Left the emergency brake on while driving

[Ultrawarrior]

So there is not much to explain here but a stupid mistake that I made on my part but I just want to be sure that there is no damage to my car or what not.

I was driving my younger brothers to a birthday party this past week and it felt like a normal drive to me then when I got to my brothers friends house my brother got out of the car and said " ewww it smells bad out here " and I said like what eventually smelling it myself a couple of seconds after him and I said don't worry about it and go have fun. So he went off and I said to myself what is that burning smell coming from. So I get back in my car and I saw that I was driving with my emergency brakes on the entire time, at this point I was freaking out a little so I instantly took of the brake when I noticed it was on and waited there for a couple of minutes before driving off back home.

I was probably driving about 2-3 miles with the brake on and going as fast as 45-50 miles per hour at one point.

I just want to know if anything could be damaged or if I should watch out for any problems while I drive it thanks in advance

Note- all I noticed was a really bad burning smell that went away after a little bit of time, I did not see anything else such as red brakes or smoke that I know of

 

[ktolo]

It obviously wasn't 'ON' very strongly..or you would of notcied immediately. It sounds like it was on a little and you burned down his brake pads a little.. which is to be expected.
I doubt there would be any problems.
Does the park brake still work? How do the brakes react when you 'test-brake' - i.e. drive down a quiet stree at around 30 and slam the brakes on hard?
If they work like you think they should.. there should be no damage.
If not, new pads are cheap enough $30-$50 or thereabouts.

 

[Ultrawarrior]

It obviously wasn't 'ON' very strongly..or you would of notcied immediately. It sounds like it was on a little and you burned down his brake pads a little.. which is to be expected.
I doubt there would be any problems.
Does the park brake still work? How do the brakes react when you 'test-brake' - i.e. drive down a quiet stree at around 30 and slam the brakes on hard?
If they work like you think they should.. there should be no damage.
If not, new pads are cheap enough $30-$50 or thereabouts.

Sorry i meant to say emergency brakes not parking brakes, it is the one in between the two seats that you pull up to use and you click the button to take off.

 

[synphul]

It depends on the vehicle, the e-brakes are typically rear only and either apply the standard operating brakes if they're rear drums. If 4 wheel disc (rotors and pads on the rear same as the front) there are typically small brake shoes along the inside. Some rear discs will actuate the rear pads. In any case, that sort of friction can build up quite a bit of heat and in addition to wearing the pads/shoes a bit can cause wear grooves in the rear drums (if drum brakes) and some possible warping. Warping of the rear rotors (if rear brakes are disc) would be more likely.

Try driving the car down a backstreet where there's not much traffic. Rather than jamming on the brakes, lightly apply them and see if you feel a slight pulsation in the pedal or a rhythmic slight 'lurching' that syncs with your vehicle speed. Similar to the sensation of lightly tapping the brakes repeatedly. As the car moves slower and comes to a stop the soft 'lurching' should too (if it's the brakes).

If doing that results in a smooth stop it's probably fine. If doing that results in feedback in both the brake pedal against your foot and in the steering wheel it's probably the front brakes and if the steering wheel is smooth and you get slight feedback from the brake pedal you may have warped the rear brakes.

Pad-slapping (replacing just the shoes/pads) isn't recommended. There may be nothing wrong with them other than a little friction material wear. If it's bad enough they need replaced, I'd suggest taking it to a shop if you're unable to do it yourself. A proper brake job would consist of an inspection of the brakes, replacement of pads/shoes (as needed) and turning of the rotor/drums.

If the rotors or drums are warped (out of round due to wear or overheating) and you just replace the friction materials not only will the brakes perform less than optimal the pads/shoes will wear much faster. Sadly many times even brand new rotors for disc brakes could use turning to make them true/even. A lot of warehouses like to stack them flat on top of one another rather than on edge and the weight of the stack laying one top of another is enough to cause brand new rotors to not run true like they should.

 

[Ultrawarrior]

It depends on the vehicle, the e-brakes are typically rear only and either apply the standard operating brakes if they're rear drums. If 4 wheel disc (rotors and pads on the rear same as the front) there are typically small brake shoes along the inside. Some rear discs will actuate the rear pads. In any case, that sort of friction can build up quite a bit of heat and in addition to wearing the pads/shoes a bit can cause wear grooves in the rear drums (if drum brakes) and some possible warping. Warping of the rear rotors (if rear brakes are disc) would be more likely.

Try driving the car down a backstreet where there's not much traffic. Rather than jamming on the brakes, lightly apply them and see if you feel a slight pulsation in the pedal or a rhythmic slight 'lurching' that syncs with your vehicle speed. Similar to the sensation of lightly tapping the brakes repeatedly. As the car moves slower and comes to a stop the soft 'lurching' should too (if it's the brakes).

If doing that results in a smooth stop it's probably fine. If doing that results in feedback in both the brake pedal against your foot and in the steering wheel it's probably the front brakes and if the steering wheel is smooth and you get slight feedback from the brake pedal you may have warped the rear brakes.

Pad-slapping (replacing just the shoes/pads) isn't recommended. There may be nothing wrong with them other than a little friction material wear. If it's bad enough they need replaced, I'd suggest taking it to a shop if you're unable to do it yourself. A proper brake job would consist of an inspection of the brakes, replacement of pads/shoes (as needed) and turning of the rotor/drums.

If the rotors or drums are warped (out of round due to wear or overheating) and you just replace the friction materials not only will the brakes perform less than optimal the pads/shoes will wear much faster. Sadly many times even brand new rotors for disc brakes could use turning to make them true/even. A lot of warehouses like to stack them flat on top of one another rather than on edge and the weight of the stack laying one top of another is enough to cause brand new rotors to not run true like they should.

Thanks so much, i will be watching for any problems and try out all of your solutions

 

[Ultrawarrior]

i will be replying and adding to this forum if i need to for updates on how the car is handling thank to everyone who helped

 

[Ultrawarrior]

!!!UPDATE!!!!

Its been a while, The car has been working fine nothing wrong, The brake pads just worn down a little