help please!!

[steve b 100]

my driving instructor as ask me to find out what kickstart means in an automatic car.it is not kickdown,can anybody help HELP PLEASE!!

[pagey]

Kickstart? wtf? It means nothing in a car. With an auto bike you can electric-start or kick-start them, but not a car. I'll be very interested to hear what his explaination is!

[Pat Flanel]

Did he mean "kickdown" whereby pressing the accelerator down hard makes the gearbox 'kickdown' a gear giving better acceleration ???

[Pat Flanel]

I should have read the full question really, sorry....

[naz_nomad]

Surely he is supposed to be telling you stuff like that, not the other way round?

[Clanad]

As you already know, one can't start a car with an automatic transmission without the gear shift lever being in "Park" or, in some cars in "Neutral". In U.S. cars (and I expect, in British and European models) there is a starter safety switch to assure that the engine can only be started as described above. This switch can, over time, be misaligned or otherwise slightly out of its normal position for starting since it is adjacent to the actual key starting switch. One can place the shift lever in "D" or "N", turn the key to the start position, and move the shift lever back and forth to its limits. This will, often, engage the safety switch and allow the engine to be started. This is called 'kick starting', at least here in the U.S.

[qapmoc]

It must be kickdown, kickstart has only ever related to motorcycle type engines.

[pagey]

Clanad, in the UK that is called bump-starting and can be done on our more popular manual cars (stick-shift!). It could theoretically be done on a malfunctioning auto.

Steve b, tell your driving instructor kick-start means nothing in an automatic car. Because it doesn't!

[steve b 100]

very sorry my mistake it was actually kickdown he wanted me to find out about.p.s i would like to thank every one who answered my question