After reading this, make sure NOT to do these things in an automatic transmission car. The general trend in the automobile industry is leaning towards the fast adoption of automatic transmission vehicles. People, nowadays demand the convenience of an automatic gearbox primarily because the city traffic across the country is becoming worse. The drivers want to enjoy the drive and not worry about changing gears all the time. The sales of automatic cars have seen a substantial rise in the last decade. Even the cars of lower segments are being offered with some sort of automatic gearbox option. Hence, it makes sense to educate yourself about the habits not to follow while driving an automatic transmission car.
Also read: Battle Of The Transmissions- Torque Converter vs DCT vs CVT vs AMT vs iMT
Habits NOT to follow in an Automatic Transmission Car
- Don’t put the car in “Parking” gear before coming to a complete standstill. Many people have this habit of engaging the parking gear even if the car is still in motion. This is a dangerous habit as it can damage the parking pawl. The pawl is responsible for maintaining a car in a parked position by locking the transmission. If you put “Parking” before coming to a complete stop, the transmission motion might damage the pawl.
- Don’t launch the car as you might have seen in the movies. Launching, for the uninitiated, is when you press the accelerator hard to rev up the engine in neutral and suddenly shift to “Drive” to gain a rapid start. This can also cause damage to various components of the transmission assembly.
- Don’t engage neutral while coming down a slope. A lot of people have this habit of putting the car in neutral while descending a slope to save fuel. While that may be true but you are doing it at the expense of safety. When the car is in neutral, you lose some control of the car. As you might know, gears also hold the car at a certain speed and brakes assist further to have complete control of your car. However, if you drive in neutral, the transmission is not holding the car and your brakes have to work extra which might lead to brake fade over long periods.
- You don’t need to put your car in “Neutral” when you stop at the traffic light. This is because the transmission is designed in such a way that won’t affect or cause wear to the clutch if you keep the brake pressed in traffic. On the other hand, it might be a bit hectic to constantly keep shifting between “Neutral” and “Drive” at every traffic light you stop at.
Also read: Have You Been Driving Manual Transmission Cars WRONG All The Time?
