Always wanted to know this, always been afraid to Google it because I figured it would report me for self harm or something like that.
So, 1. What would happen if, while driving on the highway at highway speeds, you grab the gear shift knob and put it in park? Would it just lock up all the wheels or what?
And 2. What would happen if, also while driving on the highway, at highway speeds, you turn the car off (turn the key and remove it)?
I feel like both should be impossible while the car is in motion. But somehow I don’t think they are. And to a gearhead, these are probably really stupid questions. But as someone who barely understands how cars do what they do… I’m curious.
My driving instructor included #2 in the lessons a decade (or 2) ago
You lost power steering and power breaks, so car was heavy but steerable. Goal was to put it back in neutral, start the car, and drive off
TLDR, keep calm and carry on.
Sounds like a good instructor. I’ve had my car shut down twice (different cars) while driving on high speed motorways and something like this would’ve been handy
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Transmission would make a lot of noise, grinding kind, as the park pawl attempted to engage. It could lock up the wheel if it successfully engaged. I know because I’ve done this accidentally on an old 1970’s car that had a shifter problem.
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Nothing much - you’d lose power assist for the steering, and you’d have power assist for braking for 1 good stop. I’ve also done this.
So you’d basically break your transmission. Sounds like something that shouldn’t be allowed to happen.
Maybe. Maybe not.
I didn’t that time, but I immediately put it back in gear. Probably took a few years off the parking pawl.
Shifter systems are designed to prevent this - this car had a shifter issue we were working on.
It’s a hard thing to do any more, the lock outs have gotten a lot better. Pretty much impossible with push-button shifters.
Every car I have driven, with the oldest being a '77 manual, seemed to have something keeping the shifter from accidentally going into park for automatics or a gear too far down for a manual. I never tried to force it, but it seemed like they had functionality in llace to make it impossible or at least very difficult.
Note that you were replying to someone who said their car had a shifter problem
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Not a gear head, but I had a friend in high school who was an idiot. While his girlfriend was driving on the main drag one day he stuck the car in reverse or park, not actually sure. We all braced for catastrophe, but nothing happened. The car basically was in neutral.
He also shut off the car while driving, but because it was in drive was unable to remove the keys. The driver had to shift to neutral, then she was able to restart it. Basically while it was off, there was no power steering, or power brakes.
ETA: this was in an 89 LeBaron.
I don’t know years, but one of my brothers once had a Chrysler LeBaron. I think it was a '93? White, convertible. One day, with me riding shotgun, he went to a boat ramp (ramp that leads into a lake) and floored it. Just before hitting the water, he pulls the e-brake and swings the wheel hard to one side. The back end whipped over the water and the car stopped, facing up the ramp. That started the fight, but it’s not why his friend broke his ankle. That was later. All in all it was a good night, even though it ended up with a trip to the ER. My brother’s still one of my favourite people in the world. And I do miss that car.
I take the bait and second the petition for the tale of the ankle. Come on you don’t mention an apparently irrelevant fact if you are not planning on sharing more about it
Replied to the previous comment ;)
I, for one, would like to hear the tale of said ankle.
Honestly I don’t remember much, they were drinking (I was the designated driver) and the guy went to walk/run down a hill and rolled his ankle. I’m not 100% sure it broke, but he was hollering like a madman and I had some Tylenol on me for some reason and gave it to him, and I remember in the ER they asked what he had, and I recited the amount and ABV of what he drank, plus the dosage of acetaminophen down to the mg. My brother and his friend said I shouldn’t have mentioned the Tylenol so he could have gotten more morphine. I reminded them, this is why I’m the DD.
don’t you have to hold break to do either of those things?
