Poll: Do you leave it in gear when you park your Type S?

[STi from DSM]

Just wondered how people leave their vehicles when they are done driving. I ALWAYS put it in neutral and pull the parking brake. I will never leave it in gear. A big big pet peeve of mine when someone has been in my car.

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[whtciv2k]

I always leave it in gear. Has saved me in the past when ebrakes have failed. It’s just been habit for 20+ years.

 

[STi from DSM]

Very interesting results and not at all what I expected to see!

 

[Braun]

Leaving a vehicle in neutral while parked just seems counterintuitive. Never understand why people don't leave it in gear, especially if there is any kind of incline.

 

[elh0102]

I always leave it in gear and seldom use the parking brake. In fact, about the only time I use it is if, for some reason, I want to stop but leave the engine running. I don't like electric actuated e brakes. I know that I'm paranoid about it, but if the battery dies then you can't move the car until you get it running again. And, in some situations, such as my garage, it would be a pain to jump start it.

 

[Victorofhavoc]

Very interesting results and not at all what I expected to see!

I'm shocked to hear anyone doesn't leave it in gear. 1st on flat or uphill, reverse when downhill. It's like the "point your wheels at the curb on a hill in case it tries to roll" maneuver. It's "by the book".

I've seen parking brakes fail before. In many cars with manual hand brakes, the pressure just isn't enough to hold a car on a hill on its own anyway, unless you really rip on it. The electronic one on our cars is just a screw type motor and once the car is off the screw just stays, but there's no power to the motor. If you were to rock the car side to side you can get it to loosen the rear brakes.

In auto cars there's a detent that pushes against a gear and that's what "parks" the car. I've seen those fail, and several manufacturers have had massive recalls for those failing. Someone I knew in high school lost his life because his wrangler rolled down his driveway and pinned him against the garage wall when it failed.

Safest option is in gear and parking brake on, always.

 

[chopsuey34]

I've been doing e-brake and leaving it in gear ever since Anton Yelchin died.

 

[jnotguilty_21]

I leave mine in neutral and that's because I installed the Drone mobile car alarm.

 

[boosted_canoe]

it's a good habit to use parking brake and leave it in gear. not really necessary on flat ground but it's not hard.

 

[boosted_canoe]

I'm shocked to hear anyone doesn't leave it in gear. 1st on flat or uphill, reverse when downhill. It's like the "point your wheels at the curb on a hill in case it tries to roll" maneuver. It's "by the book".

I've seen parking brakes fail before. In many cars with manual hand brakes, the pressure just isn't enough to hold a car on a hill on its own anyway, unless you really rip on it. The electronic one on our cars is just a screw type motor and once the car is off the screw just stays, but there's no power to the motor. If you were to rock the car side to side you can get it to loosen the rear brakes.

In auto cars there's a detent that pushes against a gear and that's what "parks" the car. I've seen those fail, and several manufacturers have had massive recalls for those failing. Someone I knew in high school lost his life because his wrangler rolled down his driveway and pinned him against the garage wall when it failed.

Safest option is in gear and parking brake on, always.

i do the opposite. 1st on a downhill, reverse on a uphill. probably makes zero difference but the reasoning I've heard is that you don't want the engine to spin backwards if it does roll. but i don't see that happening with our cars. not heavy enough. i think the tires would just slide. you'd need a seriously steep hill to even worry about that anyway.

 

[Victorofhavoc]

i do the opposite. 1st on a downhill, reverse on a uphill. probably makes zero difference but the reasoning I've heard is that you don't want the engine to spin backwards if it does roll. but i don't see that happening with our cars. not heavy enough. i think the tires would just slide. you'd need a seriously steep hill to even worry about that anyway.

My understanding is you want the resistance in the opposite direction of the tendency to move. So reverse when downhill provides more resistance against the direction the car wants to move. Honestly, I'd argue either is really fine compared to nothing. I have some family members that always do 2nd gear .

 

[chopsuey34]

"How can you trust a man that wears both a belt and suspenders? Man can't even trust his own pants."

No thanks, I'll leave my car in gear and use the parking brake.

 

[Spart]

1st on a downhill, reverse on a uphill. probably makes zero difference but the reasoning I've heard is that you don't want the engine to spin backwards if it does roll. but i don't see that happening with our cars. not heavy enough. i think the tires would just slide. you'd need a seriously steep hill to even worry about that anyway.

This is correct. The compression is the same whether the engine spins forwards or backwards, but many engines will jump timing and do other weird stuff if you turn the engine over backwards.

People have this intuition that the car will work extra hard if you put it in a gear opposite of the direction it's going to roll. There's nothing to support this.

If your car is rolling in gear, don't make your day worse by adding a trashed top end to the list.

Also extra important to use first gear. I can't tell you how many people I've heard say that second or third or whatever works better. It just doesn't. That's not how the gearing works, first gear (or granny low/crawl if you have a truck so equipped) is going to give the engine the most mechanical advantage over the wheels, and thus the wheels will have the least mechanical advantage over the engine. It's that simple.

 

[SilverRocket]

Always in gear but I only use the parking brake on or anywhere near an incline.

 

[ken_teggy88]

Confused, I always thought you pull the parking brake first and THEN put it in gear when the car turns off so that it doesn't put stress on the transmission. I always put it in neutral and used the parking brake, any reason for me to change?

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