My husband likes to put the car in park when waiting at stop lights and then throw it into drive and take off. It drives me crazy. My question is; does it hurt the car to be in park, drive and then accelerate so quickly?
Putting it into park isn’t hurting anything…
Slamming it into drive and accelerating quickly IS hurting the drive components.
Actually, putting it into Park will hurt something if your car is tapped (or hit!) from behind while it is stopped at the traffic light. In addition, if quick action is necessary in case of an emergency situation, having to put the car back into gear results in a slight delay that even his fast acceleration cannot overcome.
Putting the car in park doesn’t hurt anything.
If he likes quick starts he will do so whether or not he makes the shift to Drive.
Putting the transmission in PARK, by itself, does no damage, but I can’t think of a SINGLE good reason for doing it. I can, however, think of several good reasons for NOT doing it.
It’s not saving any gas, and could cause problems in an emergency, as others have said. My guess is he’s not going to change his ways, but you can always try.
It could wear out the linkage prematurely. If he does not let the trans engage before stepping on the accel pedal he will damage the trans.
I disagree that it does not save gas. You will not have the TC drag and you will also have less heat produced.
Your husband should not do it. It is not nice nor smart to drive a wife crazy. You never know what one of them will do. :-)
It is not likely to hurt anything, but it also is not doing any good either. He is wasting his time.well like alot of people said its a bad idea for emergancys, also if your on a grade and you take your foot of the brake it will roll back pinching the parking pin, do this enough it’ll snap and one of two things happens, 1. your stuck in park because the pin is jammed in place, 2. you don’t have a park anymore, theres really no good reason i can think of it doesn’t take that mcuh wear off the brakes or engine.