It’s common for learners to stall so it’s good to know what to do when it does happen. Feel confident about how to restart your car before you hit the road.

Animation showing a blue car aproaching white cars that have stopped in the lane. The white cars move on, but the blue car stalls. A white car approaches from behind and stops behind the stall blue car before it restarts and moves on.

Where should you practise this?

In an empty carpark or on a flat street with no traffic.

Why do manual cars stall?

Usually, manual cars will stall because the driver has let the clutch out too quickly. This means the ‘revolutions per minute’ (RPM) of the engine has dropped too low and the engine has stopped.

You’re less likely to stall if you release the clutch slowly. Don’t release the clutch all the way until you’ve felt the car ‘bite’. You’ll hear the engine engage and you might feel the front of the car lift.

When you do stall

You need to avoid panicking and calmly restart your car. Follow this process to recover from a stall:

  1. Put your foot on the brake.
  2. Put the clutch all the way in.
  3. Put the car in neutral.
  4. Restart the engine.
  5. Select 1st gear.
  6. Check your mirrors and over your shoulder to see if any cars are trying to pass you. If not, drive on forward.

Practise this process on a quiet road. Do it until you can quickly and confidently re-start the car without having to look down at what you’re doing.

Are you test ready?

Question

Skill Quiz Default Image

Next skill

Next lesson

Driving on the road

Go to next skill