Am I parking my car wrong?

[PygletPaws]

Hi all,

Purchased my first Mercedes last year and also it was my first automatic. It’s a 2022 A250.

Salesman said he never manually engages the electric handbrake and just allows it to engage automatically when he switches the engine off.

Because of this advice, I currently do the following when I park:

1.Stop the car, still in Drive
2. Press the Park button on the end of the lever
3.Switch off engine, which automatically engages the elec handbrake

However I recently read that this will cause damage by putting strain on the gearbox and was advised instead to:

1.Stop the car, still in Drive
2. Flick the lever to Neutral
3. Manually press the elec handbrake button
4. Press the Park button on the end of the lever
5. Then switch off engine

What are everyone’s thoughts? Any advice please?

I appreciate this may seem a ‘daft’ question, but it’s my first auto and I don’t know anything technical about cars from an engineering perspective to know what is right or wrong or what may cause damage.

Many thanks everyone.

 

[markjay]

Welcome.

I have always done the former, I.e. switch to Park, turn off the engine, and let the electric parking brake engage itself.

Like you, I am eager to know why this might be considered wrong? Happy to be enlightened.

 

[E55BOF]

If you engage Park with the car not level, you may put stress on the transmission parking pawl, which engaging the parking brake will maintain. The parking pawl isn't made of chocolate afaik, so you will probably do no harm unless the car is parked on a significant slope, but why take the risk? I always engage the parking brake before putting the transmission in Park, just to be sure.

(On a slight slope, I may not actually bother to engage the parking brake at all, to avoid it sticking slightly if the car is not moved for a few days, though. My drive slopes very slightly in front of the house, then slopes more further from the house, so on the more sloping section I engage the brake before putting the transmission in Park.)

 

[BTB 500]

I have always done the former, I.e. switch to Park, turn off the engine, and let the electric parking brake engage itself.

On our 2019 C Class turning the engine off shifts the gearbox to Park (and engages the parking brake).

I only manually put it into Park if I'm leaving the engine running e.g. when I get out to open our gates.

 

[BTB 500]

If you engage Park with the car not level, you may put stress on the transmission parking pawl, which engaging the parking brake will maintain. The parking pawl isn't made of chocolate afaik, so you will probably do no harm unless the car is parked on a significant slope, but why take the risk? I always engage the parking brake before putting the transmission in Park, just to be sure.

Good points. With regard to the pawl, many years ago my then neighbour drove into our parked Vito (which didn't have the parking brake on) hard enough to push it back slightly. I was fully expecting the pawl to be damaged, but it was OK. He was drunk btw - he ended up parking his car up against the front of their house

(On a slight slope, I may not actually bother to engage the parking brake at all, to avoid it sticking slightly if the car is not moved for a few days, though.

Modern Mercs (and I guess many other cars) engage the parking brake automatically, so you don't have much choice. But on older ones (e.g. our Vito and SL) I rarely use the parking brake as they're normally left on level ground.

 

[markjay]

On our 2019 C Class turning the engine off shifts the gearbox to Park (and engages the parking brake).

I only manually put it into Park if I'm leaving the engine running e.g. when I get out to open our gates.

This makes sense.

However, the process of depressing the brake pedal, shifting to P, switching off the engine, and only releasing the brake pedal when leaving the car is deeply ingrained in me, probably not a bad thing as it fits all (automatic) cars.

I didn't mention in my post about the brake pedal, because that second nature to me - I keep it depressed when starting the car until ready to drive off, and I keep it depressed when stopping the car until I am ready to open the door leave the vehicle. Old school?

 

[markjay]

If you engage Park with the car not level, you may put stress on the transmission parking pawl, which engaging the parking brake will maintain. The parking pawl isn't made of chocolate afaik, so you will probably do no harm unless the car is parked on a significant slope, but why take the risk? I always engage the parking brake before putting the transmission in Park, just to be sure.

(On a slight slope, I may not actually bother to engage the parking brake at all, to avoid it sticking slightly if the car is not moved for a few days, though. My drive slopes very slightly in front of the house, then slopes more further from the house, so on the more sloping section I engage the brake before putting the transmission in Park.)

