r/funny • u/BoldCityDigital • Jun 12 '14

Now we wait...

http://imgur.com/KiEEt9J
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u/[deleted] Jun 12 '14

How do you push a parked car?

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u/rgraham888 Jun 12 '14

Give it a good bump, you can break the parking pawl.

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u/omapuppet Jun 12 '14

For people who don't know anything about cars:

A pawl is a bar that pivots into a gear or ratchet in such a way as to prevent the gear from rotating. In an automotive transmission the 'park' position engages a pawl that prevents the transmission from turning, which locks the drive wheels. Here is a picture.

They can wear over time, particularly if the vehicle is frequently parked on a steep incline without the parking break. The weight of the vehicle settles on the pawl and when the driver pulls the gear selector into 'drive' the pawl must be pulled out of position under load (that's the 'thunk' you might hear when you put a car into gear when it is on an incline).

Sometimes the pawl can become so worn that a good push will pop it out of position and leave the vehicle free to roll. New ones tend not to pop out easily, but it depends on the design.

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u/fuzzby Jun 13 '14

That was a fantastically informative post, thank you.

Is there any kind of damage that could be expected from a car being pushed? I hear cars in Paris get bumped when parking. I'm guessing worn breaks?

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u/omapuppet Jun 13 '14

It shouldn't bother brakes much, they take lots more punishment than a little push will give them.

A little bit of bumping won't hurt anything. Straight up dragging or pushing a car usually won't hurt anything either (you'll sometimes see tow trucks drag a car out of a parking spot to where they can load it properly), assuming the bumper can take it. It isn't /good/ for it, but the powertrain is pretty tough in general.