Does the handbrake act on the front or rear wheels?
1 Answers
The handbrake acts on the rear wheels. There are 3 main reasons why the handbrake operates on the rear wheels: 1. The rear wheels pose the greatest danger when skidding occurs: When tire slippage happens, longitudinal grip decreases slightly, but lateral grip drops significantly. If the front wheels skid, the car cannot steer and will continue moving in the direction of inertia. If the rear wheels skid, while the front wheels can still control direction, the rear wheels may fishtail severely, causing the vehicle body to spin unpredictably, making it extremely difficult to control the direction of travel. Therefore, rear wheel skidding is most dangerous. 2. Early vehicles were mostly rear-wheel drive, establishing the tradition of rear-wheel handbraking: In early automobiles, the front wheels didn't have brakes, so the handbrake acted on the rear wheels. Even after all four wheels gained brakes, the tradition of rear-wheel handbraking continued. 3. It's more practical to install the handbrake on the rear wheels: Most mechanical handbrake systems use simple drum brakes (parking brakes) where cable tension expands the brake shoes to lock the drum and prevent vehicle rollaway. The rear brake discs can be made relatively small, making it easier to install a small drum brake within the rear disc.