Top 10 Bad Driving Habits That Can Damage Your Car

Fairfax, Virginia — Did you know that some of your driving habits can cause damage to your vehicle over time? It’s probably been a long time since you sat through those Drivers Ed classes, and over time you’ve probably developed some bad driving habits. Haven’t we all? Some of these bad habits are just bad driving; like eating a drive-through restaurant meal while driving back to work. But, other driving habits can actually cause expensive or even costly damage to your vehicle.
Use That Parking Brake
The difference between your car rolling down the street and remaining stable where you left it is a pin the size of your pinky finger, called the parking pawl. A transmission parking pawl is a metal pin that engages a notched ring that is attached to the transmission’s output shaft when the transmission shifter lever is placed in the “P” Park position. No matter where you are parked, the parking brake takes all the pressure off your transmission and the parking pawl. Whether you park your vehicle on a steep incline or simply in your driveway, using the parking brake will help stabilize your car and prevent it from rolling. Stay away from this bad driving habit, and, most importantly, using your parking brake will keep you and others around you safe.
Shifting into Reverse or Driving Too Fast
If you’ve ever driven an automatic car it’s easy to shift the gear into reverse or put the gear into drive before you come to a complete stop. Putting your gear into reverse or drive before your car comes to a complete stop is asking your transmission to do too many things at once. It puts unnecessary strain on many important components such as the driveshaft and suspension.Automakers actually design a function called the “Reverse Inhibit” to prevent unintentional selection of putting your gear into reverse. “Putting it into reverse [in modern cars] when going forward has no action at all, the car just ignores the request until you get down to a proper speed,” said Renneker, using Ford’s six-speed automatics as an example; “It’ll just say ‘hey, I know you want reverse pal, but I’m just not going to give it to you until the appropriate time.’” But, “The safest bet is to just not do it,” said Craig Renneker, Ford’s Chief Engineer for transmission programs. You should always wait until you are at a complete stop in your vehicle before changing gears. This bad habit can lead to serious transmission problems — including replacing the entire transmission all together.
Riding the Clutch
You’ve probably heard the term “riding the clutch,” this means needlessly keeping the clutch partially disengaged while your vehicle is stopped or while you are driving. It’s best to keep your foot away from the clutch if you aren’t using it. This is only an issue for vehicles with a manual transmission. When you ride your clutch you risk the flywheel colliding with the pressure plates that connect to the transmission. This results in the clutch being unable to fully engage with the flywheel and can cause early wear on the brake disc and flywheel. This bad driving habit can lead to having to replace your clutch prematurely.
Putting Gas in $10 at a Time
We’ve all done it, seen a higher than usual gas price and, to save money, we put a quick $10 of gas in to get us home. If you let your gas tank run on empty and then only put a few gallons in, you could be doing damage to your engine. When your gas tank is chronically running low, the fuel is pulled from the bottom of the tank. Fuel, of all grades, leave behind sediments, and when fuel is continuously running sediments through your engine lines the car’s gas line can clog the vehicle’s filters and cause corrosion within your engine. You also risk burning out your fuel pump and collecting sediment in your gas tank clogging the fuel injector and hampering the performance of the engine. This bad driving habit — can result in serious engine problems.
Riding the Brakes
Riding the brakes refers to resting your foot on your vehicle’s brake lever and slightly applying pressure. This is very bad for your braking system. Especially while you’re driving downhill. Creating too much heat can actually make the brake fluid boil. This can lead to a loss in pressure in the braking systems — causing brake failure. Some cars will show an “!’ next to the brake warning light to signal that there is an operational problem with your brake system. If you are city driving, you should always be prepared to stop or slow down suddenly. Despite the feel of control — continuously applying pressure on the brakes is putting unnecessary strain on your brakes. Shifting to a lower gear to slow down can be a solution — but, don’t abuse gear shifting either. Riding your brakes is a bad driving habit that can lead to brake failure and serious safety issues.
Carrying Around Unnecessary Weight
We aren’t suggesting that you strip out your air conditioner or sound system to relieve your car of some weight stress. But, cleaning out your car and trunk of loose heavy objects or just plain trash can reduce your vehicle’s weight. According to Cars.com, this can increase your gas mileage, put less strain on your suspension, and make your vehicle’s engine work that much harder. Loading your car up with materials for that home improvement project can seem like a great way to save on a delivery charge, but overloading your car can lead to variety of issues. Overloading your vehicle with unnecessary weight is a bad driving habit.
Stepping on the Brakes Abruptly
Slamming on your vehicle’s brakes can wear the brake pads prematurely and damange your braking system. Your rotors could also be affected through overheating causing a lot of damage. When you press on the brakes quickly and with a lot of pressure — your vehicle and other components such as the shocks and springs compress placing unnecessary pressure on the suspension, ball joints, and wheel bearings. Your tires will also be under more stress through increased friction reducing your tire’s tread life. And that’s not all — your alignment and axles can also be affected by improper braking. Braking hard frequently is a bad driving habit that can cause damage to a variety of your vehicle’s important safety components.
Warming Your Car Up by Revving the Engine
Revving your engine will not make you any friends in your neighborhood — especially early in the morning. You’ll think it’s cool — but, revving your engine can damage your vehicle in many ways. Abruptly revving your engine can cause temperature changes that can damage vehicle components causing wear and tear on parts like the rings, cylinder walls, valves, the crankshaft, the bearings, and other parts that require oil lubrication. With newer fuel-injected cars, you’re not supposed to step on the gas at all when you start the engine. Just turn the key, and WALAH! the engine idles at a nice, low RPM. Revving your engine is a bad driving habit!
Ignoring Warning Signs
When there is something wrong with your car, your car will usually tell you through warning signs that display on your dashboard, paying attention to these lighted icons is crucial. Usually these icons light up when you start your vehicle — but, if they stay lit — this could be a sign that something is wrong with your car. It’s prudent to take your car to a trusted auto repair shop to have them perform an engine diagnostic test to find out what’s wrong with your car. If your car is driving strangely or there is a an odd noise don’t ignore it and hope it will go away — ignoring the warning signs can make for larger and more expensive problems down the road. Ignoring your warning light is a bad driving habit that can lead to major vehicle failure down the road.
Break Your Bad Driving Habits
Don’t cause unnecessary wear and tear on your engine, break your bad driving habits. Little reminders and common sense when you are behind the wheel of your vehicle will save you time and money on costly repairs in the future.
Hogan & Sons Tire and Auto|Author: Sydny Atwood|Copyright August 2017