Agreed. As per my second post, keeping the brake pedal depressed addresses this issue.

 

[BTB 500]

This makes sense.

However, the process of depressing the brake pedal, shifting to P, switching off the engine, and only releasing the brake pedal when leaving the car is deeply ingrained in me, probably not a bad thing as it fits all (automatic) cars.

I didn't mention in my post about the brake pedal, because that second nature to me - I keep it depressed when starting the car until ready to drive off, and I keep it depressed when stopping the car until I am ready to open the door leave the vehicle. Old school?

Nothing wrong with that. Many cars nowadays won't start unless you have your foot on the brake.

I have a couple of small tractors, both quite modern and with hydrostatic transmissions (vaguely similar to automatic). They have various (and different!) safety features to do with starting the engine, involving

• Foot brake(s)
• Driver's seat occupancy
• Transmission range selector
• PTO drive selection
• PTO clutch

Neither care about the parking brake though

One of them needs the transmission to be in neutral in order to start (but doesn't care about the foot brake). Unfortunately the range selector doesn't have syncro, so you often have to move the tractor fractionally with your foot on the brake in order to shift between High/Medium/Low/Neutral. This is a bit of a problem if you forget to select neutral before turning the engine off ... you then may not be able to move the shifter to neutral in order to start it again

The other one does have syncro on the selector, but doesn't need to be in neutral in order to start You must have your foot on the brake though.

 

[tony gee]

parking brake on, foot off the brake pedal (if on a hill it will role slightly) then into park. but thats with a mechanical parking brake.
I hate having to force an auto out of park !!!!!

 

[SmartAmg]

 

[PygletPaws]

Thank you everyone for the warm welcome and helpful advice!

 

[Pontoneer]

This makes sense.

However, the process of depressing the brake pedal, shifting to P, switching off the engine, and only releasing the brake pedal when leaving the car is deeply ingrained in me, probably not a bad thing as it fits all (automatic) cars.

I didn't mention in my post about the brake pedal, because that second nature to me - I keep it depressed when starting the car until ready to drive off, and I keep it depressed when stopping the car until I am ready to open the door leave the vehicle. Old school?

I tend to only use the parking brake if on anything more than a gentle slope .

My normal regime is to select park , then come very gently off the foot brake , in case the car is going to move slightly and engage the pawl - I always control this with the foot brake so that the car does not snatch onto the pawl . Once settled , the pawl is quite unlikely to break . Makes no difference that the engine is running or not , other than you still have servo assistance with the engine still running .

Incidentally, if travelling with caravan or heavy trailer and parking on a hill ; I’d also apply the trailer handbrake , so that it is braked independently of the towing vehicle . Not sure if anyone else does this . It is very obvious if you forget to release it before moving off .

‘Our’ cars , of course , are RWD and have the parking brake on the rear wheels , so only the rear wheels get locked .

Many front wheel drive cars still have a rear wheel parking brake , so if on a slope when there is snow or ice about , it is a big advantage to apply the parking brake and also select park , or in a manual , whichever low gear would make the car move uphill : this locks all four wheels . This was amply demonstrated to me one Christmas when my nephew took his Audi ( FWD ) out of gear and the car started to slide down his driveway with the rear wheels still locked by the handbrake .

Doesn’t work on all cars : some FWD Alfa Romeos have the handbrake work on the front wheels ; I used to wonder if it was a contributory factor on exploding Alfasud inboard front discs … ( uneven cooling ) .

Other unusual arrangements included Land Rover having a brake band round the prop shaft ; SAAB forcing you to select reverse before you could remove the key , and of course the W06 ( S , SS , SSK and SSKL ) having a key which locked the gearbox as a security measure .

 

[ALFAitalia]

17 years selling cars...many more working on them....never seen a broken auto parking pawl....not saying it does not happen though. Modern electronically controlled boxes don't allow you to select park if you are doing anything more that a slight roll. I accidently put our work DMax into park whilst rolling to a stop (dont know what i was thinking tbh)....just click click click until I was very nearly still....then the pawl engaged and it stopped dead!...no damage.....but I don't recommend it!
My electronic column shift 212 automatically goes into park as soon as you switch off...handbrake on or not...on flat surfaces I often font bother with the handbrake tbh.

