Shifting to the neutral gear in an automatic transmission means to cut off the connection between the engine and the wheels.

As a result, no power will be transmitted to the wheels when you press the accelerator pedal.

This allows the wheels to rotate freely without drawing much action from the engine, but you will still have some control over the car.

Shifting to the neutral does not do much harm except for putting a bit strain on the brakes when your intention is to stop the vehicle.

However, doing it frequently for a long time could damage the torque converter.

Here are some of the occasions when selecting the neutral gear is very useful for the driver.

When you have a stuck throttle, pushing the brake might not be enough to stop the car whose speed is high.

In that case, the safe bet is to move the gear to Neutral and use the brake to park safely.

Switching off the engine is not the safest solution since it will cut the power to the steering, making it impossible to stop the car without any damage.

Generally, people respond to a brake-fail by turning off the engine but it’s a wrong choice since it will leave you with no control over the steering wheel.

Besides, it can even lock the wheel mechanism, making the situation more dangerous.

Therefore, shifting to the neutral gear will help you to toggle between the lanes and park somewhere safe.

In a serious note, putting the vehicle in neutral during towing is not the ideal way to do it.

However, you don’t have any choice when the towing company does not have a tow dolly for the task.

The neutral gear helps in keeping the engine on and there is minimum transmission damage.

The gear actually does not have much use other than helping in stopping the car in some critical situations.

Check out the FAQs to clear your confusion:

The only issue is that you will have less control over the car and to overcome it, you should practice running the car in that gear mode.

It has nothing to do with fuel efficiency since the engine is still running at Neutral and most vehicles will use the same amount of gas in the idle state.

Yes, it could be. You should not abruptly shift to that gear when you are driving on a highway at a great speed, except for emergencies as it may cause accidents.