If the goal is to reduce pressure on the parking pawl in the transmission, the guy was sort of right. The correct procedure is:

1) set parking break
2) release foot brake
3) shift into park.

The Ford transmissions in the 1999-2002.5 S-types would sometimes get stuck in park if this was not followed.

 

EXACTLY RIGHT. If you put a car in park then release the foot brake, the transmission "Parking Pawl" (a hook on the tranny case that engages the output shaft which holds the whole deal from rotating) has all the strain on that one tiny pawl. This effect isn't so much in-play on a totally flat surface, but if you park on an up-slope or down-slope it will be very apparent. It makes the "clunk" when disengaged after being put under strain when shifted from Park to any other position. The car will also lurch when this is done. I'm sure most everyone in here can tell when the Parking Pawl disengages when parked on a slope. It's pretty obvious.
While it isn't so much REQUIRED to alleviate this stress, any time one can avoid unnecessary stress and strain would make the 1/2 second it takes all worth it.
I do it this way EVERY time, on ALL my vehicles.
One caveat......
No real need to shift into neutral first, just set the brake whatever gear you are in, then shift to park. The action of shifting will relieve the stresses. There will be no undue strain or wear of the Parking Pawl with this method. (going from Sport to Park necessitates shifting into Drive momentarily, which will release the brake, so either from Drive, Neutral or Reverse.)

 

Well heck, it took too long for me to post and I was beaten to it by Mikey. I need typing lessons I guess.

 

Didn't I JUST WRITE that ????
RTDT!

LOL.

 

The theory is, you stop with brake applied and shift to neutral and set the parking brake which prevents the car from moving, then shift into park and the car doesn't roll forward or back and thus put strain on the parking pawl. When you start up, you depress the brake pedal, release the parking brake and shift out of park, still with no strain on the pawl.

 

This is logical and makes sense. Then again as I mentioned before in the 50 + years of car ownership both standard and automatic I have never used the parking/emergency brake. Oh and I have never had a car jump out of gear or a park pawl break . Funny thing is in NY we have an annual car inspection which covers both safety and emission inspection and I have never had an inspector check the E-brake.

 

I have had cars with automatic transmissions for 30 years. I have never use the parking brake in those vehicles ever. Not one issue has arisen and I keep cars for long periods. The only car I have used a parking brake on is my vehicles that are manual transmission.

I feel that is overthinking things, but it isn't difficult so if it makes you feel like it serves a purpose have at it.

 

Well, as Paul has said, the idea of putting it into N , applying the parking brake and then putting it into P is to ensure that there is no movement of the car after it is put into Park - because there is a danger of the transmission park pawl becoming jammed. It does happen! And when it happens you are unable to move the transmission lever unless you can move the car to release the load on the pawl. In extreme cases the pawl can break. I have in fact had a Mk 2 transmission (Borg Warner DG250) in which this ocurred (not by my doing!).

 

Exactly, same here. 4 pages, really?

 

Once my handbrake is on the car doesn't shift so I don't see why you have to bother with neutral. My parking spot at work is on a slight incline so I pull in to the space then while my foot is still on the brake move the gear lever to park then put the handbrake on. I then don't release the footbrake until I am sure the handbrake has engaged and the car doesn't move at all.

 

Agreed, that is what I had said also, if you have the brake down when going into park and then turning on the EPB the nuetral step is unnecessary.

If on an incline don't put in park, release foot and the car bounces a bit in gear and then put on EPB.

This really isn't about Electronic-Brake, this is just common sense parking brake usage. What next, should we teach people with manual tranny to not leave it in neutral on a hill with the brake off?

 

You don't. It's been pointed out several times that the Infiniti guy was wrong.