Leaving Your Vehicle With the Engine
RNNrlning
1
It
can be dangerous to leave your vehicle with
the engine running. Your vehicle could move
suddenly
if
the shift lever is not fully in
PARK (P) with
the
parking brake firmly set.
If
you have four-wheel drive, your vehicle will
be free to roll
--
even if your lever
is
in
PARK (P)
--
if
your transfer case
is
in
NEUTRAL.
So
be sure the transfer case is
in
a
drive gear
--
not NEUTRAL. See “Four-wheel
Drive (Automatic Transfer Case)” in the Index.
And,
if
you leave the vehicle with the engine
running,
it
could overheat and even catch fire.
You or others could be injured. Don’t leave
your vehicle with the engine running unless
you have to.
If you have to leave your vehicle with the engine
running, be sure your vehicle is in PARK (P) and your
parking brake is firmly set before you leave it. After
you’ve moved the shift lever into PARK (P), hold
the regular brake pedal down. Then, see
if
you can
move the shift lever away from PARK (P) without first
pulling it toward you (or pressing the button on a console
shift lever). If you can, it means that the shift lever
wasn’t fully locked into PARK (P).
Torque
Lock
If you are parking on a hill and you don’t shift your
transmission into PARK
(P)
properly, the weight of the
vehicle may put too much force on the parking pawl
in the transmission. You may find it difficult to pull the
shift lever out of PARK
(P).
This is called “torque
lock.” To prevent torque lock, set the parking brake and
then shift into PARK (P) properly before you leave
the driver’s seat.
To
find out how, see Shifting lnto
Park
(P)
on page
2-30.
When you are ready to drive, move the shift lever out of
PARK (P) before you release the parking brake.
If torque lock does occur, you may need to have another
vehicle push yours a little uphill to take some
of the
pressure from the parking pawl in the transmission,
so
you can pull the shift lever out of PARK
(P).
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