When starting a car, should you release the handbrake first or shift into gear first?
1 Answers
When starting a car, you should first shift into gear and then release the handbrake, mainly for safety reasons. This is because when starting, you may not know if the ground is level. If the ground is sloped and you release the handbrake first, the car will be in a neutral coasting state, causing the vehicle to roll in the direction of the slope without any braking, which can easily lead to a safety accident. The sequence when parking is the opposite of starting. When parking, you should first engage the handbrake and then shift into neutral. This ensures the vehicle does not move to the greatest extent possible. This is because many people are accustomed to releasing the clutch and brake after shifting into neutral. If the gear is not correctly shifted into neutral or the parking spot is on a slope, the vehicle may move. However, for automatic transmission cars, when parking, you can directly shift into P (Park) and then engage the handbrake.