[Closed] Parking in gear - how steep is too steep?

Handbrake seizing? How long do you leave your car on a steep slope without using it?

If it’s only for a day or two, why not use the handbrake? Otherwise, a big stone under a wheel will give some peace of mind? ( as long as you remember it’s there…..)

Why would you not use the handbrake? The in gear thing is just a secondary failsafe in case the handbrake fails.

As for it seizing on, never seen it even with cars left stationary for days on end.

If you're on a steep road don't forget to turn the wheels so if both the above fail, the car won't go straight down the hill but will roll off the road.

Not using the handbrake is far more likely to cause it to seize.

clearly you guys have never owned a vauxhall

clearly you guys have never owned a vauxhall

Not a broken one anyway.

I do own an iveco which is notorious for the same issue how ever I fixed it and use it when appropriate and leave it off and in gear when parked on the flat.

Chock the wheels and turn them to the kerb if in doubt.

It’s a legal requirement for the handbrake to be applied when the vehicle is parked. Rule 239

clearly you guys have never owned a vauxhall

+1 although my berlingo gives Vauxhalls a run for their money

My fella worked for the AA for twelve years and the VWs are also notorious for seized handbrakes. As a result he barely pulls the handbrake on our mk5 golf and it drives me crazy. So much so that it once rolled off the back of our driveway with thankfully no damage. Who do you think got the blame? Apparently as I arrived home on my road bike and saw it start its descent with the horn blaring I was supposed to run and some how stop it, yeah I’ll get right on that love, or should I say right under that!!

It’s a legal requirement for the handbrake to be applied when the vehicle is parked. Rule 239

Stop flirting

It’s a legal requirement for the handbrake to be applied when the vehicle is parked. Rule 239

clearly you guys have never owned a vauxhall

I have, a Chevette; I’ve also owned two 1954 Morris Minors, a Sunbeam Talbot, a Ford Puma and a Skoda Octavia, the latter for fifteen years, and I’ve never had an issue with a handbrake. I’ve also never pulled a handbrake on so hard it’s required two hands to release it, and I’ve had that happen with cars at work, which is totally unnecessary. On sloping, slippery surfaces, I’ve always put the car in gear, along with the handbrake pulled on. My current car is a semi-auto, so has to be in park, otherwise I only have to put it back into park to start it, plus it’s got a real handbrake, not an electronic one, which I just don’t really trust.

Park the car in gear by all means, but for deities sake use the damned handbrake!

I had a mk3 mondeo, the handbrake started to seize on after about a year. Got the cable replaced, was fine for about 6 months then it did it again.
Got the cable replaced, was fine for about 6 months then it did it again.
Bought a new cable, spent a couple of hours working half a tin of copperslip through it, replaced it, and it worked perfectly for the rest of the time i had that car (6 years iirc).
If it’s seizing on there’s something wrong with it, my piece of shit renault didn’t do it when i parked it out the back for a year, and they actually have a reputation for doing exactly that.

Yeah, VAG cars with drum brakes are buggers for it. Our two Skoda Fabias with rear drums seize on a lot - I will put the handbrake on on a proper hill but otherwise I leave it in gear only with the wheels pointing to the kerb. If I leave it for one rainy day (and as we usually cycle or catch the train we use the car about once a fortnight and can leave it for a long time) it seizes and if it's parallel parked there's no room to deal with it.

Buy a 2CV, wheel chock comes as standard equipment.

saw it start its descent with the horn blaring I was supposed to run and some how stop it, yeah I’ll get right on that love, or should I say right under that!!

😂

We live on a road that is used as part of the national Hillclimb series. Its steep! The car is left in gear with the handbrake full on. Belt and braces every time. There have been various cases of cars liberating themselves for a roll down the hill

I had this problem with my Astra Mk2 and mk4. The handbrake cables got water in them so that if you put the hand brake on on a cold night if the water froze then you couldn’t get it off again until it warmed up and the water melted.

Otherwise it worked fine so just had to remember in winter.

Find a kerb to chock the wheels into on a hill?

My polo (3rd car with no handbrake) rolled down and across my street on lock, up the steps of the very steep hill joining my road, knocked the neighbours wall over and then rolled slowly on to its roof . . On top of his MGF.
Very pregnant wife couldn’t stop laughing. We both knew I’d done him a favour.

My wife's Canadian.
Nobody Canadian uses a handbrake

Leave it in gear: the engine will hold it.

