[Daily car maintenance] Will it really damage the gearbox if you are rear-ended while parking and putting in P gear?

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 September 12, 2024
Hello everyone, this is a column focusing on car repair and maintenance. There are car mysteries you don’t know, and it will teach you how to avoid the big pits on the road of car ownership. I believe that not only you but also many people have a certain sense of obscurity about the car aftermarket, which will help you uncover the unknown stories of car repair and maintenance.
Now the Internet resources are too developed, and there are different opinions on the Internet. Among them, rumors abound about cars, which will inevitably cause misleading in the use of cars for car owners who are already rookies.

Recently, many people have asked the editor a question, that is, will the gearbox be damaged after parking the P gear and being rear-ended?

In this issue, the editor will take you to find out and interpret those things about the P-gear of the car in detail!

What is a P file?

Automatic cars generally have four gears, which are P (parking gear), R (reverse gear), N (neutral) and D (forward gear).
P is the parking gear, that is, the gear that needs to be hung up for long parking. At this time, the gearbox will be locked, and the car can not be pushed away under the action of external forces, which is basically the same as the effect of hand brakes.

What is the state inside the gearbox when the car is in P gear?

For all kinds of opinions on the Internet, the editor really disagrees. Listening to the rumors of others, the editor prefers to believe what he sees with his own eyes.
So the editor really took apart a gearbox to see how the P gear inside the gearbox works.
This is the transmission of a hybrid car. Does anyone know what kind of car it belongs to?
The lock hook in front of us is the P gear lock. When the P gear is hung, the lock hook pops up and meshes with the gear of the output shaft, locking the output shaft of the gearbox.
When hanging the P gear, the output shaft gear engages with the lock hook. When you are in the P gear, the “click” you hear is the meshing sound of the lock hook and the gear.
Will the rear-end rear-end of triple-hanging P gear damage the gearbox?
When the car waits for a red light or stops for a long time, many people will put the gear into the P gear. It is said on the Internet that the rear-end of the car at this time will directly damage the gearbox!
But the truth, is that really the case?
In fact, the gearbox will not be damaged at all, mainly due to the following three factors.
1 gearbox is in neutral
When you hang the P gear, the gearbox is actually in neutral. The P gear only adds a lock hook to the output shaft to lock the output shaft. There is essentially no gear in the gearbox, and even if it is hit, it will only damage the lock hook.
2 lock hook
This seemingly unremarkable lock hook is almost the hardest part of the gearbox. Not to mention the impact, it is very difficult to cut with an angle grinder. Moreover, the lock hook is angled, and the chamfer under the violent impact will ease the impact force and separate from the output shaft.
3 rear end
Whether it is a hatchback or a hatchback, if the rear-end is rear-ended, it should be the rear of the car that is deformed first. The sheet metal panel at the rear of the car is much less hard than the lock hook, and the huge impact will deform the rear first, absorb a lot of energy first, and there is little left to transfer to the gearbox.
If you want to seriously hurt the gearbox, you have to let the Hulk twist the wheels.

Fourth, about the rear-end collision of the vehicle.
In fact, when a car is rear-ended, the most important thing to care about is not the gearbox, but first to see if anyone is injured, and then the car.
Even as far as the car is concerned, it should be to see if there is any serious deformation at the rear and whether the longitudinal member is injured. After all, the rear injury of the car can only be cut and can not be repaired, which has a great impact on the later value preservation rate. When the gearbox is damaged, it can be repaired.