The right way to park an automatic transmission vehicle!

[Gallardo]

This is just a post i thought i should put up as many people seem to not know this stuff.
and yes I know it looks and sounds silly, but it's useful.....

Step 1: Press brake until vehicle comes to a complete stop.

Step 2: With brake pressed down, put vehicle in Neutral.

Step 3: With brake still pressed down, pull up hand brake.

Step 4: Release brake and ensure vehicle does not roll, if it does, hand brake was not pulled enough (or ur hand brake needs to be serviced).

Step 5: Switch off vehilce then put the car in it's Park gear.


And that's it! Parking your vehicle in this way ensures that the weight of the vehicle is on the hand brake and not on the Park gear. Parking your Automatic vehicle improperly would put the strain on your Park gear and you get that 'clank' noise when you pull it out of Park to start driving your car. And the gear is reluctant to come out of Park as well.

......reply and let me know if you knew this!

Thanks.....
Gallardo

[srnoth]

People have told me all kinds of thing about it being better to use the 'P' transmission brake when parking... someone said something about the car having a little 'give' to roll if it gets bounced this getting less damage .

Anyway never felt good leaving the car straining on the transmission brake... leaving the transmission and velocity joints understrain. Also as you said you get a clank when taking it out of park. So those instructions sound exactly right. Sometimes I forget to move it from Neutral to Park lol but hey manual vehicles have no 'P'.

Goes back to driving instructor days and being told over and over 'Neutral... handbrakes... switch off '.

[Damien]

I learned this the hard way good info

[CD4Accord]

In the southern U.S., NO ONE uses their handbrake (they call it e-brake)...

This includes people parking on inclines etc, everytime someone puts it in park i feel the car rocking back and forth.. I don't see how this is a good idea at all

---

I would use my handbrake here in florida anyway, but its extra important because if I stopped using it I might forget to use it in trinidad and likely my accord will be at the bottom of a hill

[fouljuice]

i know this but people cuss me for putting their car in neutral. so instead i do the same thing you mentioned except i do it while still in drive/reverse to see if the vehicle would move when i release the brakes.

[joelleena]

this is how i does do it.........!!! never fail!!!

[EVA Unit-01]

joelleena, daz d best IMO...

even betta wen u use a concrete block




but nah, good info here!

i'v seen more dan one thread here wit cars stuk in P becuz of inproper parkin procedures, hopefully dis helps prevent dat!

[Chiney]

this is how i does do it.........!!! never fail!!!

LOL

[3stagevtec]

It depends on several factors for me..

When parking on level ground after a long / hard drive, I will put the vehicle in neutral, ensure that it doesn't roll on it's own, then put it in park and leave the hand brakes down for the brakes to cool / not warp rotors / burn pad material unevenly onto rotor..

After a short / easy drive on level ground, I use as little hand brakes as possible to keep the vehicle from moving before putting it in park.

On hills, that's an easy one..

[THE SYNDICATE]

joelleena,

[V2NR 3.0]

Very good information. I never knew this.

[NEED4SPEED]

never knew

[Kongorealm]

I do this unconsciously (never had a reason) and sometimes I put in park then switch off...

I never knew it but its sounds very logical...will park like this all the time now

[turbo_beast369]

I have been using that method since I'm driving...i heard that some ppl in d states and canada only use the Parking gear to park the car....they only use the E brake in case of "emergency" lol

i sure all that clank noise will result in something failing or snapping after some time...or if yuh gear stuck in P and yuh use so much force that u rip d lever from d housing lol

[Country_Bookie]

Never knew this either.
A related question tho……..when stuck in traffic where u have to stop every 5 seconds is it better to keep ur feet on the brakes while the vehicle is stationary, or to put the car in neutral?

[nervewrecker]

^^^

I put mine in neutral & pull the hand brakes up a few clicks to keep the car from rolling. most times by the traffic lights at bamboo junction & in la romaine I leave the car in neutral & let the car roll down the hill, I only mash brakes if I need it.

but this is a nice thread, I park my car this way now. I used to get the shifter kinda stuck in park sometimes & I solved it by putting the car in park, pull the hand brakes & then come off the brake pedal, no roll forward or backward. its that roll that used to lock my shifter.

[~Vēġó~]

I have always done this.....and don't have to worry about warping rotors as I have a separate set of shoes for e-brake......and once yuh move yuh boulders out from the road then I have no problem with your method joelleena....

[Damien]

[masterofmindzchris]

hmmm... i mash brakes, put gear into park, pull e-brake, depress brake pedal and i've never had any probs whatsoever

[KrAzYBoY]

hmmm... i mash brakes, put gear into park, pull e-brake, depress brake pedal and i've never had any probs whatsoever

Why you mashing brakes twice???

[Rutless Tiida]

^^ I don't think he realized that depress means to press or push down.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/depress

remember English is a hard language to master.

[masterofmindzchris]

oh yeah sry dey....i depress my brakes, put gear into park, pull e-brake, raise foot from brake pedal...

[Nixin]

great info here. most people overlook these simple things.

[droppa]

press brake to slow down > Neutralize > come to a complete stop > set E-brake > Park > switch off. this method works best for me, no roll, no shifter locking.....

and a similar pattern is also used for the manual vehicle too

[shimon]

Yea bro good advice i knew this yrs now been telling peeps this but they harden and dont listen saying ohh it will stretch the handbrake cable wtf ahahahaa

[sMASH]

^^ trinis invent alll kinda ting to validate their actions.

me, i usually slip from neutral to drive in traffic, then back to neutral. i try not to mash brakes with the transmission in drive when in crawling traffic

all the same, i still prefer manual,, except if in traffic going up an incline

[buzz]

I usually do this yes, but it came naturally

if i'm on a hill/incline i pull the hand brake up a lil extra (no yanking of course) to ensure i don't get that "thud" when changing from Park to drive

as i said, came naturally very early in my driving life

common sense anyone ?

[~Vēġó~]

Another reason I use this method is to indicate to me whether the vehicle was bumped by another if the shift out of park is difficult.....

[*$kїđž!™]

great info,,,,,....... that clanking sound is really not nice to hear

[geodude]

so i guess the logical question that follows here is what is the correct proccedure for pulling off, should we put the vehicle in drive then release the hand brake or release the hand brake then put vehicle in drive or reverse???