Your taking it a little far,,,there is a difference between incidental coasting,,, and doing it on purpose down a long hill.

 

man guys im so sad right now, i tried posting my question on a BMW forum because my mom owns a 330i but so many people just wanted to put me down.. look!

MT owners...cant "coast".. then what?? - E46Fanatics

so mean :*(

 

sometimes i just downshift, and if someone's walking, then i downshift and then stop. other times, i just hit the clutch when the car is getting close to my complete stop, which is around 10mph i think? i'm not sure because i don't really pay attention to it anymore. i'm always in gear whatever i'm doing (except for during shifting of course), and right before the car is completely stopped.

 

aw man, don't worry people on the internet are real jerks sometimes. their reasons, we may never know because they're far far away behind their keyboards. don't worry about what they say. just imagine the mean people as sad sad losers who live their lives on the internet, and have nothing in reality. that should help a little.

 

No it's not illegal to press the clutch in a manual! However, you should have a gear selected in case you need to release the clutch and have power. For auto, you're supposed to just not shift into neutral. I have been coasting for 28k miles now in the a/t Fit, no problems so far. Well, not a 28k mile coast, you know what I mean. The Fit a/t is quick and smooth to engage. My Jetta however takes forever to engage (2-3 seconds!), and I would consider it pretty unsafe to coast in the Jetta.

 

Having a law that say "you must maintain control of your vehicle at all times" does not insinuate that it's illegal to coast in neutral, at least in my opinion. It's way too general a statement to take it to that level.

 

How much control do you think you have over the speed of your vehicle when coasting? Your not driving the vehicle your freefalling. With every brake application you are heating up the brakes and decreasing the effect they have (read losing control). At he bottom of the hill you wreck and have obviously "lost control" hince the violation. It's not that hard to understand, at least it was'nt for me as I saw the words come strait from the CHP"s mouth

 

What exactly does everyone mean by "coasting"? Is it 1) foot off the gas, 2) foot off the gas in Neutral, or 3) foot off the gas in Neutral with the engine off? I can see how #2 and especially #3 might be illegal (it's hard to steer and can be hard to brake with #3) but I can't see how #1 could ever be a problem.

Another question: If I'm coasting (in Drive), the ECU should be cutting off fuel to the engine, so what happens if I downshift enough so my RPMs go to, say, 4K? Will VTEC kick in, which it normally does above around 3400 rpms? (I have a sport AT and LOVE using those paddles!)

 

 

Notice how only coasting with no gear selected is illegal!

 

I would say there is no such thing as coasting in gear. If you are in gear you are not coasting. Coasting is moving down the road with the transmission in neutral.

Yes there are laws against coasting (as per the above definition) in some states. It's also illegal to speed, so do all of you that don't coast also never go even 1 mile an hour over the speed limit? What about signaling? Or passing on the right? Does talking on cell phone or eating or anything like that constitute "not being in control of your vehicle"?

Anyway my point is that there are motor vehicle laws that are broken hundreds of thousands of times every day, many of them much more serious that coasting.

Also, my point about being able to be caught for coasting is still valid. If you were in an accident and the shifter was found in neutral that would not PROOVE that you where coasting. You could have been shifting when the impact occurred, or as was already stated the shifter could have been moved as a result of the crash. Those things may be unlikely but how would they be disproved? In our legal system you are innocent till proven guilty, so you weren’t coasting unless they can prove otherwise. Also, the "in control of your vehicle" argument is shaky. Other than accelerating you are in control of every other aspect of you’re vehicle while coasting, and being in control of acceleration is just a gear shift away.

Hybrid cars coast automatically on grades (disconnecting the engine from the wheels) so does that mean that every owner of a hybrid car is breaking the law?

To answer grouser's earlier question, yes I coast. I actually EOC (engine off coast) a lot. I have also seen my average MPG jump from 37 to 42 when I started coasting, so there is a huge benefit to be had.

 

How is that different to being in gear? Are you saying the breaks don't heat up if they are used while the engine is in gear? Also, who says you are coasting on a slope steep enough to need to use the breaks? If I am coasting down a slight grade where I am either maintaining speed or even slowing down I am not losing control.

I agree that coasting down a very long steep grade that would cause your breaks to fade as you try not to speed up would be stupid and unsafe. However that is only one very small subset of "coasting". You could also be in that same situation while in gear if the slope was steep enough, where the engine breaking was not enough to slow the car and you had to depress the breaks for a long period of time.

