So you parked it on an incline and you didn't point the front wheels in the appropriate direction? There's no wear and tear involved in putting it in gear, it's just that I don't do it unless I'm on an incline. It's not necessary and I don't see anything in your story where putting in gear or not would have made a difference. Your car slid down, it didn't roll down. That's not a failure of the parking brake.

The fact is that I live in a climate where I don't worry about snow and there aren't many hills to park on. I tend to stay away from snow country when it's snowing, so I don't have to concern myself with any outside sources of failure. As long as I maintain my parking brake, I'm not worried.

My question to all of those claiming insanity in not leaving a car in gear, what do you do with your automatic cars when parking, if you have them?

 

Not sure why anyone would use valet... especially if they have seen this movie.

 

Another one for the 'put it in gear' crowd.

I would be dumb if I did not.

 

Now to be fair, they didn't say it's insane; they just said you're dumb if you don't.

I think each driver should do what's appropriate to their circumstance. If I drive someone else's car, I try to return it to them the way it was when they gave it to me (seat, mirrors, gear selection) and if that isn't feasible, I let them know upon returning the keys. In the rare events when someone else drives one of my cars, I hope they will do the same for me, but I always check anyway before I make any assumptions seeing as people are human and they make mistakes.

I rarely use valets (they can park my Hyundai), but if I happen to be in a situation where there is one and I'm in my S or other car that I don't want anyone else to drive, I ask if I can park it myself and I pay a little extra. I haven't had one say no to me yet.

 

I wasn't referring to you, just those whose reaction was a bit more over the top. I've gotten responses ranging from reasonable to outright belligerent.

I'm just curious since some of the ones I've run into who will argue the point with me will just leave an automatic in park (and on inclines) without using the emergency/hand brake. Parking pawls have been known to fail, though I think their rate of failure is no higher than that of parking brake cables. I see it as a highly unlikely scenario, especially if you maintain and inspect the parts involved.

 

Damn. Yet another one who hasn't gotten the memo. The world revolves around me, donchaknow!

I went to a condo complex the other day that offers valet service to their residents as part of the perks of living there. I don't even want to know what their HOA fees are. But wow, you know what I mean? I knew those existed, I just never thought I would have occasion to be at one. Sadly, I don't think it shall be a regular occurrence.

Hmmm. Next time I valet, I will leave my dashcam on parking mode and see what it records.

 

I'm a bad car guy. My other car is an automatic and I never engage the e-brake, even on hills. This is largely because I removed the e-brake handle for aesthetics. If you saw how good my center console looked, you'd understand.

 

I guess that I'm old school. I'm trained from my first year of driving school to leave any vehicle with the e-brake (parking) brake on and leave it in gear.

Standard transmission in first gear, no matter if on flat land or hills, and automatic transmissions left in the parking gear, both with parking brakes applied. On inclines, always turning the front wheels so that any unexpected release would roll the car into the curb. The habit has stayed with me for decades and I don't think I'm about to change overnight.

There's only been a brief period of time when I haven't had a least one standard transmission vehicle in my household, from before I learned to drive to this day.

 

I grew up driving in and around the city (SF,Ca). You learn quickly how to properly curb wheels and use brake and put it in gear or park.

 

I leave my S in gear with the e-brake on, no matter how flat the ground. I like the redundancy since mechanical systems tend to fail.

I leave my cars with automatic transmissions in park with the e-brake on. Very rarely however I forget to put my '88 Land Cruiser in park, and the e-brake is the only thing that saves me. It doesn't have to be in park for the key to come out. Matter of fact, I can remove the key while driving down the road (very handy if I've left the glove box locked and need something out of it).

-Wayne