Toyotas have no hand brake; why?

yea the foot brake in a E class merc is intense when you press it all the way down. ill try to get a video of it, but the car is in for a service at the moment so it will be a while.

but yea, if you force it all the way, it is a seriously potent pedal, i was barefooted at the time when it broke my ankle, my knee got suck under the steering wheel, so my leg couldent absorbe the energy, it just went CRACK.
 
Nope.

Park and/or leave your spot facing downhill. :D All classic Brit car owners know that one, we do that when the starter doesn't work. :lol:

FTFY. :p
 
I wouldn't have a clue how to do a hill start without my handbrake, and I don't want to try. My car is pretty slow, and it has enough trouble setting off on a hill full stop, let alone whilst doing a hill start sans handbrake.

If somebody I knoew was competent (read: competent) at doing stuff like this I would gladly ask them to teach me. But I'm not gonig to be an idiot and self-teach myself on the roads around where I live. I would be murdered in the night for daring to hold people up for a few seconds....
 
I do hill starts with only the normal foot brake and the clutch + accelerator and my fast feet. First I stop the car and put it on 1st gear with the clutch down. Then, I quickly release the normal foot brake, let the clutch go up till the middle and start accelerating. The car hangs on there like it was hand braked. No wheel spinning, no smoking tires. Just perfectly executed hill start.
 
Who said we were going up the hill? :lol:

I'm not quite sure if you americans understand this parallel-parking-in-a-tight-city business, but you have to first move one direction, and then back the other, possibly repeat that process twice, in order to get out of your spot. you can't just go forwards, you'll just crash into the car in front of you.
 
I'm not quite sure if you americans understand this parallel-parking-in-a-tight-city business, but you have to first move one direction, and then back the other, possibly repeat that process twice, in order to get out of your spot. you can't just go forwards, you'll just crash into the car in front of you.

Yup, I understand it.

Which is why I usually ride a motorcycle in such areas; because even if you park correctly, the idiots you park next to won't.
 
what the fuck, how can you think that sideways is best.

1) less metal between you and the tree your going to hit, this means that by the time you impact the tree, you will be going fast (you=your person, not your car)

2) if you hit it drivers side, your going to die

3) you will fly sideways, causing huge amounts of wiplash in your neck and spine, you will probs break your neck and have brain damage, and there is no airbag to protect you if your flying towards the passenger door.

4) car safety systems are supposed to work in a head on collosion more, ie
your seatbelt holds you in your seat much better in a head on
your head impacts the driver airbag at a better angle

5) your just so wrong i cant belive it.


EDIT: Please dont advise people about this kind of thing over the internet, it could result in someones death because they took your advice.

You've found the holes in my logic, I admit it :) But I disagree with your third point. That's why we have seatbelts - so we don't fly off to the passenger side. The whiplash is inevitable, but there is a lot of whiplash in head on collisions as well.
Also, hitting something head on will mean that you and your car will receive the full force of the impact. If you try to avoid the crash, turn the car a little bit, the force not being straight on, will maybe spin your car, thus transforming into kinetic energy. But then, you'll have the whiplash effect...
There is no win-win situation when crashing. Let's just try not to :)

And about advising people - if you read my initial post again, you will see that I advise people not to pull the handbrake while the car is moving because it is very unpredictable, and especially advise against doing it in a turn.
 
Handbrake shouldn't be called emergency brake anyways. If you're travelling at normal road speed 35mph+ and you pull the handbrake, the car will most likely spin uncontrollably. Handbrake should only be called parking brake.
 
Yup, I understand it.

Which is why I usually ride a motorcycle in such areas; because even if you park correctly, the idiots you park next to won't.

OK, just wanted to clarify. But in some situations it's not possible to ride a motorcycle (ie if you are taking a trip with 3 people and luggage, none of whom have a motorcycle license or a honda goldwing)
 
Odd thread, every Toyota I've seen with a real transmission has a real handbrake still. Must be a US thing.

And on the subject of using the handbrake for hill starts, on some hills and cars its the most sensible method - anyone who can drive a manual is likely able to do it using the footbrake but if you've got a less than perfect clutch, low power car, very steep hill or shittily coordinated legs the handbrake might be a good idea. That's how driving instructors teach hill starts, presumably because learner drivers feet aren't quick enough to do without it.
 
