What does the overdrive button in my car do?

Answer 1

You use it when you hit an animal so you can drive over it without wreaking the suspension

Answer 2

Overdrive is a high ratio drive gear in your transmission. It's used when sustaining higher speeds to allow the engine to run at lower RPM's, and that saves on gasoline consumption. The button in your car is used to either engage or disengage the overdrive feature.

You can both see and feel the difference engine performance using overdrive. Get out on a highway with the car in overdrive. Get up to cruising speed and disengage the overdrive feature. The engine will sound like you just accelerated, but without picking up any speed. That's because the RPM's just jumped up much higher when the car dropped into the next lower gear in an automatic transmission. If you have a tachometer, you'll see the higher RPM's registering when you take the car out of overdrive.

Most cars come with automatic overdrive these days, so just leave it alone ... the transmission will do the work for you.

P.S.: J.D.'s answer is completely wrong! You don't get anymore power ... you get better fuel economy!

Answer 3

The over drive button, on an automatic transmission, kicks in the final gear, allowing the car to run at a lower RPM and saving on fuel.
The overdrive should be ON most of the time. Shut it off if for heavy snow and ice, or if your current driving situation is causing it to shift a lot (such as going up and down a bunch of hills).
If your car has a manual 1 and 2 (or L) gear, overdrive is automatically shut off when in these gears.

To really see what the overdrive does, get on the highway with the overdrive ON. After staying at a steady pace for a bit, shut it off and watch your Tachometer (RPM) and listen to the engine.
Don't worry, nothing drastic is going to happen as far as speed and handling.

Answer 4

if you have a 3 speed automatic transmission with overdrive, the overdrive is essentially a fourth gear. It is only a "lock-up" gear which means the engines power goes directly through the transmission to the wheels. When this happens, you get more power at road speeds (65MPH per say) with less RPM's, which translates into better fuel economy and more passing power. Some cars are geared in such a way that when they do get into overdrive, the engine RPM is almost (within a few 100) of idle speed, but the car is actually running along at road speed.

Answer 5

Overdrive is an automotive transmission gear that transmits to the drive shaft a speed greater than engine speed. When you press the overdrive button it provides more power to the wheels, but at the expense of less mileage. So you want to use it only when you need power, say, for passing. Under normal driving conditions, leave it off.

Hope this helps.

Answer 6

More simply. What this button does is to allow the highest gear in your car to be active or not.

If you have a four speed auto transmission (most newer cars do) and you press the OD button, the electronics will not allow the fourth gear (overdrive) to engage. This is useful when you are driving in hills or curvy roads and the car is constantly changing from third to fourth gear. Using OD will maintain the car in third gear eliminating the unnecessary shifting.

In flat highways you don't need it. Leaving it pressed will make the engine work harder and consume more gas as your car will behave as a three speed instead of a four speed.

Answer 7

Overdrive typically sets your shift points lower so that it shifts up to a higher gear faster. This saves you gas that you easily use up if you rev too hard. Turning it off will give you more power but less gas mileage. Hope that helps.

Answer 8

Makes your vehicle easier on gas by using it.

Answer 9

if you set it to a certain speed it will send out a signal if you go over that set speed