Hacker News Reader

> I have a young family member who was taught exactly the opposite -- setting the parking brake was "harmful" to the car somehow and not to do it.

I knew a friend who was also convinced of this somehow. It seems to be a common myth that it’s an “emergency” brake despite the car manual and drivers ed calling it a parking brake and stating it should be used each time, even on an automatic.

> setting the parking brake was "harmful" to the car somehow and not to do it

And this is exactly how people end up with a parking brake that's rusted in place and useless, which they'll discover at the worst possible time. Surreal to hear that's being taught to new drivers as a good practice.

the emergency brake (what a lot of manual drivers call a parking brake) is not usually designed for constant use. esp in older models where the brake was cable-based.

if I lived on the west coast again or somewhere else with a lot of hills, I'd use it all the time along with curbing and leaving it in gear. I grew up on the flat prairie, parking on hills freaks me out