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I’ll keep this brief as I’m mortified about it but this morning as I was parking for work I managed to park up into a little ledge, in an effort to straighten myself I reversed and my engine stalled.

I did this maybe three times before realizing the handbrake was on(because I was absolutely mortified about stalling the car so many times it never occurred to me to look at my handbrake!)

I could smell a little burning rubber smell but it was brief and only happened once. As soon as I got the handbrake off I was able to drive and park etc fine and my brakes did not feel spongy etc and no more burning smell. I’m just wondering what I should be doing at this point.

Should I ask a mechanic to have a look at my brakes/hand break?

I drive children in my car and don’t want my brakes to fail in the middle of a school run!

Thanks for any help in advance!

Moab
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1 Answers1

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I'm assuming »conking the car« means that the motor stalled? You should be fine. The usual risks from driving with the handbrake are to leave it on for longer so that it overheats (which can cause a fire). Just getting out of a parking spot and starting to drive should not have any lasting effects on the handbrake or your clutch (the latter of which may be what caused the smell).

If you have the time and are still unsure, having a mechanic look at the car should probably not be too much effort. I once did the same when I felt something weird in the brake pedal. At least my mechanic did that without having to make an appointment first or writing an invoice. No idea where you're based and whether that's common there. (Honestly, though; the parking brake isn't that strong to really impede the motor and stalling a few times isn't that much of a deal either, otherwise driving instructors would need a new car every 100,000 km ...)

Joey
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