Driver's method of how to use a car handbrake sparks debate on whether people are doing it right
Driving is just one of those things that can spark up an argument quicker than getting in your car and making it from A to B.
But one driver’s method of using her handbrake has caused a huge debate on whether people are doing it correctly. Check out her divisive explanation here:
The Australian woman, who dubs herself as @emmy66991799 on TikTok, admitted she had ‘so many questions’ about the correct way to apply a handbrake on an automatic car.
Advert
Taking to the platform with a video about her confusion, Emmy explained that she would normally park by putting her gearbox into park and then pulling the handbrake lever upwards.
She said in the popular video: “Everyone on TikTok has been coming to tell me that I don’t need to do that if my car is in park.
“But I always put the car in park and then put the handbrake on. Is that not what you’re meant to do?”
Pretty soon, the TikToker was flooded with comments and video responses - or stitches - from other online creators who attempted to show her how they use the handbrake.
A fellow Aussie, Jean McDonald, urged drivers against taking the same approach to Emmy when driving as it apparently puts too much pressure on a car’s gearbox which could end up being expensive to rectify.
“When you put your car in park and then put your handbrake on, the entire weight of the car is resting on the parking break rather than the handbrake, which means it’s resting on the gearbox,” he told onlookers, adding that it can ‘f*** your gearbox up’.
The TikTok user instead believes that the correct way to use the handbrake is to first put the car into neutral, apply the handbrake and then move the car into park.
“That way the weight of the car is resting on the handbrake and not the gearbox,” he argued.
He also advises others on the car education site, Hot Rod, which has received more than two million likes and has been viewed more than 16 million times.
However, other creators argued that that applying the handbrake in a different way when parking the car had no impact on the health of the car’s gearbox.
The important thing to note is that you should always use the handbrake when parking your car to ensure that the ‘car is held securely’, the Advance Driving School notes on YouTube.
Gabriella Ferlita