6 habits to quit when switching to driving an automatic car

1. Keep your foot on the accelerator pedal

Automatic cars have all the operations integrated into one foot, so drivers often make mistakes in using their feet, especially the mistake of not following the principle of "no gas, then brake", being lazy or forgetting to switch to the brake pedal, leaving their foot on the gas pedal. When using an automatic car, at any time when the gas pedal is not pressed, the driver must quickly move the toe to the brake pedal.

Leaving your foot on the accelerator pedal is extremely dangerous because when faced with an unexpected situation, the driver will reflexively step down. If you leave your foot on the accelerator pedal, the car will not stop but will suddenly rush forward. The recent "crazy car" cases also stem from this situation.

2. Forget manual mode

Manual shifting mode has appeared on most automatic cars, sports cars or steering wheel paddle shifters. But some drivers who are used to driving automatic cars in D mode have forgotten the manual shifting function on automatic cars.

This will become a significant error when the vehicle moves on a steep mountain pass. The simple reason is that if the vehicle is in D mode, when the vehicle goes downhill by inertia, the speed will gradually increase, causing the driver to use the brakes more. If the driver brakes frequently, the brakes will generate a lot of heat, which can easily cause the brake pads to burn and lose the brakes.

3. Do not shift to P when stopping the vehicle

When driving on slightly steep terrain, many drivers shift the car into P and then lock the handbrake. When releasing the foot brake, the driver will feel the car move a bit violently and run quite hard, this has a bad effect on the gearbox.

The best solution is to shift the car into N and use the handbrake, continue to let the car move and wait until the car stops completely before shifting into P.

4. Press the accelerator pedal hard when you need to accelerate.

Shifting the car into position D and then pressing the accelerator pedal hard is one of the ways many drivers use to increase the speed of the car, they believe that this way helps the car quickly reach high speed. This is a misconception because the gear shifting operations are based on the principle of "pressing the accelerator to increase the gear and releasing the accelerator to decrease the gear".

Therefore, gently pressing the accelerator pedal at a moderate speed, then gently releasing the accelerator pedal to reduce engine rpm and then slowly pressing the accelerator pedal to change gear is a safe and fuel-saving way to accelerate the vehicle.

5. Do not use sports mode

Automatic transmission vehicles still have sport mode, manual mode or semi-automatic mode, the symbol of this mode is usually “+,-” or “M1, M2, L1, L2”… and is designed right on the gear lever. When the gear lever is in this mode, the vehicle will not automatically shift gears according to speed, the driver will be able to shift gears according to the purpose.

Once the driver has mastered the features of each mode, they can set the gears themselves to suit each road section. This increases the durability of the vehicle and reduces the risk of accidents. Note that D+ and D- help the vehicle move up and down slopes safely.

6. "Greeting" the gas without lightly applying the brake

The important principle to ensure safety when driving an automatic car is “no gas, then brake”. According to this rule, when the car is moving, if there is no need to add gas to accelerate, the driver should rest the right foot on the brake pedal. In reality, many subjective drivers often ignore this principle and violate it, leading to the risk of accidents.