Thing You May Not Know About Your Parking Brake

The parking brake is one of the most overlooked tools in your car, especially to Floridians. We don’t have many hills and too often people think the purpose of your parking brake, also known as the emergency brake, is to hold your car on a hill when parked. Nothing could be further from accurate.

Use it Every Time You Park

Do you remember in driver’s education you were taught to apply parking brake and shift into park? That’s the proper order of application and when you do this, it can help your transmission last longer. Your parking brake can reduce stress on the transmission and keep your car exactly where you left it in the event of an issue within it.

Public parking lots and when parallel parking are two places you should always use your parking brake because the chances of your car being bumped by a careless driver is much higher than at home. When you apply your parking brake and that happens, there is less stress to the transmission and other components.

Parking/Emergency Brakes Can Deteriorate

This happens most often when they’re not used. Using your emergency brake regularly keeps them from rusting. Since too many of us use it so rarely, in the event you’re unable to stop your car and actually need to use it to stop it, it may not work. However, if you’re not use to using it and now realize it’s a good idea, don’t drive with it engaged!

We Use it Every Time We Service a Vehicle

Whether we’re simply inspecting a car, changing a tire or doing some major service, we utilize the emergency brake every time. We know that it adds a level of protection to our mechanics and your transmission. The entire team at Oldsmar Automotive works hard to provide the highest level of service to our customers by doing simple things like applying the parking/emergency brake.

If your car needs service, from an oil change to new brakes or something unknown due to the check engine light being on, call us or come by. We’re conveniently located at 3166 Tampa Road in Oldsmar or you can call (727) 784-3501 to schedule an appointment.