 

He's assuming that being in gear helps to slow the car down as well, although it's not all that much.

I still think the coasting is illegal bit is a joke. OK, maybe it's written somewhere, but it's a little ridiculous, except for big trucks.

 

Exactly. I bet those laws were written when cars had breaks made from wood

I understood what grouser was saying, my point was that it is just a question of degrees. There is no monumental shift that happens in stopping power when you are in neutral, just a small change.

 

One,,, I'm not questioning the merit of the law,,mearly that there is one that exists ,,,,I' think that's been established,,,,and I'm not argueing about how they prove it later,,mute point
Two,,,, Hybrids are not in "nuetral" coasting while downhill,,,get your facts strait,,,,( My definition of coasting: not in any gear , rolling in nuetral)
Three,,,,, if you are coasting with the engine off your a real threat to all others on the road cuz that's just plain stupid,,,you are running with the key on to keep the steering from locking up ,,,so this means your battery is on without the engine running (not good), and you had to have the key in lock for long enough to allow the engine to die,,WHILE DRIVING ,,,,NOT SMART my friend your wheel was locked for that moment ( and could return to the locked position if you hit the key whlie turning or something). For what-ever you think your saving in gas it's not worth killing yourself or someone else,,,be more responsible in your driving habits. Realize it just cost money to drive if you can't afford it WALK rather than pulling stunts like that for Pete's sake
True ,,,,,the more the vehicle weighs, the bigger effect the act of coasting has,,but that was not the argument here,,,it was about IF coasting is illegal or not,,,,I think we can see that it is,,, and can agree that we have beaten this horse to death

 

I was responding to the posts about accident teams knowing you're car was in neutral after a crash. That wasn't necessarily directed at you, it was just something that has been discussed in the thread.

Full hybrid cars like the Prius disconnect the engine from the wheels (neutral) and actually turn it off while you foot is off of the accelerator unless you are breaking or charging the battery. That sounds like coasting to me. that actually made we wonder if the Lexus car that parks itself is illegal because you are not in full control of the car when it is doing it's thing. If you really wanted to you could argue that having an automatic transmission is not being in full control of your car and would be in violation of the law.


You know I never thought about the steering wheel locking before. I am fairly sure the steering wheel remains unlocked while the key is in the accesory position, but I could be wrong. I will check that before the next time I drive. I have been working on creating a fuel-injector cut-off switch so that I can kill the engine without using the key though, so that would solve that problem. I don't see anything else as being an issue.

It's not a financial question, obviously I could afford to buy a brand new car so I can afford a few bucks for gas. It is an environmental and political question. I don't want my dollars going to support terrorism in the middle east, or to support oil conglomerates in the US and elsewhere.

I think you should head over to GasSavers.org - Helping You Save at the Pump and talk to those folks about this. Engine Off Coasting is a constant discussion point (both for and against) and you might find some of the things said interesting.

I agree the question of IF coasting is legal has been answered. It is some places, it isn't others. That was not the only thing being discussed in this thread however.

 

I double checked and, at least in the Fit, the steering wheel WILL NOT lock with the key in the ignition, in ANY position. You have to actually remove the key from the steering column for the wheel to lock.

 

You are correct,,,I had to check myself!!.
But,,,EOC disables the power steering, power brakes, anti-loc brakes, air bags, true or not,,,(I'm asking cuz I don't know)...
but I admit I'm growing tired of the argument, and could care less if you coast or not,,you have much more time to invest in nit-picking my responses and futhering the debate. It's something you'll have to live with if you hurt someone in the name of economy by not using all the safety features on your car while EOC. A lawyer may use phrases like "Manslaughter or willfull and reckless endagerment"
The way I see it,,, a boost of five MPH for a tankfull (lets say 10 gallons) is only 50 miles. At most your talking a little over a gallon of fuel saved,,that equals 5 to 6 bucks tops(at 3 bucks a gallon). Not worth it IMHO. But you can do as you please,,,,I made my point and am done with this thread unless it gets on to something new and interesting.

 

Thank you Mr know it all thanks for speaking for the entire USA.

California law

21710. The driver of a motor vehicle when traveling on down grade upon any highway shall not coast with the gears of such vehicle in neutral.

(looks like in the city its fine)

Don't believe me here is the link

V.C. Section 21710 - Coasting Prohibited

 

THANKYOU FOR THAT!!!!!
I had not been able to find that despite looking my azz off....
Nuff said