A Reddit user recently turned to the r/Autos forum with a question about their automatic transmission car. They said that when they’re climbing a hill, they found they can lay off the accelerator a bit and the vehicle will upshift. So they asked the internet if it’s “a good idea,” or “good for the transmission,” to use the accelerator to “help” the automatic car shift.

One commenter did a great job summing up the general sentiment that the OP’s car didn’t have some gaping design flaw that needed solving by manipulating the accelerator pedal: “You’re just simply overthinking this and thinking you know better than the people who spent years in research and development designing and building the car lol.”

Another commenter went a step further, arguing the OP was forcing more torque through the gearbox than necessary by tricking the transmission. “If you lift the accelerator, your gearbox thinks it doesn’t need to output the same force anymore and shifts up.”

I’ll add that climbing a steep hill in a heavy classic car with an underpowered engine and three-speed automatic might require a bit more planning. For example, you might need to decide whether to let the car climb slowly in a low gear or to rev the engine up just to reach the speed limit. But few cars made in the last 20 years will require this sort of planning—four- and five-speed automatics have enough gears that you don’t need to “help” the transmission shift. How do you know? If you’re driving and the engine RPM are staying below the dangerous “redline,” then everything is working as it was designed to.

You can see the original Reddit post, and the helpful comments, embedded below:

When driving, should I “help” my automatic transmission shift gears?
byu/Pretty-Pineapple-869 inAutos