The life of a car depends upon how the driver drives it. Being too sloppy or too harsh on your car while driving will reduce its life by a few years. Even though automatic transmission vehicle is amazingly safety, you should avoid a few things at any cost while steering the wheel.
Here are things you should not do while driving your automatic car. These things can damage a vehicle badly and put the owner on the hook for some huge repair bills.
Don’t Start Your Vehicle
One thing that is very common among people driving an automatic vehicle, is that they rev the car first in neutral and then put the drive mode on to take the car forward. This is a BIG NO. It will only damage the automatic gearbox and replacing one is an expensive affair. The right way to do it, is that you put the gearbox in drive mode and drive. It’s that simple.
Never Use Two Feet When Driving an Automatic Car
One of the most crucial mistakes many automatic car owners make is to use both the left and right leg to drive the vehicle. Automatic cars are fitted with only two pedals which include the brakes and the accelerator. While driving, people tend to use their right foot to accelerate while left foot to brake. This is a dangerous practice which could result in unforeseen circ*mstances. You may accelerate and brake and at the same time and this will make the car to lose control. The best practice is to set your left foot on the dead pedal or let it rest while using the right foot for both acceleration and braking.
Putting Your Car in Neutral While Driving Downhill
You should never leave your car in neutral while driving downhill.This habit won’t let you accelerate the car except for slowing it down. It cuts the oil supply, so the transmission does not get the proper lubrication for smooth operation. It also results in significant wear and damage. So, what do you do if you’re driving downhill? Instead of using neutral, downshift manually using the 2 and 1 shifts. Learn to brake with the engine and don’t rely on the brake pads. Always drive at a comfortable speed.
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Leaving the Car in Neutral While Stuck in Traffic or Waiting at a Red Light
This is a common misconception. People are advised to put the car in neutral when in traffic, that it saves fuel and reduces the wear on the torque converter. But, the truth is quite the contrary. Putting the car in neutral won’t save you any fuel. When you shift to neutral in traffic or at the stop signal it can result in transmission damage. There are also safety concerns when leaving your car in neutral. For example, what traffic starts speeding up. Leaving your car in neutral minimizes the speed and movement of your car. So, there is no reason to put the gearbox in neutral while waiting at a signal. Its fine to leave it in drive mode.
Not Parking Your Automatic Car in the ‘P’ Mode
You should always park your car in ‘P’ mode or the parking mode. This helps to prevent your car from rolling backwards or forward if in case the hand brakes become inefficient.
Switching From Reverse to DriveWithout Stopping
This is a blunder almost every automatic driver has confessed to making. It seems too time-consuming to stop your car and then shift into reverse. But this act can lead to some costly repairs. When you don’t stop your car before shifting to R, the transmission is forced to change direction rapidly, which damages the gearbox. Whenever you’re changing directions in an automatic transmission vehicle, you want to make sure that you come to a complete stop before switching from drive to reverse, or from reverse to drive.
Switching Into The Parking Mode Before Completely Stopping The Car
Shifting to the Park mode before completely stopping the car, will cause a locking pin to be inserted into a gear attached to the output shaft of the gearbox. The wheels are also connected to the same shaft. So, when you lock it and keep the vehicle rolling at the same time, there’s a risk of breaking the locking pin.
