_______________________ SAFE ATTITUDE 19

IN THE 4X

EMERGENCY BRAKE CAUTION

The emergency brake in modern 4Xs works in a variety of ways. Some are better than others. To err on the side of safety, I recommend you not completely trust your emergency brake, as I'll explain.

Don't trust your emergency brake. Use PARK or put your manual transmission in gear and apply the emergency brake every time! Just like your pants, if you want to keep 'em up, this adds suspenders to the belt of steep precaution. Several things come together to warrant this.

Most of our urban environment is flat or near level. Mall parking is mostly level. Our homes are usually on horizontal lots. Parking structures are flat, too. The emergency brake is usually adequate for these situations. As a result, we are lulled into believing the emergency brake works perfectly. In addition, we loose our slope perception.

Mother Nature can throw a tree or two in at odd angles, then we struggle to tell what's up or down. After traveling a couple of miles up a wash, the slant bogeyman breeds contemptuous unawareness of the grade. And even being aware of the incline, it still may be steeper than expected.

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