I just put the car in neutral this morning while coasting towards a red light and just for kicks, I tried to move the shifter to the right to the spot right under Reverse. I had no intention of putting it into reverse, just to move it into that space.

There was something blocking the shifter from moving there until I slowed down to about 5-10mph. Just found that pretty interesting.

 

It's to prevent shifting into the opposite direction while moving. Shifting into reverse while moving forward or forward while still backing up is VERY bad for the transmission.

 

How many cars have you previously been able to do that to?

If you want to find out why you can't, here's an experiement. Set your ceiling fan on medium and let it run, then hit the switch that lets you reverse direction and see what happens. Now multiply that by the value of your car.

 

Eh, yea I've never actually done it on purpose....but my hands have slipped before lol. Anyways in my old car.....99 camry I was going foward like 5mph and accidentally popped it in reverse. The car stalled out. How many of you have stalled an auto? I have

In the GS I did something similar but not quite as severe....at least I don't think. I was still rolling 5mph and for some reason I thought i was stopped so I popped it in park and the wheels probably locked up or something, but the car didn't stall.

I haven't quite built up the guts to shift into reverse on purpose yet though

 

LOL you guys are talking like I don't know anything about cars...I didn't say anything in my original post that implied I thought it was a bad idea or that I was wondering why they did this.

I was just pointing out an observation I made about the GS - there are many other ways they can prevent shifting into reverse other than locking out the shift gate.

I can name at least 1 other car that I can shift into reverse with while moving forward at speed with the engine on.

Another thing - your ceiling fan comparison is inaccurate. Ceiling fans have direct mechanical gearing. Automatic transmissions use fluid to transfer their power until the converter locks, so there is a lot more "give".

 

Yes, this is true, but there isn't anything to prevent shifting into Drive when you're currently going in Reverse, is there?

 

You go ahead and risk serious transmission injury and find out. Me? I'll always come to a complete stop before shifting into the opposite direction.

 

That's not my point.

My point is that there's something to block going into reverse while moving forward, but there's nothing to block going into forward while moving in reverse, while both things can cause tranny damage.

The whole reason for the staggered shift gate is that the driver needs to make a conscious decision to move the lever a certain way when shifting from Park into Reverse, Neutral to Reverse, Drive into 2nd gear, and 2nd gear to first gear.

There is nothing to block "safe" gear changes like Reverse to Neutral, Neutral to Drive, etc..

The same goes for shifters that use a button you need to press before shifting out of park. It will block the same "unsafe" gear changes by requiring the button to be pressed. Shifting from Drive to Neutral and Neutral to Drive doesn't require pressing the button.

My whole point was that our cars have gone one step further in preventing the shift from Neutral to Reverse.

 

Well, think about how fast you can be moving in reverse compared to how fast you can go in drive. I'm guessing it's a lot more dangerous to shift into reverse while travelling at 80mph than it is to shift into drive while driving 8 mph.

 

in my old 94 camry and my fathers 97 avalon u can put it in reverse while driving but it just puts it into neutral and ur reverse lights light up... and it scares ppl sumtime lol.... was fun to use every now and then

 

When I'm backing up, I put it into Drive even when my car is still in reverse motion to "speed things up" a little bit. But this is bad for the transmission right? I'm not at a very high speed or anything though.

 

doesn't matter if you're going real slow or not, that will kill your motor mounts and possibly your trans. I always make sure the car is 100% stopped before changing from R to D or vice versa.

I get pissed when I see the car parking jockeys at the the dealer backing in customer's cars and they jam it it reverse while it's still moving forward.

 

agreeed!!!!!!!

and yes i've done it in my camry before... stalled as well

 

actually, some cars do that, including my 92 camry. one time i was driving in D and wanted to put it in N for the red light but shifted it in R instead. the whole car clunked, and the engine stalled. at least i put the shifter in D

 

I hear you Henry, but at what speed? At a red light, sounds like you were already slowing down to brake and coming to a full stop.

My question was based on his original post

So my original question still stand in that I would like to know of ANY car that allows you change direction while moving ABOVE the 5-10mph that everyone is aware of. Then my next question would be WHY?

Wasn't trying to downplay his knowledge of cars but still have to ask in what scenario would this ever be done? Especialy on a $40k + car?