I was informed by a mechanic, several years ago, that airbags won't deploy if a car is in park therefore he always puts his car in park in drive throughs to avoid the air bags in case he is bumped while waiting in line. My new car is a 5 speed.....is 1st gear or neutral considered park? My information could very well be outdated by I'm still curious regardless...thanks
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Welcome to Motor Vehicle Maintenance & Repair!– Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 ♦Commented Aug 12, 2018 at 20:26
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Either 1st or reverse is considered park in the old days, now it is neutral, 1st, reverse with park brake set.– MoabCommented Aug 13, 2018 at 5:03
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2 Answers
There's no true "park" gear in a manual transmission car. When the car is stopped and turned off, you can pull the handbrake up and put the gear stick in 1st or reverse to simulate what an auto car would do when you put it into the "park" gear. In the case that the handbrake fails, the transmission in gear will prevent the car from rolling away.
I tend to put the gear stick in 1st on an incline and in reverse on a decline, but it doesn't really matter.
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1On a slope you should point the wheels to the kerb whether you put it in gear or not... Commented Aug 13, 2018 at 6:46
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If you leave it in reverse, then when starting the engine, the reversing lights will turn on even though you might not actually want to go backwards.– juhistCommented Aug 13, 2018 at 15:18
Manual transmissions do not need a park feature because they will stay in gear when the engine is turned off. An automatic on the other hand, will not stay in gear with the engine turned off and therefore needs a park feature.
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From the point of view of the airbags, if you consider a situation where a stationary vehicle is struck, none of the manual gears equate to ‘park’ and so I would expect the airbags to be active whenever the ignition is on. I don’t design airbag systems though.– FrogCommented Mar 29, 2021 at 10:11