The clutch is a third pedal to the left of the brake which lets you disengage the engine and transmission so you can change the gear then let the pedal out, engaging the new gear.
With a clutch, the brake pedal is usually really narrow. So when you get into an automatic instincts will tell you to press the clutch and change gears but that pedal doesn’t exist and the wide brake pedal is there instead. Instead of changing gears, you slam the brake.
I actually have done this in my auto Civic after daily driving my manual Prelude for a while. The good thing is I was only moving about 8 miles an hour when it happened, so it looked weird. Would be kind of cool to have the narrow brake pedal in the Civic lol
But yeah, I’ve been thinking about swapping the auto Civic for a manual Accord of the same vintage.
I’ve done it before. Granted it was one of the first times I’d driven an auto, but the reflex to engage the clutch for rolling to a stop, combined with the extra wide brake pedal can be a real gotcha.
Eh there’s also sometimes the foot e brake and sometimes when you’re thinking really fast and maybe have done a few switching from car to car you might just try to start a car and move with the e brake engaged thinking it was a clutch
Probably because we don’t dead reckon off the position of the gas pedal, but rather, our mental shortcut is, “clutch is furthest left pedal.”
As others have said, brake on automatic tends to be a wide pedal. Pedals on a smaller car or sports car tend to be small and very close together for heel and toe and whatnot.
Pedals on a smaller car or sports car tend to be small and very close together
Exactly. Nobody is making this mistake in a semi, with the throttle and brake all the way on the right and the clutch (if it exists) all the way on the left, and a huge gap in between, but a little car, and big feet? Absolutely
A lot of cars with automatics and manuals have slightly different brake pedal sizes for the same models (bigger on automatics usually, takes a bit of the space a clutch might). So theoretically it makes some sense.
I’ve never owned an auto, only manuals. But there’s been a couple times when I drove automatics for friends and family and accidently slammed my left foot into the floor or brake due to muscle memory. The pedals are close together in modern manual cars so you can heal toe, and automatic gas pedals are nearly always wider, because why wouldn’t they be?
So yeah, not only do I believe op drives a manual, I bet they do it often enough that when they do drive an auto they have to consciously hold their left foot back. I know I have to. I’ve been using a clutch too long, my left foot just wants to go.
I think you’ll have to explain to most of the audience what a clutch is
The clutch is a third pedal to the left of the brake which lets you disengage the engine and transmission so you can change the gear then let the pedal out, engaging the new gear.
With a clutch, the brake pedal is usually really narrow. So when you get into an automatic instincts will tell you to press the clutch and change gears but that pedal doesn’t exist and the wide brake pedal is there instead. Instead of changing gears, you slam the brake.
Also you press the clutch pedal a lot harder and quicker than the brake pedal so you really slam it.
I actually have done this in my auto Civic after daily driving my manual Prelude for a while. The good thing is I was only moving about 8 miles an hour when it happened, so it looked weird. Would be kind of cool to have the narrow brake pedal in the Civic lol
But yeah, I’ve been thinking about swapping the auto Civic for a manual Accord of the same vintage.
Needs to explain why they think the clutch would be so far to the right.
I’m thinking the OP doesn’t understand how to drive a manual.
Or they don’t know how to drive automatic and brake with their left foot. Either way, it doesn’t check out
I’ve done it before. Granted it was one of the first times I’d driven an auto, but the reflex to engage the clutch for rolling to a stop, combined with the extra wide brake pedal can be a real gotcha.
Eh there’s also sometimes the foot e brake and sometimes when you’re thinking really fast and maybe have done a few switching from car to car you might just try to start a car and move with the e brake engaged thinking it was a clutch
Wider pedal in an automatic. You can catch the edge of it if you’re going for the clith
You probably shouldn’t go for the clit while driving
The cluthhy
Probably because we don’t dead reckon off the position of the gas pedal, but rather, our mental shortcut is, “clutch is furthest left pedal.”
As others have said, brake on automatic tends to be a wide pedal. Pedals on a smaller car or sports car tend to be small and very close together for heel and toe and whatnot.
Exactly. Nobody is making this mistake in a semi, with the throttle and brake all the way on the right and the clutch (if it exists) all the way on the left, and a huge gap in between, but a little car, and big feet? Absolutely
A lot of cars with automatics and manuals have slightly different brake pedal sizes for the same models (bigger on automatics usually, takes a bit of the space a clutch might). So theoretically it makes some sense.
I’ve never owned an auto, only manuals. But there’s been a couple times when I drove automatics for friends and family and accidently slammed my left foot into the floor or brake due to muscle memory. The pedals are close together in modern manual cars so you can heal toe, and automatic gas pedals are nearly always wider, because why wouldn’t they be?
So yeah, not only do I believe op drives a manual, I bet they do it often enough that when they do drive an auto they have to consciously hold their left foot back. I know I have to. I’ve been using a clutch too long, my left foot just wants to go.