use a freaking neutral safety switch

NHRA has a rule about that.

 

My 04 Cummins pickup has a clutch switch. One day the lift pump died and I had to wire the switch closed so I could use the starter to load it on a trailer (yes, this works). Months later and 2700 miles further east, I started it outside a bar without stepping on the clutch. The engine caught in 1st and drove me right through a fence... Luckily it was wire, but what a way to remember the clutch switch was still jumpered!

Years ago when I was in college, a good friend lost his life to a neutral switch "perfect storm". He had an old POS Datsun 510 with an auto. No neutral switch, carb was boogered up, and starter wiring was screwy. He's under the hood engaging the starter with a screwdriver when the thing lit. He had the idle set about 1500 and the shifter was in drive. The car smashed him against a steel crash post and he died later that day from internal injuries.

I've never let a car leave the shop without a working neutral switch, but my own experience years later shows you STILL can't fix stupid...

 

A friend started his t-Bucket(automatic0 in reverse while standing next to the car. The headerr snaged his clothes and draged him until that came loose and the front tore ran over hom. We was bruised but not hurt. The tire of the car was stopped by the mail box with nothing being damaged.

If a seat switch could somehow make people pay attention(maybe something pointed?) it would be a good idea.

During the time I was a mechanic there were several cases of accidentally starting in gear while working under the hood. The worst was where a friend worked. A cab-over semi tractor(manual) was started in gear while the engine was being worked on. The mechanic's head was crushed.

 

This is incorrect. They will start with just a bump of the key. I almost took out a 7-11 storefront in a 1968 Pick up when I was about 20 years old. I reached in and turned the key, it fired, hopped the curb and I jumped in and stopped it within inches of the storefront.

 

I know a guy who, against the kit manufacturers advice, put a remote starter on his manual trans Jeep. Three different times he accidentally left it in gear and hit the remote starter. All three times it started and caused damage or got the vehicle stuck.
Earlier in this discussion I mentioned gun handling safety. This same guy has had three accidental pistol discharges that I know of. And even better, he has taken the a NRA safety instructor course. No matter what safety devices therer are, in the end it comes down to paying attention and being careful.

 

Probably a good rule. I remember years ago a drag car in the pits took off and ran over some people.

 

So there you have it. whether it's an auto or stick, we are all idiots for driving any car without a neutral safety switch. (kidding)
Actually the fact is, be behind the wheel when starting your car period.
It's not the lack of having a neutral safety switch that makes it unsafe, its the one turning the key out of the vehicle that is the unsafe one. Whether an auto or stick.

 

I know a lot of people who did have neutral safety switches and they are dead also; a lot of different ways to die in cars, usually by doing something unsafe.

 

i have a thing for jacking up the drive wheels on any car im working on in the shop it comes from some of the motorsports cars i have run not having park in them so if the tires are not touching it cant go any place lol

 

It is not very well enforced. At least the big money guys a Heartland park a couple of years ago didn't seem to impressed with the rule.

Here is the deal you never hear about a neutral swith (or lack there of) problem except that whomever started the car was not in it when it lit.

Al
I knew a guy in '72 that bought a new Duster with the seat switch. He didn't like to wear his seat belt so he would mash the clutch and raise himself off the seat to start it. It worked for whatever reason and he developed a hell of set of abs doing it. Humans in general will do about anything to not have to do anything the right way.

 

Its false logic to assume the neutral safety switch will always work when you need it most.

Safety stuff is great, but its no substitute for being alert and in control.

 

This guy sounds like a knuckle dragging mouth breather. Please tell me he doesn't drive or live anywhere within 1K miles of Oklahoma. We already have enough of these types.

 

Mostly htey would have to be in 1st or reverse (or RARELY 2nd) gear for that to happen.

A lot of the time they're in 3rd OR 2ND when people come to a stop.

Autos don't give a crap what gear the shifter is sitting in if you don't have a neutral switch.

 

Saw a guy in a T-bucket driving in an auto-course a few years ago.

Drove forwards towards the cones and skidded to a stop for the section where he had to reverse.

The motor stalled so he hit the key, cranked it over for about 3-4 seconds before the motor caught.

It was obvious from what happened next that he had put the T-bucket into reverse as the motor died 'cos suddenly the car lurched backwards at about warp-factor-6 with his whole body weight on the gas-pedal and his ass about about 8" above the seat while (with a white face) he frantically tried not to run anyone/thing over.

He got it under control but it was a lesson I didn't ignore - safety switch for me from then on.

With a stick-shift he'd have had his foot on the clutch...