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How do you guys park on a little hill? Why can I feel the car move a little bit every time?

Model Years 2018 to 2023
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down hill parking brake
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#22 ·
Sarang said:
Come on man, we don't want to make this into another NASIOC. You gave a specific procedure that is different from normal. What's your reasoning?
I'm not disputing it - just curious.
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What specifically about my procedure do you consider not normal?
I've owned three Subaru's and two Honda's, all with hand operated parking brakes, over the last 21 years and this is my exact procedure for all of them. It is just my way of avoiding the car's movement when I place it into Park.
 
#25 ·
sas-XV said:
What specifically about my procedure do you consider not normal?
I've owned three Subaru's and two Honda's, all with hand operated parking brakes, over the last 21 years and this is my exact procedure for all of them. It is just my way of avoiding the car's movement when I place it into Park.
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To be clear, I'm not saying it's wrong, I was asking where you got it from. It sounds like you created the procedure, so that answers my question.

I just put mine in park and pull the handbrake. I've never heard of doing it in neutral before this thread. I'm open to the idea that I've been doing it wrong, that's why I'm asking the questions.
 
#27 ·
Sarang said:
To be clear, I'm not saying it's wrong, I was asking where you got it from. It sounds like you created the procedure, so that answers my question.

I just put mine in park and pull the handbrake. I've never heard of doing it in neutral before this thread. I'm open to the idea that I've been doing it wrong, that's why I'm asking the questions.
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Try a little experiment...

1) Stop on an incline with the brakes, put the transmission in neutral, apply the handbrake, then release the brakes. Notice... the car settles into a stationary position down-incline as the suspension adjusts to the car only being held by the rear handbrake.

2) Stop on an incline with the brakes and put the transmission in Park and release the brakes. Notice... the car once again settles down-incline before becoming stationary as the suspension now adjusts to the car only being held stationary by a little pawl in the transmission. That means the entire weight of the car is being held from rolling downhill by that little pawl. Applying the handbrake at this point does nothing to relieve the load on the Park pawl, all it does is make the handbrake the failsafe.

3) Now... stop on an incline with the brakes, apply the handbrake, then release the brakes like in 1) above. You can leave the car at this time but the car will complain so you put the transmission in Park... AFTER the suspension has settled and the car is safely held stationary by the handbrake (although the addition of wheel chocks like the manual advises would be best).

Under these conditions the little pawl in the transmission is under no stress, it's just what it was designed to be - a failsafe.
 
#28 ·
AstroKats said:
Here's what ours says. No specific mention of the EB. Personally, I don't use it when parked on a flat surface, like in our garage, only on hills (and I also curb the wheels for extra safety on hills).

View attachment 306131
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On page 7-48 of my OM under "Starting and operating/Parking your vehicle" it says:

Parking tips
When parking your vehicle, always per-form the following items.
  • Apply the parking brake firmly.
  • For MT models, put the shift lever in the “1” (1st) for upgrade or “R (Reverse) for a downgrade.
  • For CVT models, put the select lever in the “P” (Park) position.
Never rely on the mechanical friction of the transmission alone to hold the vehicle.
When parking on a hill, always turn the steering wheel. When the vehicle is headed up the hill, the front wheels should be turned away from the curb.
When facing downhill, the front wheels should be turned into the curb.
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On page 8-27 of my manual, under "Driving tips/Trailer towing" it says:

Parking on a grade
Always block the wheels under both
vehicle and trailer when parking. Apply the parking brake firmly. You should not park on a hill or slope. If parking on a hill or slope cannot be avoided, you should take the following steps:
1. Apply the brakes and hold the pedal down.
2. Have someone place wheel blocks under both the vehicle and trailer wheels.
3. When the wheel blocks are in place, release the regular brakes slowly until the
blocks absorb the load.
4. Apply the regular brakes and then
apply the parking brake; slowly release the regular brakes.
5. Shift into 1st or reverse gear (MT
models) or “P” position (CVT models) and shut off the engine.
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Please forgive formatting errors, c&p OM to here is a hoot.
 
#30 ·
Sarang said:
Why? I've never heard that before.
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When the e-brake is on, releasing the service brake will allow the e-brake to first hold the vehicle. After that, putting xmission in park will be the final lock, but without putting any strain on the drive train. I've had heavier vehicles (GMC Suburban) in the past that if you first used the park prong to hold the vehicle, then the e-brake, the drive train would be so engaged that it would be very difficult to get the transmission out of park.
 
