My thoughts..... Mostly very car I have onwned starting with my old vw bug have not have this feature I never ever had a problems, but yes every once in a while I would crank the car in gear (same as my current civic) and I would catch it before doing anything. The car only moves a foot or so and if it does start you can catch in it time. Mostly every one here is overlooking the question. All I intended to ask is what are the downsides of removing the "clutch start" feature? The only mostly given answer is that I will crash and burn..... NO, I drive my TII in rare occasions and daily drive my civic which has had the clutch start thingy out before I bought it. Some of you assume the car will suddenly catch while cranking in gear and gain some momentum and kill a bunch of people.

 

Which you must admit, could happen.

There is no downside to removing the switch.

 

I did have an occasion where I lost the hydraulics in my clutch. Pedal dropped to the floor, so I guess if the switch is on or near the pedal itself then it would have "unlocked". If the switch were actually reading the clutch itself, then I wouldn't have been able to start the car in gear...and limp home.

 

except for a rise in insurance and possibly need to wash the blood off the car.

 

Wise words.

There are a gazillion cars on the road with interlock switches, and in fact modern cars all control the starter through the body control module or directly through the ECU.

 

Gotta agree with Aaron Cake on this one. The Clutch Switch is another point of failure in a circuit that seems to have issues that only exacerbate with age as most FC owners have found out the hard way. Click-click-start anyone?

As for the Neutral Safety Switch, it serves the same purpose as the Clutch Switch, yet is a bit more annoying to replace upon failure.

The mental discipline of remembering to put it in neutral or step on the clutch is a small price to pay for being able to move the car when the normal means aren't available. Let me illustrate it for you:
Your car is parked properly at the regular 8-12" from a curb and some ******* hits it with a 3 ton suburban, leaving the driver's door stuck shut. It also pushes your car closer to the curb, so the passenger door only opens about 12". And it happens to be winter, with your hatch being frozen quite solidly too.

All I had to do is put it in 1st gear and turn the key. Car pulls itself away from the curb with no fuss and takes 5 seconds. Much simpler and quicker than calling AAA. Besides, if you're too preoccupied to check if the car is in neutral or step on the clutch pedal when starting your own car, then you're doing it wrong.

As for the car actually starting under these conditions and running away on its own, that is something I'd love to see. Anyone with a dyno care to measure the actual torque at 750rpm? That is one measurement I'd love to see

 

I had to bypass my clutch switch and have never forgot to put the clutch in , I've been driving manual since 14 years ago , it's second nature to press the clutch in while starting the car.

 

I have to admit though I do start my civic in gear every once in a while, though the E-brake is almost always on. I just like the simplicity though I am complicating things by over thinking the whole ting.