 

[Pontoneer]

Out of curiosity , although I've driven a few EVs , and am not a fan of them , what is the arrangement on them ?

Do they have some sort of transmission lock , or do they rely solely on a parking brake ?

I can recount another tale of woe , a dear friend , sadly departed , had obtained a Triumph Herald as a 'fixer upper' when he was about 16 , and , however I don't know , got it into the garage of his parents home . He would bring it out of the garage , onto the drive , to tinker about with it - all good , but one day , he decided to wash it , and moved it onto the road at the foot of his parents drive ( remember this is a project car , uninsured , unlicenced , no MOT , driver not yet old enough to hold any kind of licence ) and , walking back up the drive , heard this 'twang' as the handbrake let go , and the car started rolling slowly down the hill ; Pat ran after it , but was unable to catch it before the Michelotti designed tailfin of the Herald had embedded itself into the nose of a neighbour's PAGODA SL !!!!!! The phrase 'went the day well' comes very much to mind , and Pat's dad had to foot the , not inconsiderable , bill for repairs to the SL out of his own pocket !!!! Think Pat was in the bad books for a while after that .

Had he just left the car in gear , as my dad taught me to , from day one with cars ; it would never have happened . He taught me to apply the handbrake , leave the vehicle in gear , and on a steep hill , turn the wheels so they would choc against the kerbstones if the car ever did move . I still do all of these things if parking on a steep hill and find it utterly cringeworthy that people would ever even think of relying on nothing but a handbrake . Even worse when so many vehicles rely on handbrakes actuating against disc brakes - as discs cool they shrink and the handbrake loses grip - I have seen first hand vehicles rolling away as the handbrake loses grip when discs cool - that is why Mercedes-Benz have drums for the parking brake , because as the drum shrinks , the grip tightens rather than loosening .

Vehicle mechanics ought to be a full separate exam as part of the driving test .

 

[colinallcars]

Out of curiosity , although I've driven a few EVs , and am not a fan of them , what is the arrangement on them ?

Do they have some sort of transmission lock , or do they rely solely on a parking brake ?

I can recount another tale of woe , a dear friend , sadly departed , had obtained a Triumph Herald as a 'fixer upper' when he was about 16 , and , however I don't know , got it into the garage of his parents home . He would bring it out of the garage , onto the drive , to tinker about with it - all good , but one day , he decided to wash it , and moved it onto the road at the foot of his parents drive ( remember this is a project car , uninsured , unlicenced , no MOT , driver not yet old enough to hold any kind of licence ) and , walking back up the drive , heard this 'twang' as the handbrake let go , and the car started rolling slowly down the hill ; Pat ran after it , but was unable to catch it before the Michelotti designed tailfin of the Herald had embedded itself into the nose of a neighbour's PAGODA SL !!!!!! The phrase 'went the day well' comes very much to mind , and Pat's dad had to foot the , not inconsiderable , bill for repairs to the SL out of his own pocket !!!! Think Pat was in the bad books for a while after that .

Had he just left the car in gear , as my dad taught me to , from day one with cars ; it would never have happened . He taught me to apply the handbrake , leave the vehicle in gear , and on a steep hill , turn the wheels so they would choc against the kerbstones if the car ever did move . I still do all of these things if parking on a steep hill and find it utterly cringeworthy that people would ever even think of relying on nothing but a handbrake . Even worse when so many vehicles rely on handbrakes actuating against disc brakes - as discs cool they shrink and the handbrake loses grip - I have seen first hand vehicles rolling away as the handbrake loses grip when discs cool - that is why Mercedes-Benz have drums for the parking brake , because as the drum shrinks , the grip tightens rather than loosening .

Vehicle mechanics ought to be a full separate exam as part of the driving test .

Even MB are advancing with the times, many now use their discs and pads for the parking brake.

 

[Pontoneer]

Even MB are advancing with the times, many now use their discs and pads for the parking brake.

