When driving a car fitted with automatic transmission what would you use ‘kick down’ for?

Related Information

What is ‘kick down’?

When the accelerator pedal is fully depressed (beyond the point of full acceleration), a lower gear is immediately engaged. This is called kick-down. Release of the accelerator from the kick-down position causes the gearbox to change up automatically.

What Are the Purposes of Kickdown in an Automatic Car?

When kickdown is activated in an automatic vehicle, a lower gear is engaged, increasing the engine speed (RPM, or Revolutions Per Minute). Power increases as engine speed does. Kickdown would be used for:

- Overtaking another vehicle

- Driving uphill

- Towing a heavy load

Safety function

The gearbox control program includes a protective downshift inhibitor to stop engine overrevving. The gearbox does not allow downshifting or kick-down, which would raise the engine speed to a point where it would be damaged. The original gear is still engaged if the driver continues to shift down in this manner while the engine is running at a high speed. Depending on engine speed, the car can shift down one or more steps at a time upon kick-down. In order to avoid engine damage, the car shifts up when the engine reaches its maximum speed.