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Gearheads โ what would happen if I...?
(lemmy.dbzer0.com)
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this post was submitted on 23 Mar 2026
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No Stupid Questions
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You're right on the second, wrong on the first. Park is exactly the same as neutral, except there's a bit of metal that engages in the transmission to lock it in place. This is the "parking pawl". If the car is moving fast enough, that will simply break off. Slow enough, and it will lock the drive wheels. In a rear wheel drive car, that's not so bad, because you can still steer. Front wheel drive, the drive wheels lock up, and those are the wheels you use to steer, so good luck.
Interesting, I've done quite a bit of vehicle work in my life, but have never had the pleasure of tearing into an automatic transmission myself.
If my dad was still alive, I'd ask him what model vehicle in particular he supposedly learned that forward/reverse gear lock thing from.
I gather you have way more internal transmission knowledge than myself, but still I wouldn't totally doubt that at least some transmissions built in the past might have worked a little differently regarding Park.
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Oh sure, there were some super weird automatics back in the day, and I don't doubt that one or more behaved as you described, but those would be outliers.