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[Mathel]

Driving a stick?

I drive automatic. I can only drive automatic. I knew from the start that I probably couldn't multitask well enough to drive stick, so I specifically got an automatic-only driver's license. That means I can't be a taxi, truck or racecar driver, but I wasn't really planning on being one anyway.

Recently I and my dad saw someone on a parking lot, whose starter failed. We went to assist with push starting his car, but there was this issue: The hand brake was electronic and automaticaly active when the engine was not spinning.
Which it was not because the starter failed and we did not push it yet.

Eventualy the driver found a way to disable it, but it took minutes to find.
So while it is nice to have some automatic elements, there should always be a manual override.

[LordBaal]

Dont want to judge anyone, but for me learning to drive involves driving a stick. You dont have to be Ayrton Senna but being capable of driving it in traffic is esential.

I know, I know,  Im a dinosaur and every day less and less cars are built with manual gears, but while the posibility of having to drive one in an emergency remains, is better to be prepared.

Mathel that sounds awfull. If the system fails to deactivate you will have people driving around grinding against the hand brake, the most clueless without even knowing it.

[overseer05-15]

cars have handbrakes?

[Rolan7]

Yeah manuals are nice.  It's really not distracting once you're used to it, it all becomes muscle memory soon enough.  That said, I don't remember driving a manual car that wasn't the one I'm used to...  I imagine it might be disorienting since I obviously shift by sound, speed, and acceleration rather than watching the altimeter tachometer.

I've driven several peoples' automatics over the years and it's a bit trippy, but easy enough to adjust to.  The bigger problem there is that some cars are slightly wider than mine and that really throws me off when it comes to keeping my lane.  Heck, nowadays I drive so rarely that yesterday I was overthinking on the highway, trying to figure out where exactly I'm centered.

It's actually kinda cool in a sci-fi way - once you get a feel for a car and spend enough time with it, your- well, my brain treats my car as more an exosuit than a device.  Its edges become my edges, such that "I" feel too close to a curb or another car on the highway.  Bumping a curb while parking very much feels, haptically and sonicaly, like I just rubbed against it.  Someone described this in a way that stuck with me:  The thought of a crosswalker slapping your hood.  Imagining it makes me viscerally uncomfortable as if someone had patted my shoulder by surprise.

I'm sure this is a pretty common experience, particularly for people who stick with the same vehicle for a while.  Maybe particularly people whose cars are a bit older, such that the wind (indicating velocity) comes through loud and clear, and the shocks are a little old like Vimes' thin boots. 

And the first gear sticks a bit sometimes, but the others you can shift into without touching the clutch.  Just slide off the gas, listen to the engine spin down to just the right tone, and gently *shift*.  Sometimes it bounces off, but it feels great when it works.

Also I've spent a few nights in the back so basically this is a love letter to my car I guess, we've been through some stuff and wow I never thought I'd be the person being weirdly into their car.  I guess the difference is that I see it as a skin rather than a hot woman or whatever.

[Egan_BW]

Ya gotta love your sleeves.

[Mathel]

cars have handbrakes?

Manual brake? The lever between the driver and the seat next to them, which can be pulled up to activate brakes.
I only remember hearing about it in czech, so I do not know the proper english term. But "hand brake" is the literal translation.

To Rolan7:
I do not find it weird and I have never driven a car. Only bikes.
But I do know that to be an effective driver, you would need to drive on instinct as that will decrease your reaction time. Which would probably feel like you describe.

[Egan_BW]

Parking brake is the term, but more often called handbrake.

[Reelya]

There's also the software Handbrake, named after the one in cars, so yeah it is widely used in English. I don't know when I've heard anyone say parking brake.

[IcyTea31]

cars have handbrakes?

Manual brake? The lever between the driver and the seat next to them, which can be pulled up to activate brakes.
I only remember hearing about it in czech, so I do not know the proper english term. But "hand brake" is the literal translation.

In some cars it's called a parking brake, and with automatic transmission it might primarily be used by shifting to P. There's usually a button for it somewhere it would be on a manual car, but even then it's an electronic brake.

It feels scary when I drive my father's newest car, because it has an automatic hill departure aid (keeping the handbrake on for a second after shifting from P to D). In a manual car, I'd use the handbrake to hold the car still while I rev up, and not having to do it completely messes up my muscle memory.


