Eli5: how can you roll start a manual vehicle but not an automatic vehicle?

Question

Eli5: how can you roll start a manual vehicle but not an automatic vehicle?

In: Other

Answer 1

basically, the automatic gearbox is designed in such a way that it doesn’t create a physical connection to the wheels *unless* the engine is running, even if the gearstick is in “drive”, so you can’t therefore use the movment of the wheels to get the cylinders turning and get the engine to start.