Is coasting in neutral harmful to an automatic transmission car?
1 Answers
Coasting in neutral can indeed be harmful to an automatic transmission car. Once shifted into neutral, the wheels become mechanically disconnected from the engine, leaving only the brakes to control the vehicle's speed. Brakes function by converting kinetic energy into heat through friction, and their performance can easily degrade or even fail during prolonged operation. An automatic transmission eliminates the need for manual gear shifting by the driver, as the vehicle automatically selects the appropriate gear based on driving speed and traffic conditions. Typically, automatic transmission cars have six gear positions, arranged from top to bottom as: P, R, N, D, S, and L. For regular driving needs, using just the parking gear (P), reverse gear (R), neutral gear (N), and drive gear (D) is sufficient. However, other functional gears may be required in specific driving conditions.