That is retarding rather than advancing : discs shrink as they cool and parking brakes will lose grip . That is why , when M-B cars , along with Volvo and BMW , always had discs for the service brakes and separate drums for the parking brakes - this will be down to bean counters rather than good engineering , and it will come back to bite them .

I remember parking on a steep hill in Glasgow city centre to go to a meeting ; returned about an hour later and , purely by chance , just after I got into my car , the Renault that had been parked in the space in front , uphill , just slowly started to roll , and settled into my front bumper - fortunately no damage . I was concerned as I'd only paid for parking for the duration of my meeting , plus a little extra .

I waited hoping the other driver would return .

Eventually when two parking wardens came around , I explained what had happened and why I couldn't leave , even though my parking had expired by that time . Fortunately they didn't give me a ticket but suggested I call the police , which I did .

Two cops came round , and got someone to call the registered keeper ; apparently his mother answered and in turn contacted her son , who appeared rather sheepishly , and claimed that he'd applied the handbrake 'fully' !

I pointed out to the cops that it appeared the lever was pulled all the way up , but if the brake had not held , it must be defective , and also questioned why , if he knew his handbrake wasn't properly effective why did he not leave the car in gear or turn the wheels to prevent it rolling away - as all police driving courses teach .

Anyway , he moved the car forward , allowing me to leave , and I left him to his fate with the two constables .

 

[ALFAitalia]

At least they work....its generally only a temporary thing with drum handbrakes!
Never had an issue with disc ones myself. ..and far prefer them for ease of maintenance.

 

[Pontoneer]

At least they work....its generally only a temporary thing with drum handbrakes!
Never had an issue with disc ones myself. ..and far prefer them for ease of maintenance.

Well , drums won't let go as they cool down , but discs certainly do .

The advantage of discs is that they are less prone to brake fade as they get hot - because they expand as they heat up ; but drums do fade during driving for the same reason .

For parking brakes , the converse is true ; you want them to not lose grip as they cool down .

Mercedes engineers knew this , and that is why they had rear discs for the service brakes and separate drums for the parking brakes ; it has been so since they first started fitting disc brakes in 1963 ; then only on the front , with drums on the rear ; then separate discs and drums , both on the rear , in 1968 .

 

[whitenemesis]

Out of curiosity , although I've driven a few EVs , and am not a fan of them , what is the arrangement on them ?

Do they have some sort of transmission lock , or do they rely solely on a parking brake ?

Looks like they rely on the parking brake alone. This from the Lexus RZ BEV handbook
"If the vehicle is parked with the shift position in P but the parking brake is not set, the
vehicle may start to move, possibly leading to an accident."

 

[colinallcars]

That is retarding rather than advancing : discs shrink as they cool and parking brakes will lose grip . That is why , when M-B cars , along with Volvo and BMW , always had discs for the service brakes and separate drums for the parking brakes - this will be down to bean counters rather than good engineering , and it will come back to bite them .

I remember parking on a steep hill in Glasgow city centre to go to a meeting ; returned about an hour later and , purely by chance , just after I got into my car , the Renault that had been parked in the space in front , uphill , just slowly started to roll , and settled into my front bumper - fortunately no damage . I was concerned as I'd only paid for parking for the duration of my meeting , plus a little extra .

I waited hoping the other driver would return .

Eventually when two parking wardens came around , I explained what had happened and why I couldn't leave , even though my parking had expired by that time . Fortunately they didn't give me a ticket but suggested I call the police , which I did .

Two cops came round , and got someone to call the registered keeper ; apparently his mother answered and in turn contacted her son , who appeared rather sheepishly , and claimed that he'd applied the handbrake 'fully' !

I pointed out to the cops that it appeared the lever was pulled all the way up , but if the brake had not held , it must be defective , and also questioned why , if he knew his handbrake wasn't properly effective why did he not leave the car in gear or turn the wheels to prevent it rolling away - as all police driving courses teach .

Anyway , he moved the car forward , allowing me to leave , and I left him to his fate with the two constables .

Perhaps the effect you suggest is countered by the control module and electric motors? Either that or MB and the brake manufacturers don’t know what they’re doing and I and millions of others have been lucky so far.