Will the PIT maneuver "kill" your engine?

Question

I was talking about some video with a friend of mine of a high speed chase. In the video, the police attempt the PIT maneuver multiple times and each time, the suspect manages to spin the car back around and continue on the highway near their original speed. This is when someone else I know interrupted trying to explain what the PIT maneuver is and how it doesn't just "flip the car around" but somehow kills the engine even though he said he "didn't know the physics behind it". I have never heard of it actually killing the car's engine and didn't really want to argue with him so I just dropped the subject but was wondering if it was true that the PIT maneuver will stop a car's engine. I just thought it made the car spin around, either hitting something and stopping, or giving police enough time to position their cars around the suspect to stop them.

Answer 1

Well yes, with most cars being forced to roll backwards in a forward gear would kill the engine. If it is a standard transmission clutching it would prevent that.

Answer 2

Actually the pit manuveur can stop the engine. Spinning a car around is enough for the engine to stop. The sudden loss of control would be enough to mess up the gearing and cause the car to stop or at least stall. That very abrupt sudden turn is really bad for your engine and transmission. The car wouldn't be able to keep control of the motion of the wheels, and the engine would probably cut out (And that's all you need) Then you have enough time to box the person in before they can move again.

Answer 3

It can and sometimes does.

Answer 4

it doesent really kill the engine it just makes the driver loose control and thats when police cars box in on the guy it kills the driver some time thats about it unless it gets pit real hard

Answer 5

It can in some case interrupt the flow of gas that is coming from the gas tank to the fuel injection system if say the car was low on fuel then the fuel pump could just suck up air instead of fuel but 99 percent of the time it will just cause the vehicle to spin out and loose traction.

Answer 6

After the initial nudge the car is in a rear-wheel skid. Does a skid kill the engine?

Unless the car has traction control, once the wheel begin to skid, it doesn't really matter which way they are pointing UNTIL they regain their grip. If the car is facing the wrong way, the tyres will continue spinning, prolonging the skid. Most people will jump on the brake with a skid (not too great an idea!), and it is probably this which stops the engine.

Any sudden spin is disorientating for the driver, and if caused by the police nudging them will likely cause them to be thinking even less clearly than before (feel intimidated by the police). The suspect becomes less in control of the situation, as in likely to do something really daft and lose control of the vehicle, such as keeping his eyes more on the police cars than on the road ahead.

Answer 7

I think each situation is different, If you are doing it to the car(I mean if you are driving the car)you will be able to control not stalling the engine, but if you are about to have it done to you by the police, you are not going to be in control of the car and the engine most likely will stall, hope I never have to find out,

Answer 8

it can stop the engine of the car being chased, but not in all cases. when a car spins out of control at high speeds the reverse motion of the wheels wil work against the engine and gearing causing the engine to cut out.