There’s a bit of a debate blowing up on TikTok between drivers and it all has to do with the use of the handbrake. Clearly some people didn’t pay some weird old guy $50 an hour to sit in their car and give them driving lessons like I did.
The whole debate started after TikTok user Emmy (@emmy66991799) questioned whether she was using the handbrake correctly because of some comments she received online.
Emmy puts her car into park and then pulls the handbrake up (which is what most Aussies would have been taught to do). Some folks reckon this isn’t the correct way to use the handbrake though.
“Everyone on TikTok has been coming to tell me that I don’t need to do that if my car is in park,” she said.
“But I always put the car in park and then put the handbrake on. Is that not what you’re meant to do?”
@emmy66991799 i’m so confused, someone help #fyp #foryoupage #car #cartok #handbrake #automaticcar #automatictransmission #helpmeplease #confused
The video has amassed over 228k views, but a video that stitched it and said how wrong she is has gained over 16 million. Yowza.
The follow-up comes from Jean McDonald (@holycrapitsjean) who reckons you need to put your car into neutral first, apply the handbrake and then shift your car into park, “that way the weight of the car is resting on the handbrake and not the gearbox,” he said.
Seems like a lot of steps mate, I can barely park properly as it is.
“When you put your car in park and then put your handbrake on, the entire weight of the car is resting on the park break rather than the handbrake, which means it’s resting on the gearbox,” he said.
Apparently, this is how we fuck up our gearboxes and spend the weekend at the mechanics.
@holycrapitsjean #stitch with @emmy66991799 hope this helps 😁 #car #fyp #lifehack #tips
I’m not really sure who to believe here.
It’s worth noting that outside of these two conflicting handbrake methods (both of which are safe), applying the handbrake is something that’s more common in Australia. Most US drivers rely on the park function to do the job, which is fkn insane.
“It’s an American thing to not use [the] handbreak,” wrote one TikTok user on Emmy’s video.
“What you are doing is entirely correct and the safest option period, I will not enter any debate stating otherwise,” wrote another.
Whatever you do please use your handbrake when you’re finished driving. There’s no harm in putting your car into neutral before using the handbrake however — as long as you don’t just put the car in park once you’re done with it and call it a day.
Time for some of us to stay off the road for a bit methinks.
