firmly.

 

For pros, I always use parking brakes also. I smash it down until it stops. If on an angle, I push stomp on it until there’s a good resistive stop.

 

Not to be a contrarian, but Yes, especially if you are parking on level ground. My parking brake gets used about once each year, and that's when the car gets its annual state inspection. The cable can go out of adjustment. It can also wear out and break. Besides, it requires a conscious effort to apply it and to release it each time. How hard should the parking brake be pressed? Try shifting to Neutral and using just enough parking brake to keep the car from rolling. Yes, I already know the owner's manual says to use it every time, but normally the foot brake isn't necessary at all, particularly when the car automatically shifts into Park and applies the parking pawl when you end your drive with the power button.

 

The manual also warns us to avoid using it when weather is such that ice might interfere.

 

Mechanical arrangements like a parking pawl can be broken off by a sufficient bump to the front or rear of the parked car, then allowing the bumped car to roll away. There are DOT standards for parking brakes that include language about how the performance requirements of the parking brake can be traded off with the tested performance of the parking pawl. I think the last time I posted them, Elektroingenieur pointed out that I was actually citing a section that pertained to buses or trucks or something, but the principle is likely the same.

Because the parking brake uses friction, a sufficient bump will move the car, but the moved car will stay braked.

 

"Pressed to the point where the car stays put" might emerge as the sort of general-purpose answer....

 

Yeah I find on a steep slope I really need to lean into it. Rolling an angled front wheel to the curb is always a good idea too, when possible. Neutral is good for this exercise.

 

Far enough so that the car doesn't move while still in drive or reverse. The cable will stretch after a while, but can be tightened with a couple of wrenches under the dash. Forgot the size. Either 8 or 10...I think 10. I've done it on my 10 and on my 10 Camry. Awkward and clumsy.

 

Can't say I've ever had a vehicle actually stretch the parking cable and need that adjustment; my usual experience is that anytime it might feel like that's what it needs, there's really something going on at the rear brake adjusters themselves, and cinching up the cable would only be masking it.

I did once have a vehicle with a "tension limiter" built into the parking cable:



What's shown as the "cinch strap" was really a stout steel bar bent into a U, and if you ever had Sasquatch driving and stomping on the pedal, the rod would roll around the peg and leave the free end of the U shorter, and you could tell that had happened by measuring the free length, and could just replace that part.

But I never had Sasquatch driving that truck, so it never happened.