I've had my Fit up on jack stands and felt comfortable working underneath the car. My wife's BMW - she's at 130K and never changed the transmission fluid so I said I would do it for her. I was leery getting under her car once I had it on jack stands. Not exactly sure why. Maybe because her car is so much larger and heavier than mine? Anyways, once I had the car up on stands I then decided to put the hydraulic jack under the front jacking point - not very tight, just snug - as a safety in case of jack stand problem(s). I thought putting wood under the tires might help too in case of an emergency. I got out from under the car as quick as I could!

What can a person do to have backup security when using jack stands?

 

Set parking brake hard enough to actually prevent the car from moving.

Use a set of wheel chocks wedged against the tires on the ground.


These do not need to be store bought nor fancy.

You could easily chop a cube of 4"x4" lumber into a pair of wedges. Make two sets, one for each rear tire.

Also, images failed to load for me.

 

You could put one of the rims near a jack point too. Jack fails and car falls on a rim instead.

 

*****Prayers needs smirfS2K05 (Paul)****** - S2KI Honda S2000 Forums

 

Darn I worked on my Fit for the first time last week. I was very nervous something like that can happen. I had jack stands on the two front pinch welds and the emergency and parking brake on and chocked the two rear wheels. It seemed rock solid even while I was hammering away at the stuck transmission drain bolt.

I thought 2 jack stands were very secure that that only happened to people who used the jack the hold up the car. I also considered ramps but saw the pic of the shredded Rhino Ramp. Not sure what more I can do.

 

FWD cars with rear parking brakes are generally safer since the rear tires can be stopped with parking brakes and the front tires are less likely to roll if the car is in gear. With a RWD car like the S2000, nothing is holding the front tires in place. Technically a FWD car that's in gear can still roll.

It's a good idea to do a push/pull/side-side test after you get the car in the air.