I'm not quite sure if you americans understand this parallel-parking-in-a-tight-city business, but you have to first move one direction, and then back the other, possibly repeat that process twice, in order to get out of your spot. you can't just go forwards, you'll just crash into the car in front of you.

MWHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA I'm sorry dude but that is just funny to me considering that I have to park in spots barely bigger than my car.
 
OK, just wanted to clarify. But in some situations it's not possible to ride a motorcycle (ie if you are taking a trip with 3 people and luggage, none of whom have a motorcycle license or a honda goldwing)

The solution is to disassociate yourself from one of the people involved. They are obviously not worth the hassle of parking up hill in parallel.
 
MWHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA I'm sorry dude but that is just funny to me considering that I have to park in spots barely bigger than my car.

You don't count dude, you're from new york city - you're not the average American. But everywhere else there is an abundance of space and no need for tight parking lots. They do say everything is bigger in Texas.
 
Nowadays we get cars with ABS in order to stay in control of the car in case of emergency, that is the real "emergency brake".
I also agree that you should never try to avoid something, it's better to actually hit the deer that crossed the road than swerving, going in the ditch and rolling 5 times.

Oh and doing a hill start (or going out of a parallel parking spot in a hill) without handbrake is not that hard once you know your car.

Oh and last thing, our Focus C-Max got a button that put/release the parking brake on the center console. I think that is a better solution than a foot parking brake but it's still worse than having a real handbrake because you have to wait for the brake to be activated electrically, which can take a while. Each time my mom sets off, you can feel that she pushed the button and then tried to move before the brake was fully released, thus putting some load on the brakes.
 
You don't count dude, you're from new york city - you're not the average American. But everywhere else there is an abundance of space and no need for tight parking lots. They do say everything is bigger in Texas.

Even the parking spaces!!! LOL I suspect in downtown Dallas its not that much different from here.
 
Nowadays we get cars with ABS in order to stay in control of the car in case of emergency, that is the real "emergency brake".

Um, that's not the emergency the handbrake was intended for. The handbrake is there in case your regular hydraulic brakes fail (which is still possible), in which case your ABS would be useless.

OK, just wanted to clarify. But in some situations it's not possible to ride a motorcycle (ie if you are taking a trip with 3 people and luggage, none of whom have a motorcycle license or a honda goldwing)

I didn't always live in Texas, and I used to visit San Francisco regularly with my personal car, so I know what's involved in real hill starts and parallel parking on a hill. Generally speaking, though, I've not had a problem applying the Brit protocol when that was needed. However, I did end up having to park well away from where I was going - but that's not unusual in a crowded city either.

Still, hill starts are much easier when you're going downhill. :D

Even the parking spaces!!! LOL I suspect in downtown Dallas its not that much different from here.

Actually, Downtown Dallas doesn't have much on-street parking. We figured out that street parking isn't safe and slows traffic. Instead, we built lots and lots and lots of multi-story parking garages. :D

Fort Worth, on the other hand..... At least there, though, they marked out decently sized spaces. Last time I took a Series III to San Francisco, they'd restriped all their spots to be the size of a Geo Metro so it ended up taking two spots (and I had to feed two meters).
 
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Um, that's not the emergency the handbrake was intended for. The handbrake is there in case your regular hydraulic brakes fail (which is still possible), in which case your ABS would be useless.

Yeah but someone said he would use the handbrake to try and direct the car out of the object he's trying to avoid.

And to be honest, I don't know which one of the foot brake or handbrake is the more reliable, my handbrake cable snapped once while my foot brake never died on me :-D
 
Actually, Downtown Dallas doesn't have much on-street parking. We figured out that street parking isn't safe and slows traffic. Instead, we built lots and lots and lots of multi-story parking garages.
Wish we had more of that here but real estate is at a huge premium and garages are very expensive. Funnily enough I have easier time finding street parking in Manhattan than I do in Brooklyn
And to be honest, I don't know which one of the foot brake or handbrake is the more reliable, my handbrake cable snapped once while my foot brake never died on me
They both use exactly the same setup a cable that goes to your rear calipers :p
 
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Well, there are 5 cities in the US with a population density of over 10k/sqm, ie a population density higher than Munich, and those include NY and SF. So people who have parked there will probably appreciate the tight parallel parking lots I'm talking about, whereas somebody from Charlotte NC will have no clue :D
 
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