What is shift lock in automatic cars?

Operating the shift lever of an automatic car is not the same as when we operate the gear lever of a manual transmission car. You need to know several rules and procedures to make it easier to use automatic cars.

In addition to the letters P, R, N, D, 2, L on the automatic car's shift lever, we often encounter other buttons when operating the gear lever. Such as the OverDrive (OD) button and the Shift Lock button.

Each of these buttons has different benefits and functions. However, in this article, we will only discuss the function of the shift lock button on automatic cars. Check out what is Shift Lock in automatic cars below.

Shift Lock button function

The shift lock button on automatic cars releases the lock pin on the gear lever so that the lever can be shifted when the ignition key is removed while the engine is off. That way, we can be positioning the gear lever into the Neutral position when parking.

Yes, the shift lock button will be very useful when the car is parked in a parallel or emergency. For example, your car needs to be towed due to a dead battery.

Some automatic car models need to move the gear lever to the P (Park) position only to remove the ignition key from the ignition key slot.

If the lever is not in the P position, the ignition key generally cannot be removed from the slot. Meanwhile, the gear lever is usually locked and cannot be shifted if the ignition key is removed from the slot.

The gear lever position can be shifted with the shift lock button even though the ignition key is removed from the slot.

When the automatic gear lever position is in the N (Neutral) position, parking attendants can shift and move the car to another position to not disturb other users.

Read also :

• What does the OverDrive button do?
• 10 Automatic transmission problem symptoms

How to use the shift lock button?

We should remember that we should only use the shift lock button in certain conditions. Such as parallel car parking where the car needs to be shifted from time to time by the parking attendant. Here's how to use the shift lock key.

1. Turn off your automatic car engine.
2. Position the shift lever at P (Park).
3. Remove the car ignition key from the key slot.
4. Step on the brake pedal (to make sure the car doesn't move on its own).
5. Press the shift lock button and do not release it.
6. At the same time, slide the shift lever to the N (Neutral) position.
7. Release the shift lock button
8. Release the hand brake.
9. Release the step on the brake pedal and make sure the car is safe and doesn't move.

Things to note regarding the shift lock button and parallel parking

• Make sure the car is parked on a flat level surface
• Make sure there is a parking attendant who is on duty.
• Do not pull the handbrake because the car will be locked and cannot be moved. Parallel parking conditions with the gear lever in the P position and the active handbrake will certainly make the car difficult to move.

Therefore, we can move the gear lever from position P to position N by pressing the shift lock button even though the ignition key has been released. That way, when the vehicle closes another car that will come out of the parking area, the parking attendant can easily move the vehicle. It's all because the car's wheels are free to turn and not locked.