I thought handbrake - on but not tight - and front wheels turned into curb was the done thing.

I never close the doors in case they won't open again.

My polo (3rd car with no handbrake)

Eh? How did they pass an MOT?

Obviously use the handbrake.

But

Depends on the engine and whether it's diesel or petrol.

Leave it in gear: the engine will hold it.

Until the compression slowly bleeds past the piston rings. I forgot the handbrake on my Defender which very slowly inched down the (albeit steep) hill and through two gardens until my neighbor informed me in the morning!

My wife’s Canadian.
Nobody Canadian uses a handbrake

Leave it in gear: the engine will hold it

Don’t they all drive 7 litre V8’s?

I had this problem with my Astra Mk2 and mk4

Same here - its respect for tradition. 20 years after I'd scrapped my mark 2 fond memories came flooding back when a journey started with a bang again 🙂

I'd not feel comfortable leaving a car without a handbrake on anything that wasn't pan flat. The thought of it jumping out of gear would haunt me.

Depending on where it is, wheels toward the curb is a good fail safe. Still though...

Until the compression slowly bleeds past the piston rings. I forgot the handbrake on my Defender which very slowly inched down the (albeit steep) hill and through two gardens until my neighbor informed me in the morning

It's a defender... That handbrake could have been on and that still happen and you know it 🙂

CountZero
, plus it’s got a real handbrake, not an electronic one, which I just don’t really trust.

Sorry mate, gotta disagree again. IME once they're on, they're on. And there is no shifting them when the electronics fail without resorting to tools.

I've spent too many times under the car in the rain and darkness trying to get home from work because of this.

As for it seizing on, never seen it even with cars left stationary for days on end.

My Focus handbrake seizes when we get a hard frost,previous Focus seized when left for a couple of weeks.My mate who's the mechanic says it's a common fault,leave it in gear,handbrake off.

Nobody Canadian uses a handbrake

Leave it in gear: the engine will hold it

99% of Canadian cars are autos. Automatic cars lock the gearbox in "park" using a rachet, not using engine compression. I never use a handbrake in an auto either

I've had seized handbrake (Transit mk6 with drums)
More worryingly I've had a handbrake come off, mk7 Transit with discs. I'm guessing hot brakes, pull handbrake on hard to keep it on a steep slope, brakes cool and contract slightly, handbrake starts to give...
I always park I gear.
The road to my house properly steep, not parking but I do stop there to unload and always use both gear and handbrake on that road, just in gear on the flat.

I parked on a really steep hill and the handbrake has seized on. Any ideas how I unseize it?
Maybe if a few of us push it hill the very steep hill it will unseize.
Merry xmas Sarkypaul

singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/parking-in-gear-how-steep-is-too-steep/#post-12165742

Lol!
For clarity I didn’t realise this until I had to do an assignment on road law. I never used to park using the handbrake.

I would never park on a hill in gear and with the handbrake without turning the wheels to the curb.

I have a steep drive and chock our cars as it's quite unsettling to sit in the lounge add listen to the handbrake creaking away as the car leans against the curb. Most of the vehicles we have will gradually walk down the hill as the compression in the engine gets past the rings. I tried it witha small petrol car and it jogged down the drive at walking pace and would have been going quite fast if I'd not hit the brakes!

If you never use the handbrake, what do you think it's for?

Apart from a bit of sideways rally action.

I once worked with a bloke who had a reputation for being tight with money. He didn't use the handbrake on his car because it "stretched the cables". (I think it was an MGF, too - he called it "The Emm Gee" and wore driving gloves with holes in the back.)

We found this out because one day his wife confused forward and reverse on her car while it was on their drive and ended up shunting their garage door. She hit it hard enough that it bumped his beloved car that was in the garage at the time. Because the handbrake wasn't on, it ended up going through the brick wall at the other end of their garage and mostly into their garden about 2' lower.

Oh, how we laughed!

I bought a Fabia Estate with a seized handbrake 'it's always been like that'...i didnt know, I'd never had a VAG car before, did seem odd you had to pull it up to near vertical to lock it!

I also moved to a house which is on a very steep hill, which it was never left on overnight, luckily there's off-road parking out the back with slightly less of an incline.

You can get a parking fine if you don't turn your wheels on anything steep in San Francisco.

My wife’s Canadian.
Nobody Canadian uses a handbrake

Leave it in gear: the engine will hold it.

