Stop lights

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Stop lights

After years of manual driving, we are now living in the USA and the car we have is automatic. Sitting at traffic lights with a foot on the brake and the car in drive seems unnatural. My car is usually in neutral with the handbrake on unless the stop is a momentary one. What's the right thing to do? Is it more wearing to constantly shift into neutral and back into drive? Or is it wearing to leave the car held on the footbrake and are people just being lazy?

Asked on 11 July 2009 by

Answered by Honest John

If you can feel the car straining at the leash then obviously it's using
energy to turn the torque converter against the brakes. If it's a short
stop, I hold it on the brakes, parking brake or footbrake. If it's a longer stop, for example lights just changed to red, I put it in neutral and use the parking brake for safety and out of courtesy to the driver behind. American brake lights aren't as high intensity as in Europe, so that's not so much of a problem in the USA.

Tags: automatics driving

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