Toyota garage told my mum to park in neutral

birkee

reeac wrote: »

I don't know about anyone else but I ALWAYS check that the gearbox is in neutral before I start a manual car but then I leave such a car in first or reverse if parked on much of a hill. Incidentally, American car manufacturers used to [and probably still do] have a test routine to ensure that an auto. car parked in "park" can withstand a parking bump of a certain severity without damaging anything in the transmission.

Of course!
Most people would check it's in neutral, or depress the clutch whilst starting the engine. Trouble is, there are so many wallies out there who wouldn't.

Other posters have said it. The choice on, left in gear or not is yours, but on a steep gradient, the extra precaution of, left in gear and steering pointed at the kerb makes sense.

As expected, this post has drifted from what you SHOULD do, to what I (other posters) do.
There is no SHOULD do, only a 'recommended' you do.

Automatic's with a 'park' postion should always be left in park, as this locks the transmission.

dannymccann

I was taught to park in Neutral using the handbrake to stop the car from moving. However, when you have a handbrake that freezes on or off in winter (depending which position you leave it in at night) and no garage in the world can diagnose and fix the problem without paying for hours of labour for investigation (more than the car is worth), you just have to leave it in gear, otherwise you can't get to work :rotfl:

spiro

The highway code say that when parking on a hill (no mention of steep) you SHOULD park in gear and turn the wheels into the curb. Therefore this is their advice as it is not a MUST.

oldagetraveller

"Toyota's require neutral gear and the clutch depressed in order to start."
Yes, the manual transmissions. The OPs Mum's is an MMT, no clutch pedal and requires the brake pedal to be depressed before it will start.

Premier_2

clangnuts wrote: »

Parking in gear unnecessarily can damage the gear box beyond repair, if the vehicle is shunted hard enough by another vehicle. That happened to a minibus my work used to have. The fool driving it, always parked in gear (even when not on an incline). Drunk driver slammed into the back of it, while it was parked. The minibus was a write off, as the running gear/gear box was destroyed in the impact. Garage said if it had not been parked in gear, all it would have needed was some new lights and back doors!

If it gets hit so hard to damage a transmission that was left in gear, then the vehicle would probably be best being replaced anyway.

A vehicle doesn't usually get written off because of a damaged transmission (unless the vehicle is very old and so would be written off for very minor damage due to it's low value), as this can be easily be replaced. Write off normally occurs to a vehicle with extensive body damage.

Humphrey10

Deary me I didn't think the question would provoke so much debate!

The reason I don't have much faith in the Toyota garage is that they have previously not seemed to know much about this type of car, they said that 'E' gear/mode stood for economy and was to save fuel, when actually it's just the automatic setting for the gearbox (M for manual mode, E for automatic).

On level ground it doesn't really matter, on a hill park in gear, seems a sensible way to go?

jase1

I always park in gear. All this nonsense about damage to the transmission is just that.

scheming_gypsy

birkee wrote: »

Of course!
Most people would check it's in neutral, or depress the clutch whilst starting the engine. Trouble is, there are so many wallies out there who wouldn't.

.

that'll be me then!
I don't park in gear 99% of the time so i'll just get in and start the ignition, or sometimes open the door and start it before getting in to warm the engine up if i need to put something in the boot / etc. Although once I was selling a car with a loose handbrake cable, so i parked it in my parking spot and stuck it in reverse. When the bloke came round I'd forgotten about it, turned the ignition and nearly reversed through my neighbours garden fence

Gloomendoom

scheming_gypsy wrote: »

that'll be me then!

And my wife.

I always leave her car in gear and she hates it. Having lived on a steep hill in the past and driving an auto, it is second nature to me.

Kilty_2

clangnuts wrote: »

Parking in gear unnecessarily can damage the gear box beyond repair, if the vehicle is shunted hard enough by another vehicle. That happened to a minibus my work used to have. The fool driving it, always parked in gear (even when not on an incline). Drunk driver slammed into the back of it, while it was parked. The minibus was a write off, as the running gear/gear box was destroyed in the impact. Garage said if it had not been parked in gear, all it would have needed was some new lights and back doors!

:rotfl:

How you can insinuate that anyone apart from the drunk driver is a "fool" I don't know.

I always leave my manual car(s) parked in gear and start them with the clutch depressed.