Edit: I've also heard the term "emergency brake" but that's stupid, because engaging it is one of the worst things you can do when you need to swerve or stop the car quickly.

[Rolan7]

I think I know "handbrake" from racing games, but people here in North Carolina usually say parking brake instead.
Fakedit:  Oh yes, and emergency brake is common here too!

I remember worrying my brother by resting my hand on the lever.  In my car it's between the seats, though in some vehicles it's a smaller catch-lever below the wheel near the door.  Manuals don't have a "parking" gear, see, so you have to activate the brake separately.

My mom had a habit of activating the brake then also leaving the car in gear.  She grew up in the mountains, see, where it was customary to do that.  The idea was that if the parking brake wasn't quite enough, the inertia of turning over the engine would help.

Which is how jumpstarting works!  I've managed to jumpstart my car a few times just by pushing it up a small slope with someone's help, leaping in, and putting it in gear.  The engine's turning over fast, the alternator turns that to voltage, and that's just enough for the spark plugs to ignite.  Then just drive it around for a bit until the battery's charged!

I'm still not actually clear on how that works for automatics, heh.  I guess it's fundamentally the same.  Diesel engines, on the other hand...

I do not find it weird and I have never driven a car. Only bikes.
But I do know that to be an effective driver, you would need to drive on instinct as that will decrease your reaction time. Which would probably feel like you describe.

Ooh I didn't get my driver's license until I was about 20 and I cycled a lot instead, so that might be why I appreciate the haptic feedback so much.  My poor steel touring bike...  I really need to tune it up a bit, on the rare occasions I take it out I can feel several things wrong.  Heh but it has friction shifters which are extremely robust.  For the uninitiated:  The shifters are analog levers rather than digital pre-calibrated selectors.  If the chain grinds, you nudge the lever until it stops.  Haptic as heck~

I'm still really proud of the time my alternator failed and I biked to the auto parts store to pick up a replacement, carrying it in a pannier - bag attached to metal scaffolding on the back of a bicycle.  Auto-repair kinda scares me, but between Youtube and bicycle repair tools I was able to replace the part just fine.

[Rolan7]

In some cars it's called a parking brake, and with automatic transmission it might primarily be used by shifting to P. There's usually a button for it somewhere it would be on a manual car, but even then it's an electronic brake.

Sounds right.  My grandpa's truck uses a weird lever under the wheel but it's fundamentally like the lever between seats.

It feels scary when I drive my father's newest car, because it has an automatic hill departure aid (keeping the handbrake on for a second after shifting from P to D). In a manual car, I'd use the handbrake to hold the car still while I rev up, and not having to do it completely messes up my muscle memory.

There's this one offramp near my old home that has a particularly steep incline leading up to the stoplight, and it used to terrify me.  To start moving in an manual (or stick shift) you have to smoothly move your foot from the break to the gas, *while* letting go of the clutch the correct amount, which obviously results in you rolling backward if anything goes wrong.  Using the handbrake helped a lot.  The handbrake isn't strong enough to stop the car from going forward (occasionally I would forget to disengage it, but notice the strange drag as I hit a main road), so it's useful for preventing the rollback.

Edit: I've also heard the term "emergency brake" but that's stupid, because engaging it is one of the worst things you can do when you need to swerve or stop the car quickly.

Truth!  I assume that they're exempt from the anti-lock brake process for... obvious reasons.  So it'd just result in skidding out of control, ironically *losing* deceleration because a skidding car brakes less efficiently than one in lock with the pavement.

[Mathel]

Edit: I've also heard the term "emergency brake" but that's stupid, because engaging it is one of the worst things you can do when you need to swerve or stop the car quickly.

Truth!  I assume that they're exempt from the anti-lock brake process for... obvious reasons.  So it'd just result in skidding out of control, ironically *losing* deceleration because a skidding car brakes less efficiently than one in lock with the pavement.

Reminds me of a physics lesson. A stationary object has more (maximal) frictional force than a sliding object. So it is easier to keep a (non-round) object in motion than to start pushing it.
A rolling wheel is considered "stationary" against the road.

[scriver]

My mother's Volvo has a switch on he left side of the wheel next to the door.

And I hate that.

[ChairmanPoo]

What does it do

[Reelya]

It's the passenger side ejector seat control.