What is the difference between park and neutral
Viewed 79k times. Can we use Neutral N on the selector instead of Park P when parking on a flat surface? What do you think? Improve this question. Dan 1 1 gold badge 2 2 silver badges 8 8 bronze badges. Read your car's manual. Follow the manufacturer's advice for stopping and parking your car. Manufacturers don't tend to put things into manuals that they know will damage the car.
Do consider the fact that when you put your brakes on P Park , the doors unlock automatically in any decently new model. It does not when you move it to N. Granted, the door unlocks when you open it, but just be mindful of the fact that all the other doors are still locked. Relevant top hit on Google: reddit. And let me tell you from the perspective of someone who as once parked a bus on a hill and forgot to put the gear and handbrake in - just to find the bus having rolled backwards a few hundred meters, thank god steering itself gently off the street into a pole instead of any real damage.
You don't want to try your luck. Show 2 more comments. Active Oldest Votes. Others have delved into the details already, read the other answers. However there is one important point that I have not seen brought up yet.
Improve this answer. Community Bot 1. That's a good point. I had a manual once that had a failing ebrake cable. I was new to driving and manuals , so I had parked on a hill using just the ebrake and without the transmission. I went back for my car later and found that my car had been "stolen. Then I looked down the hill and found that my car had rolled about half a mile to the nearest tree in someone's yard.
That was the last time I ever parked without being in first. Automatics could definitely roll away while you're not looking if you're not in Park. Anyway, I was stopped on a hill while I checked a map on my phone, so I put it in neutral and used the parking brake rather than holding it with the regular brake.
It started sliding backwards. Luckily I was in the driver's seat with the engine running so it was an easy problem to solve, but still, I can definitely see how a car can roll with just the parking brake.
Most brakes should make horrible grinding sounds if they wear out too much. Xen the weak parking brake was due to the rear drum brakes being worn all the way down, confirmed when replacing them for the first time after around , miles. Parking brake worked like a champ after that. Only reason I let it go that long is the brakes in general lasted a long time thanks to engine braking frequently, being manual transmission. Fun fact: in hilly San Francisco two systems are not enough, so you're obliged to engage yet another way of braking by turning wheels towards the curb.
Show 1 more comment. Depends on the car.. Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat. Add a comment. This answer explains it well. For all intents and purposes, yes P is basically in neutral but has the added feature of preventing the car from moving. Therefore, it is much safer. Well, there IS a useful reason, when you park in places where there's so little space that people gently push other cars when parking and departing.
It is likely not to be so gently when your car is on gear. However, this is not going to be nice for carroserie anyway, and this wil die out if people in such places would get more modern car JPhi JPhi Well, I think mechanically you are right, but the parking pawl will hold the driven wheels in place and cannot be bypassed, whereas the emergency brake will hold the rear wheels and the cable is simple to find and quickly cut to put the car in motion for theft or vandalism.
And you can't remove the key in neutral. Cutting the parking brake cable is a great way to get run over. Huge parts of the population never use the parking brake, particularly in the rustbelt where it rusts up in very short order.
Why do an extra step when the automatic does it for you automatically? I don't even know where the lever for the parking brake is on my car and I haven't heard that sound for like 20y.
Nearly all automatic transmission cars have a bypass to disengage the parking pawl without the key. Tow truck drivers, wreckers, and repossessors use this feature all the time. Now, putting your vehicle in park will not cause any wear, because: In a computer-controlled automatic transmission, the computer will only change gear if you stay in the gear for a while.
Kenny Kenny 1 1 silver badge 5 5 bronze badges. Then, when I start the vehicle, I depress the brake pedal before releasing the parking brake and shifting out of park and into gear. I'm fully convinced this prevents the vehicle from coming to rest on its transmission components and has helped extend the life of my automatic transmission.
It does mean that the parking gear never engages. However, the forces applied to the drive axles and output shaft when in park are much, much lower than those under even mild acceleration, and as the lock is placed on the output shaft to the transmission house, no other components see any load. The benefit here lies in reducing stress or avoiding engagement of the parking prawl, which allows easier disengagement and less risk of breakage of a hard-to-replace part, as well as reduced friction wear which I believe is entirely negligible already.
Computerized transmissions usually wait to engage reverse, but I can't really say for sure about this one. However, as I said in the answer, it really doesn't matter. A swift Drive to Park change simply won't give it enough time to engage Reverse if it tried to on hydraulic actuated autos, basically the lower the engine revs, the longer it takes , and even if you let it, it's just the wear of a single gear change.
Don't worry about it. Show 6 more comments. AsenM AsenM 1, 3 3 silver badges 11 11 bronze badges. Is idling in neutral bad? Is Park Same as neutral? Can you reverse in neutral? Is park or neutral better? Does leaving car in neutral drain battery? What is the difference between Park and neutral in an automatic?
Can I push start an automatic? Can u tow an automatic in neutral? Can an automatic car be pushed in neutral? Can you jumpstart a car with starter? Can you start an engine without the transmission? Can you drive a car without a torque converter? How much is a transmission? How is the engine connected to a manual transmission?
Previous Article What are the best research search engines? Next Article How can I publish my research paper in Journal? Back To Top. Put simply, neutral will let the car roll forward or backward if you haven't got your foot on the brake.
Park acts like a brake and the car will not move even if you don't apply the footbrake. It will not move in park but might slip away in neutral. Park is for when your parked, rather logically. Neutral can be selected when you're in a queue of traffic to take the strain off the gearbox. You should not attempt to put the car into P if it is moving at all as the transmission is physically locked; it is much more secure than the handbrake.
N is the equivalent of neutral in a manual gearbox - I drive automatics and find that I never use neutral.