Hi guys,

I inadvertently drove for about 5km with my parking brake on. I only have 100km in my engine so far, so the car is still being broken in and is very new.

It was my fault as I didn't realize that the dealership always put the parking brake on when they left the vehicles for the customers to pick up (I seldom use the parking brake myself unless I'm on an incline). I also didn't recall hearing a warning tone when I was driving with the parking brake on.

Would you know if I had caused (irrepairable?) damage to my engine, gear box, transmission or braking system while the car was still so new?

Please help. I really appreciate your input.

i think the only thing that you can mess up is that you can wear out your parking break faster... could be wrong though...

5 km I doubt would put enough extra stress on your engine or transmission to damage it seriously... especially if you didnt notice right away, meaning u must not have pressed down your break that hard anyway...

Thanks for responding, rb23lb.

It was the people in the dealership that put the brake on, so I didn't know how hard it was pressed down to get them engaged. I was hoping that it wasn't pressed too hard because I didn't feel that I had to step on the gas too much in order to get the car moving.

Didn't your speedometer turn bright red?

I wasn't paying attention to the symbols in the gauges and missed seeing anything glowing red or any big message on the panel.

I only heard an unusual grinding noise when I was parking the car. So I thought I might have had the parking brake still on and quickly released the brake. As soon as I did that, I noticed a symbol disappeared from the panel but couldn't confirm if it was the one for the parking brake. Guess it must have been.

Had this happen to me once, but the ENTIRE dash turns red and flashes a warning on the screen...its kinda hard to miss.

yeah I find this hard to believe...

never experienced the red lights before, but then again, i always reach for the release lever. even when i'm driving my honda lol force of habit now

It's not just red lights. The entire display turns bright red and there is an audible alert. I had mine slightly depressed one time after bumping it upon entering the vehicle. By the time I was 20 feet down the road it scared the crap out of me.

My 2008 does the exact same thing. ....and it does scare the crap out of you.

Yea, like i said, happened to me once, but i wasnt driving, i had just gotten the car 2 days before and was letting my sister take it for a spin, got a few feet down the road when it went red, my heart skipped a few beats right there before i read it and saw what it was talking about

You probably would have noticed if you weren't texting while driving.

You are in 'control' of a 4000 lb hunk of steel traveling at high speeds. IT IS YOUR DUTY to look at your dash, moron.

There, I said it. MORON.

This is absurd. In the 2012 model you get a bright red message on the dash, the radio is instantly muted, and there is a loud constant beeping sound. The engineers who designed that alert system probably want to punch you for proving that even with all of that, it still isn't idiot proof!

Obviously the beeping sound is not loud enough for somebody.