Do You Need to Press the Brake Every Time You Shift Gears?

[VanZane]

For automatic transmission cars, you must press the brake when shifting gears. For manual transmission cars, when shifting from a higher gear to a lower gear, if the speed is too high, you need to press the brake to control the speed before shifting. Shifting from a lower gear to a higher gear does not require pressing the brake. For automatic transmission cars, you must press the brake when shifting gears: For safety reasons, since automatic transmissions have a torque converter or automatic clutch, the car will immediately move forward or backward once power is engaged. There is no manual clutch process, and the engine won't stall. Therefore, the car's movement forward or backward can only be controlled by the brake. Since the brake and accelerator are on the same side, your foot is either on the brake or the accelerator. The system is designed to require pressing the brake to shift gears mainly to prevent your foot from being on the accelerator. Additionally, the brake is used to control the car's speed. Manual transmission cars have more gears, with forward gears ranging from 1 to 6, all requiring manual shifting. Therefore, when shifting gears in the same direction, you only need to press the clutch to shift. However, if shifting from a forward gear to reverse, you also need to press the brake first, stop the car completely, and then shift into reverse. When shifting from a higher gear to a lower gear, if the speed is too high, you need to press the brake to control the speed before shifting; otherwise, it may damage the gearbox. Shifting from a lower gear to a higher gear does not require pressing the brake.