Tag: parking brakes

Mechanical advise takes a back seat to marital advice for this reader.

Weighing the pros and cons of using the parking brake.
 

Julia's brakes failed, and she had heard that driving with the parking brake on can cause the brakes to give out. Is that what happened to her? See Car Talk's answer and post your own guess, here.

Today: Tom and Ray try to enlighten Todd, an emergency brake over-user, about the error of his ways. Find out why it's not a great idea to use this brake for regular stopping, and why it's really called the "parking brake", right here.

Lynnay's mother is adamant that there is a right way to park, and equally adamant that Lynnay is doing it wrong. Tom and Ray explain how the transmission and the parking brake work together and weigh in on whether Lynnay is really destroying her transmission like mommy dearest says.

All of the cheapest cars these days seem to have drum brakes on the rear instead of disc brakes. But drum brakes have more parts than disc brakes, and are much harder to assemble (I know from experience). You'd think...

Last week, I was cleaning the interior of my '04 Ford Escape. To reach a part of the console between the two front seats, I had to raise the emergency-brake lever. Stupidly, I forgot that I had done so, and...