2007 Hyundai Santa Fe

DANICA08

MEMBER
2007 HYUNDAI SANTA FE

2007 Hyundai Santa Fe

I was wondering if it's bad to turn the car off before putting it into park. It was still moving a little bit and when I turned it off, it felt like it hit the brakes, but I didn't. It wasn't bad. It just felt like the gas/electric shut off and so the car slowed down even more, like if I had had it in park. I think all it was was that I turned it off (like people do in neutral) only it was in drive and since I was still moving, the car tried to stop itself. I was going slow, under 10mph. I am just making sure because I am a little worried. I know people forget to put there cars into park all the time and turn it off and things are fine, but I just want to make sure because I had still been moving and I felt it feel like it hit the brakes a little.

2 Replies

KHLOW2008

MECHANIC
41,814 POSTS

Hi Danica08,

It won't affect anything if you turn the engine off but you should not try to engage park when the car is still moving.

When the car is in drive, it will tend to roll on as the engine is providing some thrust so switching off the engine will result in the vehicle pulling back as there is no more propelling thrust to the wheels.

The best procedure is to stop car completely, engage parking brakes, gear shift to park then off engine.