5 Things You Should Never Do With an Automatic Transmission

By Patrick Morgan - March 23, 2016

engineering explained

The folks from Engineering Explained are here to tell us why we are so terrible at driving automatic transmissions. You may be thinking: “How hard is it to screw up when driving an automatic? It’s a cinch compared to a manual.” But alas, there’s some habits that you may have picked up that are shortening the life of your transmission.

The one that some of us do consciously is shifting into neutral for a big hill. But the thing is, it’s not saving you fuel. Fuel injection computers are smart enough to know that when you’re letting off the throttle for a hill, they can lean out until you’re back on. It also gives up part of your control of the car, and in some states is illegal (but it’s not like there’s a way to tell).

Things we might be doing subconsciously relate directly to our timing for shifting to P, or between D and R. Making a three point turn? It’s not a smart idea to hurry it up by shifting to drive or reverse while the car is moving, even if that speed falls short of a granny-with-a-walker. Have you ever been in a rush and needed to hop out of your car quickly? Don’t put that thing in park until you’re fully stopped.

There’s plenty of reasoning behind all of this, but some people are visual learners. So this video tells you why some of these habits are bad, and then delves into the technical reasons to back it up.