In our country, there are many people who drive. Many Portuguese people have bad driving habits. They regularly make mistakes that can affect the direction you want your travels to go. One of these frequent mistakes is driving at idle speed.
This misconduct can put driving safety at risk. The risk of driving at idle speed is high. Placing the car in neutral is a strategy that many drivers use frequently, either to save gas or because they are too lazy to constantly keep their feet on the pedals.
This questionable method is regularly used on descents or in traffic jams. However, this simple gesture can put you and your family in danger on the road.
Driving in neutral does not save fuel
Many people have the habit of driving at idle with the idea that this procedure saves fuel. Despite being a myth, many Portuguese people drive in neutral.
The truth is that driving without a gear in gear does not translate into fuel savings. Many believe this thesis that driving at idle uses less gasoline, but this is false.
Anyone who has any knowledge of mechanics can easily see that driving at idle does not mean fuel savings due to electronic injection (which is present in most cars).
This thesis that driving at idle means saving fuel is not new. In the past, cars did not have electronic fuel supply control.
At that time, vehicles featured simple carburetors. Therefore, in this case, driving in neutral could even represent some fuel savings, which does not happen in vehicles that currently circulate on Portuguese roads.
When you understand how electronic injection works, this myth is easily dispelled. It is important to understand that the main function of electronic injection is to ensure control of the amount of air and fuel used by the engine. ECUs are the components responsible for injecting the right air and fuel.
If the car displays a real-time consumption display, you will be able to confirm that fuel consumption will be zero if you are driving downhill in gear, without accelerating.
This is due to the electronic injection system that will cut off fuel injection into the engine. Driving in neutral will require fuel for the engine to keep running. Therefore, this bad habit will even use more fuel.
Why is driving in neutral unsafe?
Idling is not justified with current automotive technology. Furthermore, the habit of driving in slow motion poses risks. This is misconduct that can endanger the driver (and all passengers transported). There are several reasons that make this conduct dangerous.
Driving in neutral means that the car has a tendency to acquire more speed with inertia. When the car drives like this, without a gear engaged, there are great risks.
On certain types of roads, the speed presented by the car will pose a danger as the driver has less time to react if they encounter an obstacle, such as a puddle, an animal, among other scenarios.
Driving in this way may result in less controlled braking. It is unsafe to drive in neutral due to this feature. The car will feel looser in these circumstances.
When going downhill, the car feels as if it were “idling”, which will make braking difficult in a context where there will be a shorter reaction time if an unforeseen obstacle arises on the route.
Riding with one gear engaged is safer. The driver will be able to better adapt to traffic requirements, even in the face of unforeseen obstacles.
Driving with the car “disengaged” is unsafe behavior, as it promotes premature wear of the brake discs. The habit of driving at idle wears out certain components, namely the braking system.
Driving without this habit is safer. When a gear is engaged or when braking with the engine, the brakes are prevented from overheating. This driver misconduct promotes overheating of the brakes.
In short…
Therefore, driving at idle speed is unsafe. This behavior will have serious implications for the operation of the car. Insecurity is not just for the driver, it is also for the other occupants of the car, but also for other road users when driving the vehicle.
In certain circumstances, it is not unsafe to drive in neutral. There are contexts in which security is not compromised. When the car is stopped at a traffic light, there is no safety problem if it is in neutral, with no gear engaged.
However, if you are just looking to save fuel with this procedure, it is more efficient to use the system, which consists of a specific technology for this function.
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