It's that, I'll tell you. If it's a Subaru that is, I use my parking brake every time I park the car. I need to set my parking brake in the parking of my grocery store, it essentially flat except for pitch-drainage. My cars still have the hand-e-brake style so its an easy motion.No parking brake, the inclines are pretty mild. I'll try it though!
It's that, I'll tell you. If it's a Subaru that is, I use my parking brake every time I park the car. I need to set my parking brake in the parking of my grocery store, it essentially flat except for pitch-drainage. My cars still have the hand-e-brake style so its an easy motion.
But think about it, if the car was in neutral and not park, would it roll? If it would roll at all, the prawl is being loaded and it will be both harder to pull out, and it will make more noise and the car may roll to the position now caught by the brake pedal. It's more of a Subaru thing than with other brands. For example my solid axle Chevy trucks, my Ram or my Jeep Cherokee XJ would only need it on steeper inclines. The Jeep had a hand brake I would set every time. The trucks had the pedal and a release. They would get set less often.
I think I would literally lose my mind if I was forced to drive a car with the electronic silliness. (button)
I think it shouldn't be necessary to use the parking brake to offload the parking pawl in the transmission -- that's what the parking pawl is meant to do!! I used to park my 6000lb GMC Sierra on my driveway each day, without the parking brake (just using the transmission's park gear) and it would smoothly move out of park into drive, no complaints, nothing rough or weird. This is true for other vehicles I have owned, but not the Ascent. It feels like something's going to break and it shudders the whole car when you pull it out of park into drive while on even a moderate incline.The EPB on my Outback was still going strong after 6 years and multiple cycles daily. I think it's fairly robust and nothing to really anticipate crapping out one day.
I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned yet, but to get the smoothest shift out of park, the best way to do it is to shift into neutral when applying the parking brake. Then put it in park. No more *clunk*.
It's actually not supposed to be used on any sort of incline in virtually any car in the US market. The parking brake is supposed to be used on any incline on virtually any car. That's been the recommendation since parking brakes became a mandatory thing decades ago.I think it shouldn't be necessary to use the parking brake to offload the parking pawl in the transmission -- that's what the parking pawl is meant to do!!
Alas, that's literally part of the standards and regulations. There used to be a ton of problems with parking pawls snapping and cars rampaging down hills. Thus, parking brakes, and instructions in virtually every vehicle manual to use them, became a required thing.Torque Lock
If you are parking on a hill and you do not shift the transmission into P (Park) properly, the weight of the vehicle may put too much force on the parking pawl in the transmission. You may find it difficult to pull the shift lever out of P (Park). This is called torque lock. To prevent torque lock, set the parking brake and then shift into P (Park) properly before you leave the driver seat.
Other standards, but not necessarily completely different. I haven't compared, so I don't know what the differences are for parking related systems.I want to add: you mentioned the United States specifically. Does that imply other countries have different standards?
It's a beefy parking pawl. Probably the same as any other vehicle. It's also designed to meet the newest requirements. I kinda suspect newer ones are more susceptible to torque lock because of the newer requirements to help prevent roll-aways and thefts, but I can't access all of the SAE standards to see what's changed. In the NHTSA docs, you can see the requirements for the pawl (which, btw, are for limited incline and limited force, even in the newest requirements).So the question becomes: how much damage will torque lock cause to the Ascent transmission and drive train over the long run? It's going to happen to someone, somewhere.
Unrelated to parking pawls and the issue where it's been recommended for years that you use a parking brake ...I want to add: you mentioned the United States specifically. Does that imply other countries have different standards?
But this doesn't explain why the 2018 Outback I have performs the transition from Park to Drive much more smoothly than the Ascent on the same driveway and incline. Sure, different design, but if the end result is a more abrupt transition, that seems like something that should have been paid more attention to.Other standards, but not necessarily completely different. I haven't compared, so I don't know what the differences are for parking related systems.
It's a beefy parking pawl. Probably the same as any other vehicle. It's also designed to meet the newest requirements. I kinda suspect newer ones are more susceptible to torque lock because of the newer requirements to help prevent roll-aways and thefts, but I can't access all of the SAE standards to see what's changed. In the NHTSA docs, you can see the requirements for the pawl (which, btw, are for limited incline and limited force, even in the newest requirements).
That it grabs well isn't a sign of it going to fail in the future. It means the design doesn't have as steep of a slip-away edge, so that it grabs better.
.
.
.
As you may be guessing, the ones that are best capable of holding a car are the ones that are less tapered and more likely to bind. It doesn't mean they're more likely to break or accidentally release (when they shouldn't).
There's a few reasons:But this doesn't explain why the 2018 Outback I have performs the transition from Park to Drive much more smoothly than the Ascent on the same driveway and incline. Sure, different design, but if the end result is a more abrupt transition, that seems like something that should have been paid more attention to.
There's a few reasons:
- The Ascent is a 2019 vehicle - the model year determines the requirements, not when it's built.
- The Ascent has a new high torque CVT. The Outback loaners are generally 2.5L with regular CVT.
- The Ascent weighs a lot more (1,150 pound GVWR difference at the least) and requires a parking pawl that engages to hold that far greater weight. You'll note in the NHTSA link above that weight plays a factor in the requirements.