
Post Written By AutoPadre
Have you driven a couple miles from the house and sensed the car was running a little differently, looked down and noticed that you were driving with the emergency brake on? It's something we have all done.
But what happens when you drive with the emergency brake on? Wear on the brake pads is the most likely thing that happened depending on how long you drove with the emergency brake engaged. If you notice vibration you may have excessively worn down the pads and drum/rotor. You may need to to tighten the adjustment cable if you notice that the emergency brake doesn't hold the car as well as it used to.
Your emergency brake, also known as a parking brake, e-brake or hand brake, is a part of your vehicle's braking system. It operates separately from the vehicle's main system.
The emergency brake was originally put in place to use if your main brakes failed. Now it is mostly activated when you park to keep your vehicle from rolling away.
The emergency brake can be used in an emergency. Try engage the emergency brake as smoothly as possible and be aware that the emergency brake does not break a vehicle as effectively as the main braking system of your vehicle.
There are a few different locations where the emergency brake could be located on your vehicle:
The emergency brakes are activated from inside the car cable that runs underneath the car to the rear brakes. Tension is applied to a lever inside the parking brake drum which then applies pressure and in turn friction by the parking brake pads up against the brake drum.
It is commonly thought that you only need to use the emergency brake when you are parking on a hill or a slope or if you have a manual transmission when in fact you should use your parking brake whenever you park.
There are a couple reason why you should use your parking brake regularly:
If you drive with the emergency brake engaged you most likely did not do any severe damage although you may have excessively worn down the emergency brake shoes or warped the rotor or drum.
Emergency brake cable can be tightened if you notice it doesn't hold as well as it used to. if the emergency brake still doesn't hold or your car vibrates, shimmies or pulls to the side while you're braking you should get it checked out by a licensed mechanic.
Post Written By AutoPadre
Post Written By AutoPadre
Post Written By AutoPadre