Thread: Emergency Brake Lock? 2010 Soul ! (parking brake)

Originally Posted by Greg

You park in 1st gear if you are parked facing UPhill, and you park in Reverse if you are parked facing DOWNhill. Otherwise, your engine can start and your car will drive away, which is a safety issue :P

1st or reverse doesn't make a difference in regards to which way you're facing on a hill. Engine still rotates in the same direction during operation. One should always park in the lowest gear, however. Most often reverse is actually lower than 1st, so it's more advisable to use it. Example: early 2000 Saabs would not let you remove the key from ignition upon parking until the manual gear selector was in reverse.

Thank God somebody else mentioned this! I have a 2010 Soul (5-spd. manual trans) that I bought in May of '09. This has always been an issue; if the car get wet and sits for a day or two, the e-brake locks up, and when I put it in gear, it releases with a loud POP. Oh, and I park on a flat concrete driveway... hills aren't part of my issue.

In my 2nd year with the Soul, I started storing it during the summers (I have a couple other cars I only use when we have good weather in Ohio). I began storing it in a friend's garage, totally enclosed with concrete floor. Well, when I went to get it out in the Fall, the parking brake SHOES were rusted to the drum! It had to be flatbedded to the dealer as it would not roll, no matter what I tried.

The dealer confirmed it: shoes rusted to parking brake drum due to "a lot of metal in the brake shoe lining." They cleaned & lubed up everything, and put new shoes in. They suggested that I leave the trans in gear and keep the parking brake OFF when it's in storage. Oh- and with the Tons Of Souls running around this city, I was the only one they'd ever seen with this issue.

The next summer, I did that. Guess what? That Fall, the e-brake was again frozen, and the rear wheels would NOT move. Again with the flatbed, and off to the dealer!

The service mgr. suggested that my storing it was unusual, and that in the Spring, I'd take it in to have them: 1- clean & lube the entire mechanism, 2- back off the e-brake for extra clearance. 3- I agreed to get the Soul and drive it for a few minutes each month while in storage. It worked, and I got had no issues this past November when I put it back on the road.

Even so-- I never went back to the dealer this year to have the e-brake adjusted back up. It didn't need it! Also, now that Winter is upon us, if the car gets damp and sits for a day, the e-brake sticks to the drum and breaks loose with that loud POP. I'm glad to know it's not just me! This is a legitimate issue with the Soul, and the composition of the materials in the e-brake lining seems to be the problem. Now-- what can we do about this??

Originally Posted by Greg

You park in 1st gear if you are parked facing UPhill, and you park in Reverse if you are parked facing DOWNhill. Otherwise, your engine can start and your car will drive away, which is a safety issue :P

Just curious. How's the car going to start with the ignition off and the key in the house?

It won't, there's no energy to the ignition.