Five Bad Habits You Should Avoid When Driving Automatic Vehicles

Driving an automatic is more straightforward
than driving a manual, but there are still ways to
mess up parts of your vehicle. Here are five
things you shouldn't do if you drive a car with
an automatic transmission.
1. Never coast downhill in neutral: Modern
automatic transmissions cut fuel to the engine
on their own, so putting your car in neutral
won't save you any gas. Also, it takes some
control away from you.
2. Never switch directions without stopping:
Make sure you come to a complete stop before
going from drive to reverse or vice versa.
Otherwise you're using your transmission to
stop the vehicle instead of letting your brakes
do their job.
3. Never "launch" your vehicle: Don't rev your
car's engine in neutral and drop into drive to
launch yourself forward. It's fast way to wear
out the bands in your transmission (they're
expensive to replace).
4. Never put your car in neutral at a stop light: It
won's save you any fuel (fractions of a gallon if
any), and it can wear on the transmission.
5. Never shift into park until you've come to a
complete stop: Some cars won't even let you
do this, but you should never do it anyway. You
can damage or break the locking pin that's
used to keep your transmission from running.
Some of these might seem like a no-brainer for
a good driver, but not everyone that drives a
car knows how it works or what kind of
damage you can do with seemingly harmless
habits. These tips and best practices can help
anyone keep safe on the road and extend the
life of their automatic vehicle.