Should You Always Press The Handbrake Button?

Опубликовано 11 июля 2025, 14:00

Should you always push the handbrake button? People say don’t yank the hand brake without pushing the button. Let’s pull back the covers on this myth. When you pull up on the hand brake, this pulls on a cable. This cable forces pressure to be applied to the rear brake pads, locking the wheel. The hand brake uses a ratcheting mechanism, so as you pull it up, the pawl clicks along the gear teeth until you stop pulling, where it’s held in pace by the nearest gear tooth. The button is simply there to release the pawl away from the gear, so you can disengage the parking brake. So it’s two robust metal parts, with very little speed between them, and thus negligible friction and wear generated. But to be safe, I stopped using my car entirely and now just walk, so that my parking brake doesn’t wear out.

Full Handbrake Video - youtu.be/1ePcNfx1UEw

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