Drove off with handbrake on

[Collidog]

Having got my new car yesterday and being used to the electronic parking brake in my daily car, I drove approx 1/4 mile with the handbrake on. It could not have been ratcheted on too hard as the car drove freely. 

I was only alerted to it by the smell and promptly released it. Any harm done here apart from scrubbing the rear pads in?

Cheers

 

 

[John Vine]

I doubt you've done any harm at all, especially if you consider how much braking effort you might apply descending a long, sinuous (Alpine) pass.

You'll probably find that the handbrake becomes totally superfluous on a 7.  Just engaging gear is sufficient when parking.

JV

[Wodybode]

My first 7 had the handbrake under the passenger dash, out of reach with a harness on. My current one does get used but probably doesn't actually do much. It's not like we do many handbrake turns like in our first car as a teenager.

 

Andy

[Golf Juliet Tango]

I use the handbrake once a year on the Crossflow as it is under the dashboard.

On the 21, where it is on the tunnel, I do use it more often but mostly I just leave it in gear.

[DJ.]

Don't worry, as the handbrake acts on the normal brake pads, it is very unlikely to have done any harm

[revilla]

Interesting to read that people don't seem to use them and don't think they do much... Just by way of balance mine has a central tunnel-top handbrake and I think I use it just as much as I would any other car, just never really occurred to me not to! And at the last MOT on the brake test rollers I was able to lock the rear wheels with the handbrake. Had to swing on it a bit mind you, but they certainly do work.

[DJ.]

My Mot tester commented on how good my handbrake is. Unlike the one on my Lotus Elan that only worked on MOT day after I had adjusted it

[OliverSedlacek]

Drove all the way from Oxford to High Wycombe once with the handbrake on*redface*

[paul jacobs]

Yep me too.   Many years ago, I pulled up at a road works red light, situated on a hill, and as the handbrake was under the passenger side scuttle, it never got used, but as the light looked as if it was going to be red for some time, I actually undid my 4 point, and pulled the lever on, enough to hold me on the hill.  The engine then got switched off and I waited and waited, with the queue building up behind me.  Then when the lights finally did change, I was all flustered and started and drove off so as not to hold people up.  It wasn't until I had parked up 20 miles further on, that I could smell the pads and see them smoking gently.  Whooops. 

Anyway, I released the h/brake so the disc didn't warp, and after it had cooled sufficiently, it seemed to work just as well as it did before. 

So, it seems it does no harm.