Automatic? Do you use the handbrake?

[Tannaton]

All good points made so far.... but I use the handbrake as if you park on a hill without it you maintain strain on the engine mounts.

[GrahamBrown1]

Originally Posted by Kev0607

I use the handbrake if I'm parked on a hill, but on pure level ground, I don't bother. I guess that's a habit I need to get out of. My car is auto.



My Volvo S80 has an electronic handbrake. I often wondered what the correct method of disengaging it is, if parked on a hill?

Do you just put it in "Drive" or "Reverse" depending on which way you're parked, tap the accelerator to disengage the handbrake and take off as normal? Or is there another procedure?

I personally have my foot on the brake, release the handbrake and then pop it in drive. Sometimes I will even just let the weight of the car work for me before putting in drive. I don’t like to feel as if the car is fighting to go and you’re holding it back on the brake.

I also don’t allow the car to rest on the box, I normally park the car hand brake on in neutral then select park. Tho on the odd occasion I have found the car has settled on the box as when disengaging park it can be a little stiff. As it’s a mechanical cable I can only think this is the case tho most of the weight will be on the hand brake.

I also pop it in neutral when waiting at junctions for any period of time. The feel of the car wanting to drive against the brake just feels wrong to me.

[Phil Croxley]

Mine doesn't always allow me to drive without disengaging the brake, sometimes it tells me to do it, depending on where I've parked. Although to be honest I prefer to disengage manually, it just feels right.

[Moose Test]

A tad off-topic but the talk of electronic parking brakes reminds me again of how, having owned an XC70 previously, I wish this had been a feature on the XC90..

[Pointer7]

I always use the handbrake in my auto other than if sitting at traffic lights for a short period.
Put it in park, handbrake on THEN take foot off the brake especially if parking on a hill. If you take your foot off the brake before applying the handbrake, the car rolls and rests against the parking lock making it hard to get it out of park when you set off again (the other half always does this, annoys me!)

[Clan]

Originally Posted by v_forty

Almost all previous cars I've owned have had manual gearboxes - the one exception was a C30, but that was still fitted with a traditional hand brake.

My current car, a 2009 XC90, has a foot pedal activated brake, and pull-handle to release. I think because of this, we're not in the habit of using the handbrake everytime we stop or park.

I'm curious - do others use the foot-hand-brake, or just put it in Park and leave it?

And if you so put it in park, if parking on a slope, do you turn the engine off before letting the foot brake off - then await what my kids call, The Lurch?

Seriously though, is relying just on the gearbox to hold the car going to cause any issues?

It is astonishing that nobody here actually realises what happens when you are in P on a Hill with no handbrake on.
BOTH rear wheels are still totally free to rotate in opposite directions due to the differential gear action, so the forces cancel each other out on a hill... UNTIL one rear wheel looses traction for what ever reason , on slippery leaves or an oily patch on the road, sand or grit under the tyres, Ice, or even just the fact the hill is very steep. The car will then sail away out of control with one wheel spinning backwards on the leaves or ice etc. once momentum has built up nothing will stop the car even if the road surface is normal. Would you risk a manslaughter charge for Not applying the parking Brake ? That's the reason it is required by Law to be applied when parked.

I was called out to an XC90 20 years ago when this had happened, a stone wall stopped it half way down the hill luckily.

Could this be the reason why XC90's Parking brakes are claimed to be rubbish? No one using them ! When correctly adjusted and maintained they are very good.

[canis]

Originally Posted by Clan

Could this be the reason why XC90's Parking brakes are claimed to be rubbish? No one using them ! When correctly adjusted and maintained they are very good.

No, it's because they actually are rubbish. Volvo must have had some kid on a youth opportunity scheme working for them when it needed designing. Had I known it was this bad, I probably wouldn't have bought one.

It's so badly designed that I can't help wondering if they forgot to include it and had to squeeze one in after designing the entire interior first. And if it's going to be released from a pull handle, then why not apply it the same way? Pull out to apply. Release it back in with the button pressed. No pedal needed.

I'm truly puzzled why they've done this.

EDIT: Okay, I take some of it back. I've just been out there, and in a fit of anger-fuelled determination, hit it with a spanner and some grips. Much improved. It works. It holds the car still, and releases properly. But Ye Gods, it's a awful contraption.

[Clan]

Originally Posted by canis

No, it's because they actually are rubbish. Volvo must have had some kid on a youth opportunity scheme working for them when it needed designing. Had I known it was this bad, I probably wouldn't have bought one.

It's so badly designed that I can't help wondering if they forgot to include it and had to squeeze one in after designing the entire interior first. And if it's going to be released from a pull handle, then why not apply it the same way? Pull out to apply. Release it back in with the button pressed. No pedal needed.

I'm truly puzzled why they've done this.

EDIT: Okay, I take some of it back. I've just been out there, and in a fit of anger-fuelled determination, hit it with a spanner and some grips. Much improved. It works. It holds the car still, and releases properly. But Ye Gods, it's a awful contraption.

Many people are not using volvo parts on them now, the cables and shoes for example and correct adjustment and bed in and re adjust procedure gives a perfectly adequate Parking brake I have been maintaining them as my job since before the xc90 was introduced. the pedal arrangement is pure American, maybe they demanded it for their market.

[4x4]

Originally Posted by canis

No, it's because they actually are rubbish. ...

I owned my XC90 for over 5½ years and after sorting the parking brake a couple of months after buying the car it worked flawlessly for the duration of my ownership. It needs to be used all the time or it will seize, every now and then it needs to be partially applied when the car is slowly moving to keep the drums clean.

Fit only genuine Volvo parts, set it up correctly and it will last many years before requiring any further work

[v_forty]

Well there's a whole range of responses!

I've known people do one or the other, big and small cars, old and new(ish), including a mechanic who I watched take my car out and park it up.

The mechanism on the XC90 is a bit of an odd one, like someone said earlier - why not utilise the handle for both applying and releasing? I too hold the button in when lifting a traditional hand brake lever (which people also have varying views on whether it's correct or not) as the noise or the ratchet clicking isn't particularly enjoyable.

I should add - anytime the car isn't on a level surface, the handbrake is always applied before putting into park. Having read some more about how that all works, I'll be using it all the time now!