[di1in]

Originally Posted by Farukh

Happened with me when I had just learnt driving (early 2012) and then bought a new Santro. I forgot to disengage the hand brake and started driving. I could feel the resistance and no matter how much I accelerated, speed didn't improve. I shifted from LPG to Petrol, still no effect. Now this is when I panicked. Having no clue of what would have happened to a brand new car. Only after a few kms did I realize it and laughed at my stupidity.

Did I learn it from this first mistake? No.

Next time, I picked up my sister from her friend's place and I was taking a U-turn and holding traffic on both the ends. Everybody blowing is horns shouting at me and I am again switching from LPG to petrol but it doesn't help. My sister is looking at me and I am so full of sweat and embarassed and then realized, disengaged handbrake and drove off. I blamed poor LPG performance to save my face in front of my sister.

Now the situation is, I keep checking now and then and fear that I might actually engage a handbrake while driving! Paranoia! Just like it was in some movie that people actually lift a handset of a landline when they are eagerly waiting for a call.

Oh, guess it happens to everyone.. I started checking and rechecking a couple of years back, and now my hand automatically checks the handbrake whenever I start at a signal too... its become a habit!

[pksnathan]

Friends,

I currently own a Hyundai I-10 with an automatic transmission.Today while driving I absentmindedly drove with the parking brakes on for about 3 km and I failed to note the instrument cluster before driving.Only at a traffic signal I noticed this and instantly I corrected my mistake.Will this affect the braking efficiency of the vehicle?Is it necessary to change the brake pads?I request our fellow members to kindly advice.

Thanking you,
pksnathan

[Gansan]

^^ How well did you engage the hand brake? It will have to come up six notches or so to fully engage, and if it is engaged like that, it will be very difficult to drive the car. If it was partially engaged and you drove for a couple of KM, forget it, nothing would have happened. Happens to everyone at some point of time!

[dass]

Originally Posted by pksnathan

Friends,

I currently own a Hyundai I-10 with an automatic transmission.Today while driving I absentmindedly drove with the parking brakes on for about 3 km and I failed to note the instrument cluster before driving.Only at a traffic signal I noticed this and instantly I corrected my mistake.Will this affect the braking efficiency of the vehicle?Is it necessary to change the brake pads?I request our fellow members to kindly advice.

Thanking you,
pksnathan

Only 3kms? you can as well forget that the incident ever happened. Back in 2006, in my then new car Indica DLG turbo, I had driven close to 15kms with the hand brake on. All the while thinking to myself the reason for the car being sluggish. No harm done, i changed the original brake pads at 45k kms in 2011 and the FNG actually told me they are good for few more kms.

[dass]

Originally Posted by di1in

Oh, guess it happens to everyone.. I started checking and rechecking a couple of years back, and now my hand automatically checks the handbrake whenever I start at a signal too... its become a habit!

+1 to this. It is more of a habit for me too and every now and then the left hand does go over the hand brake just to assure myself that its not engaged even while the car is in motion.

[saket77]

Originally Posted by dass

+1 to this. It is more of a habit for me too and every now and then the left hand does go over the hand brake just to assure myself that its not engaged even while the car is in motion.

Happens with me too. However, I have a constant habit of peeping into the meters very often, esp temp. & fuel gauges, (probably carried over from the habit of driving our old Fiat), it has grown into a habit of checking the warning lights as well.

The state of checking handbrakes on is so that whenever I feel loss in power, even due to adverse conditions like driving uphill, or vehicle not responding as much as I expect while pressing it hard, my hand automatically goes on to check the brake lever!

[pksnathan]

Originally Posted by saket77

Happens with me too. However, I have a constant habit of peeping into the meters very often, esp temp. & fuel gauges, (probably carried over from the habit of driving our old Fiat), it has grown into a habit of checking the warning lights as well.

The state of checking handbrakes on is so that whenever I feel loss in power, even due to adverse conditions like driving uphill, or vehicle not responding as much as I expect while pressing it hard, my hand automatically goes on to check the brake lever!

Many thanks for the input.

Regards
pksnathan

[pksnathan]

Originally Posted by saket77

Happens with me too. However, I have a constant habit of peeping into the meters very often, esp temp. & fuel gauges, (probably carried over from the habit of driving our old Fiat), it has grown into a habit of checking the warning lights as well.

The state of checking handbrakes on is so that whenever I feel loss in power, even due to adverse conditions like driving uphill, or vehicle not responding as much as I expect while pressing it hard, my hand automatically goes on to check the brake lever!

