What Happens When You Press the Stop Button While Driving?

Is this the best option for stopping your car if its accelerator pedal gets stuck? Hmm…

What should you do if your car's engine stops responding and you're heading towards incoming traffic? Pushing the Stop button could seem like a good idea.

What happens when you press the Stop button while driving? This is the question the guys from AutoVlog tried to answer. If you think there's a trivial answer, think again. As you'll see in the video below, if you own a Ford, at least, the engine stops if you push the Start/Stop button while driving at speeds below five mph. To stop the car at higher speeds, you have to press it longer. How long, you can see in the video below.

The problem is, why would you want to do this? Stopping your car's engine while driving can be dangerous, especially if the ability to steer and brake the car is seriously diminished (power steering and braking may need your engine running). There are other important things to do before fiddling with the Start/Stop button.

1. Shift your car to N (Neutral)

Just put the car into N, and the engine will be decoupled from the wheels. This will happen on automatic gearboxes as well as manual ones. It's the fastest and easiest methods to solve any problem with unwanted and uncontrollable acceleration.

2. Gently apply the brakes

With your car put in Neutral, you can now brake. Don't panic, though, press the brakes slowly and gently.

3. Check that the acceleration pedal is not stuck

After putting the car into Neutral and braking slowly, keep your eyes on the road and try raising your throttle pedal with the tip of your foot. It could be stuck, and all you need is to force it back to its normal position. Yes, it happens, especially in older cars. Or Toyotas.

4. Use your hazard lights

Be sure to signal other drivers that you have a problem by using the hazard lights. Yes, it's finally time to actually use them. Flash if necessary, honk, and don't presume others know you have a problem if you don't signal it.

5. Try stopping the engine only at (very) slow speeds

If you took all the above steps, you were already able to stop the car in a safe place or to slow it down sufficiently. It's now time to try stopping the engine. If you have an automatic box, DON'T put it into P, keep it in N.

If you still have a key, it's as simple as turning it towards you. If you have a Start/Stop button, press on it and see what happens. If a simple push doesn't do the trick, try pushing it for at least three seconds. This should do it.