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Is it possible to put a car in park while it’s still moving?

I was on a long drive the other day and letting my mind wander to pass the time. I looked down at my gear shift and randomly wondered what would happen if I put my car in “park” while it was still in motion. Is it possible for me to do this?

avatar
Michelle Ballestrasse · Updated on
Reviewed by Shannon Martin, Licensed Insurance Agent.
Yeah, we’re not going to beat around the bush here. The answer is no. Please, for the love of all that is sacred, don’t do that.
Park is not necessarily a gear, in that it doesn’t enable any adjustments to the gear ratio as the transmission moves energy to the drive wheels. What it does do is activate the car’s parking pawl. This locks the transmission’s output shaft into place to prevent the car from rolling once stopped.
If you engage the parking pawl while the car is in motion, the output shaft will lock while the transmission is still moving, which can cause catastrophic damage to your whole transmission system. And if that happens…you’d better have great
mechanical breakdown insurance
to help cover the cost of that transmission.
Damage to your car can be costly, no matter what component is affected. And paying out of pocket can be catastrophic for many. So make sure you’ve got
car insurance
that has your back, whether you’re in an accident, or you’ve made a mistake out of curiosity.
No matter how it happens, if you’ve got
Jerry
, you’ve got help. Jerry is a fully-licensed brokerage app that can not only find you great insurance quotes in minutes, it also offers roadside assistance plans starting at $6.99 per car. For all of life’s little mistakes.
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