Should an automatic transmission car be put in P or N gear at traffic lights?
1 Answers
An automatic transmission car should be put in N gear at traffic lights. It is not recommended to put it in P gear while waiting at a red light because when the vehicle is parked in P gear, the transmission locks the gears. If the car is rear-ended at this time, it can directly crack the transmission, leading to its complete failure. For short waits at traffic lights, you can keep the car in D gear and apply the brake or handbrake. For longer waits, it is advisable to shift to N gear and then apply the handbrake to alleviate driving fatigue. The P gear in an automatic transmission is designed to assist in parking, using the engagement of internal ratchet and pawl mechanisms to lock the gears, similar to manual transmission parking but with dedicated gears. The ratchet and pawl are not 100% tightly fitted; there is a certain gap left in the design to prevent transmission damage from collisions when the P gear is engaged.