IS IT NORMAL...?

If you're speaking of moving from the Park position to any other gear (or into Park), then the answer is yes. For the most part, all vehicles have that safety feature. The same as most manual shift vehicles have switches on the clutch, to prevent the vehicle from being started without the clutch disengaged.

Brian

I can't think of any auto tranny cars in recent years that don't have it.

Mike

OK Thanks a lot!!!

"Pascal" a écrit dans le message de news: Yakme.150$ snipped-for-privacy@wagner.videotron.net...

The same could be said of DRL, but we have an over abundance of people that disconnect that safety feature. Just because a vehicle has it doesn't mean the owners are smart enough to leave it connected.

Brian

I've used the starter to crank a car out of traffic when the ignition got wet. It can be a useful feature. I would worry about the ability to drive the var to repair after the clutch cable broke (or the cylinder/s gave out) but the switch is on the pedal in the cars I've looked at.

Mike

K`Tetch wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Incorrect.

The clutch interlock switch is there for liability reasons, just like the automatic transmission brake-pedal lock.

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Like TeGGer said. Picture the parent dumb enough to leave the kiddies in the car with the key ON so they can listen to the radio. (car has no clutch interlock switch) Kid turns key and car takes off in gear, drives thru crowd of people at bus stop.

Safety devices protect us all. Sorry they 'violate your personal 'space'. Please stand at the bus stop until you feel better.

'Curly'

you remember what 'liability reasons' are don't you? the liabilities are stupid people doing stupid things. Couldn't comment on the auto-trans brake pedal thing, in the UK, since the last two auto-trans cars i've driven were a Marc c300 Kompressor 9a skid-pan car for silverstone, heavily modified, and it was never in park whilst i was there, something to do with the skid-cradel powering, and a t-REd (1979) ford granada 2.8 - no brake interlock.

Strangely enough, neither my 88 civic, or 87 caravan have a auto-trans brake 'stupidity switch' either. Or, iif they do, they're both non-functional, and have been since we've had them.

I deal a lot with insurance comapnies (I've been a safety officer for a large event/tv show with lots of hazards, i'm a design engineer, and i run my own events) - "things added for liability reasons" are basically things added to prodect the stupid, or inept from themselves, nothing more.

They're also there to protect YOU from the stupid people. You want to be in front of a stupid person when they start the car in gear without the clutch depressed?

K`Tetch wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Actually, no. "Liability reasons" are some people being held responsible for the actions of others unconnected to them.

It has absolutely ZERO to do with "stupid people" and bus stops. Stupid people have been around forever. Responsibility-by-proxy as a principle dates from about 1958.

- The woman who spills coffee in her lap, and McDonald's is found responsible.

- A burglar who falls through a skylight during a burglary and successfully sues the building owner for failing to warn him the skylights were unsafe.

- A packaging company unwillingly acquires ownership in an asbestos company for six months in the mid-'60s and is now being sued for asbestos damages.

- A woman fails to secure her childern in her mimivan and Chrysler is found responsible because the kids were ejected.

The one-and-only response when you are at-risk for the actions of those over whom you have no control is to protect yourself. Audi installs brake interlocks, and everybody else follows. Clutch interlocks become ubiquitous. And everybody gets used to them and thinks they are indispensible, failing to realize that people put up without such things for almost a century before.

The problem: Anarchic tort. The cure: Tort reform.

A good book to read if you want to understand this issue: The Liability Revolution and its Consequences, by Peter W. Huber. New York: Basic Books, 1988

"Seth" wrote in news:GmNme.1613$ snipped-for-privacy@news02.roc.ny:

The Liability Revolution and its Consequences, by Peter W. Huber. New York: Basic Books, 1988

Stupid people have always been around, and will always be around. Look at yourself.