Like how does the brake just stay on what brake parks the car what makes it different from the reguler brake
In: Engineering
A lot will depend on your exact car – different cars will have slightly different systems depending on their transmission types, age and technologies.
Brakes themselves are a pretty simple concept – there is a flat rotor or a steel drum, and when you engage the brake it forces a brake pad against the rotor or drum, and the friction between the two causes the car to stop moving.
Most traditional cars will actually have two braking systems fitted – there is a foot operated hydraulic brake, and separately a cable operated handbrake/parking brake operating a different brake caliper or drum. This allows the hydraulic brake to be a power assisted system that needs the engine to work properly, while the handbrake uses a weaker cable operated system that is not effective enough to slow a car travelling at speed well, but is more than strong enough to hold the car stationary.
Automatic cars will also use a ‘p’ setting on their transmission to prevent the car moving – when you set the shifter to this it will engage a lock that stops the transmission from spinning, which also locks the wheels in place and stops the car from moving.
Some modern cars will also use electronic parking brakes – similar to the other brake systems, but the pads are moved with an electric motor or similar so they can be controlled by a button rather than a lever.
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