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Even people who know about the solution might find it drops out of their brain in a moment of panic. I locked myself out of my house recently, and it was only

Even people who know about the solution might find it drops out of their brain in a moment of panic. I locked myself out of my house recently, and it was only after scaling to the 1st floor, breaking in through an open window, and breaking through a locked interior door (the house had been secured as I was going on a trip, and the only things I forgot were my keys and that window), that I remembered that there was a spare key in my car (which was open). This moment of clarity coincided with the stress going away.

Syonyk 2y ago
Again, it depends a lot on your experience with vehicles. I expect someone who had driven a manual for a long while (or even learned on one but hadn't driven one recently) would be radically more likely to come to "Oh, select neutral" as a solution than someone who has only ever driven automatics. "Neutral" is far more part of "life with a manual" than it is with automatics - I would be willing to bet that a substantial fraction of automatic transmissions have never been deliberately put in neutral. My daily driver has an archaic manual sequential transmission (2005 Ural - sidecar motorcycle sort of thing), and I select neutral at every stoplight I'm likely to be at for a while to avoid wearing the clutch bearings. Also, I have to most of the way double clutch my shifts on that bike (pause in the false neutral between gears) to avoid too much clashing. If I had a runaway throttle condition (certainly possible), I have at least three instant methods I'd use (kill switch, clutch, and rock it into a false neutral). But I've spent most of my driving career with such things, and vehicles that don't have those are a bit of a novelty to me.
- mkesper 2y ago
  Also my Toyota Auris Hybrid has a weird kind of joystick for changing gear and putting it into neutral position requires holding that position for some time. Gave me an unpleasant (but luckily harmless) event in a car wash where you're required to have power on but use neutral position with automatic gearing.
- 01HNNWZ0MV43FF 2y ago
  Random aside, I set my automatic in neutral while setting the parking brake, to let it rock into place
  - jval43 2y ago
    On a manual it's the opposite. Put it in 1st gear, let it settle into place, only then parking brake. 1st will hold the car by itself if the parking brake slips.
    - grecy 2y ago
      That works until it doesn’t. When my poorly adjusted and full of mud parking brake finally failed The weight of my Jeep overcame engine compression and rolled the engine over while it was in first. It got going surprisingly fast until it smacked into a rock wall and flipped the Jeep on its side. This was in remote Uganda. Video from immediately after it flipped over https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DChDTGIciNI https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DChDTGIciNI
      - spockz 2y ago
        Would it have helped to put it in second? If this the case. Why don’t we put the car in highest gear instead of first?
        grecy 2y ago
        No actually, first gear low range 4x4 would be better - and that’s what I do now. Think of how much effort it takes to pedal a bike from standstill in 1st gear vs the highest gear. The force required is the same if it’s being applied to the wheel and turning your legs (the engine)
        sokoloff 2y ago
        You want the car to have the least leverage against the engine, not the most.
      - avar 2y ago
myth2018 2y ago
> Even people who know about the solution might find it drops out of their brain in a moment of panic. I agree. During a period of huge storms in my region I kept mentally preparing for getting caught in a flood: engage first gear, press the gas and go, slow and steady. Then my fears materialized and as soon as the flood started pushing my car, I pressed the clutch and engaged the second. Thankfully I realized it fast enough, kept pressing the gas and engaged back the 1st, so my mental training may have helped, but that was a close call.

Syonyk 2y ago

Again, it depends a lot on your experience with vehicles. I expect someone who had driven a manual for a long while (or even learned on one but hadn't driven one recently) would be radically more likely to come to "Oh, select neutral" as a solution than someone who has only ever driven automatics. "Neutral" is far more part of "life with a manual" than it is with automatics - I would be willing to bet that a substantial fraction of automatic transmissions have never been deliberately put in neutral. My daily driver has an archaic manual sequential transmission (2005 Ural - sidecar motorcycle sort of thing), and I select neutral at every stoplight I'm likely to be at for a while to avoid wearing the clutch bearings. Also, I have to most of the way double clutch my shifts on that bike (pause in the false neutral between gears) to avoid too much clashing. If I had a runaway throttle condition (certainly possible), I have at least three instant methods I'd use (kill switch, clutch, and rock it into a false neutral). But I've spent most of my driving career with such things, and vehicles that don't have those are a bit of a novelty to me.

mkesper 2y ago
Also my Toyota Auris Hybrid has a weird kind of joystick for changing gear and putting it into neutral position requires holding that position for some time. Gave me an unpleasant (but luckily harmless) event in a car wash where you're required to have power on but use neutral position with automatic gearing.
01HNNWZ0MV43FF 2y ago
Random aside, I set my automatic in neutral while setting the parking brake, to let it rock into place
- jval43 2y ago
  On a manual it's the opposite. Put it in 1st gear, let it settle into place, only then parking brake. 1st will hold the car by itself if the parking brake slips.
  - grecy 2y ago
    That works until it doesn’t. When my poorly adjusted and full of mud parking brake finally failed The weight of my Jeep overcame engine compression and rolled the engine over while it was in first. It got going surprisingly fast until it smacked into a rock wall and flipped the Jeep on its side. This was in remote Uganda. Video from immediately after it flipped over https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DChDTGIciNI https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DChDTGIciNI
    - spockz 2y ago
      Would it have helped to put it in second? If this the case. Why don’t we put the car in highest gear instead of first?
      - grecy 2y ago
        No actually, first gear low range 4x4 would be better - and that’s what I do now. Think of how much effort it takes to pedal a bike from standstill in 1st gear vs the highest gear. The force required is the same if it’s being applied to the wheel and turning your legs (the engine)
      - sokoloff 2y ago
        You want the car to have the least leverage against the engine, not the most.
    - avar 2y ago

myth2018 2y ago

> Even people who know about the solution might find it drops out of their brain in a moment of panic. I agree. During a period of huge storms in my region I kept mentally preparing for getting caught in a flood: engage first gear, press the gas and go, slow and steady. Then my fears materialized and as soon as the flood started pushing my car, I pressed the clutch and engaged the second. Thankfully I realized it fast enough, kept pressing the gas and engaged back the 1st, so my mental training may have helped, but that was a close call.