The Parking Brake. The E-Brake. The Drift Wand. There are plenty of names we use to refer to the parking system that keeps our vehicle in place when you need it to stay still. If your car has a mechanical parking brake then you also have the lever that operates the brake, unless your car has one of those lame foot-operated parking brakes. The lever itself is a basic ratcheting mechanism that pulls a line, which then forces your parking brake to clamp down on the rotor and hold the car in place. When you pull up on the parking brake lever, however, should you be holding in the button to reduce wear on the system?

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No. What are you even talking about? Are you a crazy person? Those clicks you hear are the results of a ratcheting system doing its job. Engineering Explained takes the time to walk you through exactly why it is you don't need to worry about hurting your parking brake handle. If it's making that delightful clicking noise, then it's working as it should. It will continue to do so for decades, too.

We're not quite sure why this was a surprise to some folks, but we do appreciate the manner in which this video explains the subject. There's a great example of another ratchet-based mechanism in the video, and it makes some great noise. So rejoice and revel in that soothing clicking action that is your parking brake lever doing its thing.

Or put tape over the button and go drifting...

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