#31 ·
Bobby_Lin said:
Hello everyone, I have just got my 2021 outdoor Canadian spec and I am new to the forum. I have just found one thing strange is that every time I park, I can feel the car move a little bit or lurch. Where I park the car is a little downhill.
What I did is:
1. foot on brake
2. shift to neutral
3. hand brake on
4. shift to P
5. foot off brake
I am not sure what is going wrong or is this normal? I think I am doing the right procedure that I let the handbrake to take the car's weight. I did the same procedure for my old 2012 Mazda 6 and it did not lurch at all.
I have tested the handbrake's functionality by: 1. foot on brake 2. shift to neutral 3. handbrake on (as high as possible). 4. foot off the brake. The car didn't roll down the hill but still lurched like before.
Could anyone explain this? Thank you so much.
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If you park and do not use the hand brake, I’m sure it will do the same little movement. It’s normal operation imo. Doubt the ebrake needs adjustment but I don’t think disc brake cars need ebrakes adjusted. My Crosstrek has the same thing in the driveway that barely has a slight grade.
 
#32 ·
Bobby_Lin said:
Hello everyone, I have just got my 2021 outdoor Canadian spec and I am new to the forum. I have just found one thing strange is that every time I park, I can feel the car move a little bit or lurch. Where I park the car is a little downhill.
What I did is:
1. foot on brake
2. shift to neutral
3. hand brake on
4. shift to P
5. foot off brake
I am not sure what is going wrong or is this normal? I think I am doing the right procedure that I let the handbrake to take the car's weight. I did the same procedure for my old 2012 Mazda 6 and it did not lurch at all.
I have tested the handbrake's functionality by: 1. foot on brake 2. shift to neutral 3. handbrake on (as high as possible). 4. foot off the brake. The car didn't roll down the hill but still lurched like before.
Could anyone explain this? Thank you so much.
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Might just be normal operation for the Subaru AWD system.
 
#33 ·
SubieSubieDo said:
GTK and thanks. My first CVT so I'm in the old habit of footbrake, gear, handbrake. Will change to this now.
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It isn't limited to CVT engines. All automatics have same problem as they use a parking pawl to lock the transmission.
The handbrake/e-brakes just generally allows a lot more slip then the parking pawl, so chances are you'll end up resting the weight of your car on a tiny metal pin that locks up your transmission.

This is also why, as @sas-XV mentioned, it can be difficult to move your car out of Park when this happens as you are trying to pull the parking pawl out with the weight of the car resting on it.

This is why it is good practice to place all the weight of the car on your handbrake/e-brake before you engage park, otherwise you'll end up wearing out the parking pawl, or worse destroying your transmission if the parking pawl decides to go for a walk around your transmission.

That said though, I've known some people that slam their auto into park the millisecond the wheels stop spinning and their vehicle is still doing ok...
 
#34 ·
Bobby_Lin said:
Hello everyone, I have just got my 2021 outdoor Canadian spec and I am new to the forum. I have just found one thing strange is that every time I park, I can feel the car move a little bit or lurch. Where I park the car is a little downhill.
What I did is:
1. foot on brake
2. shift to neutral
3. hand brake on
4. shift to P
5. foot off brake
I am not sure what is going wrong or is this normal? I think I am doing the right procedure that I let the handbrake to take the car's weight. I did the same procedure for my old 2012 Mazda 6 and it did not lurch at all.
I have tested the handbrake's functionality by: 1. foot on brake 2. shift to neutral 3. handbrake on (as high as possible). 4. foot off the brake. The car didn't roll down the hill but still lurched like before.
Could anyone explain this? Thank you so much.
Click to expand...
Be
Bobby_Lin said:
Just to make sure the weight is on the handbrake and test if the hand brake functions well. I think I usually do your way as well and it won't put the weight on gears as long as the foot off the brake is after everything.
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I'd just like to add one other thought here.

It's not well known, but there is actually a break-in procedure for the parking brake in the Owner's Manual. It's not difficult although you have to do a little estimating.

Without conditioning, it's possible that the lining is simply not binding to the drum so there is that slippage that you're noticing. I do not experience this issue parking regularly on my inclined driveway and did perform the break-in last year within the first few miles of driving our 2021 MY. It's probably not too late to do the break-in now:

306203


drbug
 
#35 ·
Subi should also mention in the handi brake break-in procedure to ignore the absolute fit the Trek throws when you pull the lever while in motion & to only preform this exercise in a safe isolated location. Scared the crap right out of me first time I tried going for a sweet drift around a gravel road curve…
 
#36 ·
EvilMonkey said:
Subi should also mention in the handi brake break-in procedure to ignore the absolute fit the Trek throws when you pull the lever while in motion & to only preform this exercise in a safe isolated location. Scared the crap right out of me first time I tried going for a sweet drift around a gravel road curve…
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Tried it once with my XV's e-brake out of curiosity. It beeps at you and flashes a warning on the screen before the whole car lurches as it's applied full force.

Not sure how you would break-in the e-brake..but that wasn't a fun experience.
 
#37 ·
When you do your stop with the foot brake, do it from the reverse position, not drive. Then hand brake etc. In other words the last movement of the car should be reversing not forward. Not certain it works but this worked for me with a similar issue with an older car.
 
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