Originally Posted by dass

Only 3kms? you can as well forget that the incident ever happened. Back in 2006, in my then new car Indica DLG turbo, I had driven close to 15kms with the hand brake on. All the while thinking to myself the reason for the car being sluggish. No harm done, i changed the original brake pads at 45k kms in 2011 and the FNG actually told me they are good for few more kms.

I thank you for the prompt and reassuring reply.I had a nagging doubt about the condition of the brake pads.

Regards,
pksnathan

[pksnathan]

Originally Posted by Gansan

^^ How well did you engage the hand brake? It will have to come up six notches or so to fully engage, and if it is engaged like that, it will be very difficult to drive the car. If it was partially engaged and you drove for a couple of KM, forget it, nothing would have happened. Happens to everyone at some point of time!

I thank you for your kind advice.

Thanking you,

pksnathan

[Car-go-man]

Hey guys, I have recently joined this bandwagon of people accidentally driving with handbrake on. I drove my 6 months old waggy for 4-5 kms maybe before I realized my folly.
Incidentally this happened a few days before the second service and I brought this up with the service guy asking him to get the brakes checked once.
Post service he said there's no issue.
Then when I got the car home and parked and engaged the handbrake to the usual level that I daily do the car wasn't completely stationary. So I had to bring the lever to the highest level for the car to stop moving.
Now I am observing this behavior only post service and didn't observe the same between the 4-5 days from the day of committing the mistake and the day of service or maybe I am wrong.
So my question is should I get this checked because previously a slight engagement of the lever used to keep my car immobile and the slope in my parking lot is very very negligible. In fact you wouldn't notice any slope at all. I however don't see much difference in the way the foot brake responds. So not sure if this is something I need to worry about

[humyum]

Originally Posted by Car-go-man

Hey guys, I have recently joined this bandwagon of people accidentally driving with handbrake on. I drove my 6 months old waggy for 4-5 kms maybe before I realized my folly.
Incidentally this happened a few days before the second service and I brought this up with the service guy asking him to get the brakes checked once.
Post service he said there's no issue.
Then when I got the car home and parked and engaged the handbrake to the usual level that I daily do the car wasn't completely stationary. So I had to bring the lever to the highest level for the car to stop moving.
Now I am observing this behavior only post service and didn't observe the same between the 4-5 days from the day of committing the mistake and the day of service or maybe I am wrong.
So my question is should I get this checked because previously a slight engagement of the lever used to keep my car immobile and the slope in my parking lot is very very negligible. In fact you wouldn't notice any slope at all. I however don't see much difference in the way the foot brake responds. So not sure if this is something I need to worry about

Maruti's and handbrakes have never got along, so a weak handbrake is something I have lived with on 3 Maruti's.

Secondly, what you are observing is that the service station guys have adjusted the handbrake to Maruti specifications. It's just a cable adjustment that was done. As long as it holds your car on a minor slope, it should be fine.

[sgiitk]

We have all done it at one time or another. With me it was frequent since my late father and his driver were not in the habit of using the handbrake, while I use it all the time. So unless took care to release or not to apply, or warned them a few km with the handbrake on was a given.

In the days of the old FIAT (where the cable used to jam) and Amby (never functional) this was very common.

[shobhitk]

Originally Posted by NK@Hyd

...I could feel some resistance but thought since I am a new driver, its just me...

that tickles my funny bone ! theres only one way to avoid that mistake. make it a habit to run your hands over the handbrake lever EACH time you are going to start the engine, just like you double check to see if the car is in neutral gear at the time of ignition.

btw it happened to me once. but thanks to the ZDi variant! the car had just moved 2-3 meters and JARVIS sounded a loud alarm to warn me. that was it!

[amit@kumar]

It usually happens with new drivers. When i was learning to drive, i almost drove it with parking brakes on for 6 to 7 kms and a passerby warned me of smoke coming out of the car. I panicked and stopped the car and later realized that handbrakes were on.

[CowlFlap]

Happened with me when my dad and I changed places on a highway drive. Car in question was a swift dzire. When I got off after about 20 kms and walked around to the passenger seat, I got a burning smell from the rear tires. Wondered what was going on. It was only when my dad released the hand brake that I realized what had happened. Luckily, it wasn't fully on; only one notch I'm guessing. Nowadays, I always annoy my passenger when I fumble around behind the gear lever to make sure the handbrake is released.