Oops - drove car with parking brake on

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Prius04Sydney, Dec 11, 2013.

  1. Prius04Sydney

    Prius04Sydney Junior Member

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    I've always found the handbrake parking brake in the Prius not to be very effective (there's always a huge lurch back whenever I take my foot off the brake and I'm parked on a hill).

    Today I had to swap the two cars in my driveway around. I backed out from the carport and into the street, then drove back up into the driveway. The driveway's longish with a mild incline.

    I had the parking brake applied throughout by accident. (The car's new to me and I'm still getting used to the starting and stopping procedure).

    Given it seems to be a pretty weak brake already, is it likely I've done any damage to it? I know I wasn't driving with it on for a long time, but in other cars with better handbrakes I've loosened the brake doing that. Should I go and get it tightened, or what?

    Sorry if this is a stupid question.
     
    #1 Prius04Sydney, Dec 11, 2013
  2. Les_PL

    Les_PL Active Member

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    Excessive wear of brake pads and/or discs might be expected. Perhaps the visual inspection should be enough. BTW - you are not alone ;) My first drive after purchasing my Prius (two kilometers slowly to the gas station) was like that. Nothing wrong happened. Tightening can be recommended anyway.
     
    #2 Les_PL, Dec 11, 2013
  3. Britprius

    Britprius Senior Member

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    No damage is likely to have been caused in such a short distance. The brake shoes used for the parking brake "on all but US/Canadian Prius, having a different system" are tiny and as you have found for yourself are not very efficient. They do work better if they are cleaned out occasionally and adjusted.
    Adjustment is carried out by removing the rear wheels and turning a star wheel through the whole in the drum covered with a round rubber bung until the drum locks, then turn back the adjuster till the drum is just free.
    Do not adjust the operating cable unless there is to much pedal movement after adjusting the brakes through the drums.
    If you wish to remove the disc/drum to clean or change pads or shoes, disconnect the 12 volt battery before you start working.
    The parking brake shoes are separate to the normal car brakes, so ware is almost non existent unless you drive with them still applied, and should last the life of the car.

    John (Britprius)
     
    #3 Britprius, Dec 11, 2013
  4. Les_PL

    Les_PL Active Member

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    Wow, this is interesting, I was not aware of it. Wondering if gen III also has this solution. Do you have any drawing by the chance? I also have a feling that my parking brake is insufficient.
     
    #4 Les_PL, Dec 11, 2013
  5. Britprius

    Britprius Senior Member

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    I believe the gen3 uses the same brake pads for the foot brake and the emergency (parking) brake.
    The information I gave above for the gen2 is for Prius other than those in the US and Canada as they use drum rear brakes, and the same shoes for the normal brakes and the parking brake.
    The rest of the world gets discs for the normal brakes and drums for the parking brake.

    John (Britprius)
     
    #5 Britprius, Dec 11, 2013
  6. Les_PL

    Les_PL Active Member

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    Thanks for explanation.
     
    #6 Les_PL, Dec 11, 2013
  7. Prius04Sydney

    Prius04Sydney Junior Member

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    Probably not mechanically confident enough to do any work on that myself. I'll bring it up next time it gets serviced.

    It really is a very weak brake - when I pulled into the (level) carport just then I forgot to put it in park (I'll get used to this eventually!) and when I took my foot off the brake it just continued moving forward as normal with no apparent friction or unusual slowness.

    I suspect the car is being held mostly by Park rather than the parking brake on hills. Is that going to cause a problem until I can get it sorted, or should I get someone to have a look at it now?
     
    #7 Prius04Sydney, Dec 11, 2013
  8. Les_PL

    Les_PL Active Member

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    No worries, I usually do not use the parking brake as I also was doing with all my previous cars (with manual transmission). Of course there will be soon many voices against this habit saying that it is unsafe (mostly from our American friends ;) , but as a driver for around 40 years I never experienced a problem with it. Only on very steep streets I apply Parking brake and also I turn the front wheels towards the curb to be on the safe side. We discussed it already there: using P | PriusChat
    BTW - Sydney is one of my most favourites places in the entire world. Being there several times on my containership and always enjoyed. My squashy Barmah Hat is still with me and when I like to raise my mood then listening to John Williamson :D Glory to Australia!
     
    #8 Les_PL, Dec 12, 2013
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