Will the car move if parked in P gear without engaging the handbrake?
2 Answers
If parked in P gear without engaging the handbrake, the car will not move. The P gear's automatic parking uses the gear position for braking, making it relatively safe and less prone to rolling. Here are some additional details: Introduction: The handbrake, which uses brake pads for braking, can easily lead to rolling due to pad wear. The P gear is the most common gear in automatic transmission vehicles, usually located at the front of the gear shift console, ahead of the R gear. Its purpose is to lock the axle when the car is stationary on a slope. Precautions: Therefore, when parking an automatic transmission car, it is essential to engage the P gear along with the handbrake. For manual transmission cars, it is best to leave them in first gear and apply the handbrake, as the first gear has the highest gear ratio, making it harder to push. Additionally, the handbrake can be used for drifting.
From my over ten years of driving experience, I've concluded that an automatic transmission car parked on flat ground with just the P gear engaged and no handbrake applied generally won't slide. However, parking on a slope is a different story. The P gear relies solely on the parking pawl inside the transmission to lock the gear, and on a slope, the entire weight of the car presses down on that small component. It might even make a clicking sound and slide a few centimeters. Last time in an underground mall parking lot, I saw an SUV without its handbrake on wobble forward about half a palm's width, bumping into a fire hydrant box in the corner. So now, I've developed a muscle memory when parking: after shifting to P gear, I always apply the handbrake—double security for a peaceful sleep.