Diesel's made by Perkins
Automatics with "Park" (which locks the gearbox, which is why they refer to the handbrake as the emergency brake as it's not needed to park)

Also:

Nobody Canadian uses a handbrake

This is not good justification for anything, several branches on my family tree are in Canada and, yea.......

I'm just jealous, if I had that many motorcross bikes, skidoos, side by sides and assorted other fast toys and the uninhabited half of North America to use them on, I'd have killed myself by now.

Jordan

Sorry mate, gotta disagree again. IME once they’re on, they’re on.

Nope. My mate's <1yr old Skoda Kodiaq rolling down a slope into another car is testament to that.
They complained to Skoda who said "ah, no. in the manual it clearly states you must also leave the car in gear......tough".

I have an electronic parking brake and unless I am on a pan flat surface now always stick it in gear as well.

Errr. Handbrake make car not go. And you are worried that a steep hill might interfere with the primary purpose of said handbrake. Surely there is more risk of lasting damage by a car freewheeling away than of a seized handbrake?

Why would you not use the handbrake? The in gear thing is just a secondary failsafe in case the handbrake fails.

This.

I always park on a moving conveyor belt.

I've also had Iveco's like trail rat. My 2005 had two rear calipers on separate occasions, noticing a wheel smoking halfway though fuelling was a bit of a surprise.

Then I got a 2014 one and that's also had its first caliper, practically had sparks coming off the brake and the disc was glowing red. That was quite pricy as I was on my way to a (failed) MOT, several hundred pounds for a caliper, discs and pads and that was with me fitting them.

However, it still gets parked with the handbrake on! I've just learnt that if the handbrake feels wooden (loose then suddenly tight) rather than even spring tension as it's applied is a sure sign that one of the caliper mechanisms is starting to seize up.

I've had lots of Vauxhalls over the years. Only ever had a handbrake seize once - it was an F reg Nova and frankly a bit of a wreck, but was my first ever car so special. Never had any issues once I'd learned handbrakes ratchet for a reason and the button is for releasing not helping engage the brake!

When we bought our first house, our drive was on a bit of a slope, nothing too steep, but being pragmatic I always left (and still leave a manual) the car in gear.

One cold, freezing morning, Mrs Fazzini decided to do the lovely thoughtful thing of warming up the car before I needed to drive to work. Cue key in ignition, turning said key, and car lurching through the garage door. Oh how we still laugh about that to this day!

Too steep is when the weight of the car over comes the friction from the locked tyres. Everything else is a mechanical problem.

I always park on a moving conveyor belt

Has your car ever taken off?

Electric car and electric handbrake 🤷‍♂️

I’ve not driven a manual car for 2 years.
I’m due to take learning junior out in a dual control manual car over Christmas. I’m not convinced my clutch control will be any better than his 🤣

It’s a legal requirement for the handbrake to be applied when the vehicle is parked. Rule 239

I honestly thought TJ had posted that - right up his street (see what I did there?).

Wife had 3 Skodas with the sticky brake issue.Like almost all sticky handbrakes, a touch of reverse will knock it off. To park on the road without a brake is criminal.

Park normal to the slope 😀

To park on the road without a brake is criminal.

There is a legitimate question here. If you were to park a car without a handbrake (particularly in a setting that suggests would require it) and an accident occurred as a result, how would the law view it? Presumably you would be held liable.

I've driven auto's for decades, I never use the handbrake.

Only issue I've ever had was a failed MOT, needed a new cable and the adjusters freeing.

Both the golf and rx8 will bump start themselves on my drive without the handbrake.

Use the handbrake and pop it in gear to help. Not the other way round

Both the golf and rx8 will bump start themselves on my drive without the handbrake.

Take the keys out and that won't happen.

My mum learned to drive on trucks in the army in the 1950s. She was taught to never use the handbrake and to park in the gear where you were going to i.e. if you reverse into a space park in first. She was a terrible driver.

I follow the "park in the gear where you were going to" but use the handbrake. Very necessary in my old Elan +2 which had a handbrake that was a work of fiction even when properly adjusted.

I’ve driven auto’s for decades, I never use the handbrake.

Mine won’t let you take the key out without the handbrake on.

A Nova, two Corsas, currently an Astra, use the handbrake every time and never had it seize. Mrs Pondo's Colt would sometimes gently seize the pads to the drums if we left it for a fortnight, but nothing some vigorous stamping on the pedal and pulling away with energy wouldn't solve.