Motorstart/Ignition (clutch)

[Space_Night]

having driven a manual truck, ok it was a 7.5t truck, if you leave the truck in gear there was an interlock within the gearbox so that when in gear the starter motor was disabled, so you can only start when in Neutral.

some automated boxes have a similar feature, such as the one on the MAN TG-L where you have to be in Neutral to start. In the merc Atego and therefore possibly the Actros MP4, you can leave it "In gear" and start it, however, when the truck starts up it stays in Neutral, so you have to rotate the gear selecter from D (or R) to N then back to the desired gear in order for the truck to pick up the gear.