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Comment by reisse | Hacker News Reader

This is an extremely bad advice. In fact, you should do exactly the opposite - on AT, shut down the engine without touching the selector (there is a chance that AT won't disengage), and on MT, shut down the engine and switch to the lowest gear.

When the engine is not started, the kinetic energy of the car is spent to keep the crankshaft rotating and pistons moving. It stops MUCH faster this way.

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This may not be such a good choice.

If you turn the ignition all the way off (instead of just the engine) the steering lock may engage. Additionally you will also lose power steering and the brake assist. I guess the latter doesn't matter much in this scenario, but the steering lock could result in a really bad time.

Excellent point. I also think that one needs extraordinary presence of mind to think about this and it's not exactly easy to train for. After this conversation I'll still add engine turn-off to my toolbox with a caveat: immediately return the ignition key to the first level to avoid steering lock.

With enough kinetic energy, you don't need to hit the starter position for the engine to restart. You're effectively push starting it at that point. I've done this on a chevy V8 in neutral/park. The engine takes long enough to spin down that if you apply the power to the distributor ( putting the key to "run" ) before it hits Zero rpm ( actual, not measured ) it'll restart because you still have fuel and compression.

lol - none of these new POS cars have keys. It's all electronic and pushbuttons. Good luck!

I'm too poor to understand that reference.

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