Team-BHP - Accidently drove my car with handbrake on!

Hi there. We drove our 1996 Omni for about five km yesterday with the handbrake engaged. Since the Omni has no warning light for the handbrake engaged, none of us noticed. The weird thing was that the performance seemed completely unaffected. Finally, I noticed it and Dad immediately disengaged it. Have we damaged the handbrake by driving so much with it engaged? Or was it already damaged? We haven't tried to use it again after this incident so the car is currently standing on level ground with a stone blocking the wheel. Should we get it checked at a service center?

I don't think much damage would have occurred. The handbrake might not have been engaged properly, otherwise it would not have gone unnoticed. I inadvertently moved my Alto a couple of times with the hand brake on-my previous car never had a functional one, so not used to it!-but both times the car seemed to struggle and I disengaged it with in a short distance.

Just take the car for a spin on a traffic free road and test the brake a few times. If anything seems amiss, have the rear brake pads checked by MASS.

Quote:

Originally Posted by McLaren Rulez (Post 1670922)

Hi there. We drove our 1996 Omni for about five km yesterday with the handbrake engaged. Should we get it checked at a service center?

Brake shoes could get worn out after driving with an engaged HB or worse still the drums could get scored.

No harm in getting the drums/shoes on both rear wheels checked thoroughly. Best not to take a risk with your brakes.

Cheers!

Thanks for the replies. The brakes seem okay. Perhaps the handbrake didn't engage properly because that was the most strange bit. The performance was completely normal

Quote:

Originally Posted by McLaren Rulez (Post 1670963)

Perhaps the handbrake didn't engage properly because that was the most strange bit.

More so a reason for you to get the brakes checked thoroughly.

Cheers!

All the same it would be better to have your brakes checked and also the handbrake adjusted as dude R2D2 has suggested.
As a matter of fact, you may make use of this opportunity for a complete overhaul of the braking system if you haven't done it anytime in the recent past. Since you say it is a 1996 Omni one such overhaul may be in order. It should also give you peace of mind.

I guess a burning smell should also have come.

When I took my first car (an Ikon) and drove it for the first time, did around couple of KMs around the small bylanes near my home in a circle and parked it back. I felt some burning smell. Called up my friend and told about the burning smell. He immediately asked me to check the handbrakes..and he was spot on.

On confirming back with him, his reply was that it was all too common for first time drivers.

Quote:

Originally Posted by McLaren Rulez (Post 1670986)

Will do! Thanks a lot.

Better have it checked anyway. In Maruti cars the handbrake lever has to be pulled up by 6 - 7 notches while pressing the brake pedal, for it to be fully engaged. If it is pulled up for only a few notches, the parking brake light will come on but there will be no bite.

BTW the 1996 model Omnis came with drum brakes on all four wheels, didn't they? So don't take any chances.

How much the car moves when the hand brake is fully engaged varies from car to car.

In my 2005 Zen mpfi, i have driven once with the hand brake engaged, the vehicle did not move on releasing the clutch without accelerating (vehicle shuddered), when I pressed the accelerator a bit, it moved but I felt the resistance and realized my mistake immediately.

I guess every driver has done this once during the learning stage.

Ans very recently (after 1 yr of daily driving to office), I cranked the engine when the vehicle was on:D. Did not realize the engine was running while moving from the signal, tried to start the vehicle and the strange noise told me that i had cranked it when it was already running

Quote:

Originally Posted by amohit (Post 1187285)

NK@Hyd welcome to the world of driving!

No laughing matter dude. This has happened to most of us.
Apart from reducing the life of your tires/brake pads by a few 100 kms, no other damage.

By the way, I am very sure your next thread will be titled something like this "Cranked my engine when the car was already started. Is my engine damaged?" :)

Regards,

I have done both the cranking and driving with some amount of hand brake on my swift during its initial months. The problem was that i pushed down the handbrake but not well enough for the light to go off. However no issues noticed and my car has run some 18k miles after those incidents.

I used to do this in my Santro earlier just for thrills. Engage the handbrake, turn the steering to the right or left completely, and accelerate hard. The car used to spin like a merry go round :). But I never faced this issue, probably I was lucky. I think you must have had the problem and this incident would have been just a trigger

Quote:

Originally Posted by vasanthn21 (Post 1671081)

How much the car moves when the hand brake is fully engaged varies from car to car.

Very true. In our Zen it was not locking the rear wheels completely, and still one could drive. In the Palio, car just don't move at all.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vasanthn21 (Post 1671081)

Ans very recently (after 1 yr of daily driving to office), I cranked the engine when the vehicle was on. Did not realize the engine was running while moving from the signal, tried to start the vehicle and the strange noise told me that i had cranked it when it was already running

Won't ever happen in a Fiat because you can't crank when the engine is running, thanks to the double cranking prevention - it is there in some other brands too, I guess.