The World Wide Web can be a wonderful place to increase your knowledge, including finding out that you've actually been performing the simplest of tasks (read: peeling a banana) incorrectly for most of your life.
Another day-to-day action to come under scrutiny is something so benign, you've probably never given it a second thought - until now, of course. Apparently, according to TikTok, there's a wrong and a right way to apply the handbrake in an automatic vehicle.
Debate erupted on the platform after an Australian woman sought advice from the strangers of the internet as to how to correctly use her handbrake.The video, which has since gone viral, quickly descended into chaos as viewers fiercely discussed how best to use the brake when parking a car.
Of course, it's worth noting here that this applies to automatic vehicles - as the owner of a manual car, you best believe I'm engaging that bad boy if I want my car to remain stationary and not, you know, roll into my house.
In the clip, the woman - who goes by the name Emmy - confessed she had "so many questions" after receiving conflicting advice about when an automatic car's handbrake should be applied in the parking process.
She demonstrated how she would typically operate the brake; putting her car in park before pulling up the lever to apply the mechanism, ensuring her vehicle is secure and remains stationary.
"Everyone on TikTok has been coming to tell me that I don't need to do that if my car is in park," Emmy said in the clip, which has been viewed almost 230,000 times.
"But I always put the car in park and then put the handbrake on. Is that not what you're meant to do?"
It didn't take long for Emmy to be bombarded with responses, with impassioned TikTokers sharing their own clips of how they personally like to use the parking brake.
Fellow Australian creator, Jean McDonald, urged drivers to avoid Emmy's approach to the brake, arguing it applied too much pressure on the car's gearbox - which could prove costly in the long run.
"When you put your car in park and then put your handbrake on, the entire weight of the car is resting on the park break rather than the handbrake, which means it's resting on the gearbox," he told his viewers, claiming the action "f***s your gearbox up".
According to McDonald, the correct approach is to put the car in neutral, apply the handbrake, then shift it into park.
"That way the weight of the car is resting on the handbrake and not the gearbox," he said.
His advice, which also features on the automotive education platform Hot Rod, has also gone viral, racking up millions of views and likes.
Meanwhile, others argued that it doesn't matter at what stage you apply the handbrake, noting that whatever technique you use, it's unlikely it will cause serious damage to the gearbox.
The responses also differed from country to country, with American drivers seemingly more reliant on the 'park' function than the parking brake, which appears to be more commonly used in Australia.
