What do you think will happen?

Assuming you have a 2nd gen automatic. What do you think will happen if you were going at 70 mph and accidentaly shifted to reverse or park?

 

it would coast to a stop, not doing much damage at all. I think they have a safety thing that wont let it engage reverse or park going that fast.

 

Nothing the computer knows that it can't shift. It will wait untill it is safe to do so.

 

Someone told us that the tranny would break or you can get into accident. My buddy did it accidentally in his '05 sport but nothing happened. After 70k miles, no tranny problem so far. We are not familiar with auto transmission, so I needed to ask you guys.

Thanks. He can have a peace of mind now.

 

I did this in my 1995 Camry and it locked up the trans and tires screeching the car to a halt. It tore up the trans pretty bad. The shift from 2nd to 3rd was horrible after that. I was trying to shift into neutral but held in the button and went all the way up to reverse. Sad sad times.

I'd like to think that what you guys saying about the computer knowing not to shift is right but I'm doubting it's true. I don't know though, like I said my car was a 1995 Camry and it had the push the button to shift thing that these new transmission don't.

 

What was your speed?

The truck was moving at 70+ mph and there was no change in speed. We don't know if it was coasting though. He hit the reverse, neutral, park then back to drive.

 

They did this on mythbusters with an old crown vic. It just coasted not hurting anything.

 

If you're going fast enough the pressure in the trans can prevent it from going into reverse. I still wouldn't recommend trying it.

 

I don't know if the computer controls the shift, or if it's a linkage to control the max shifting position in the transmission like an older 700r4... don't know. However, if you could 'force' it to go into reverse, it would seem to me like there would be some massive amounts of force at work particularly at the torque converter that would shread it apart internally. Though, as someone said they did it to no ill effect, it'd lead me to believe it's probably computer controlled to prevent this...

Still, why would you even attempt this?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hakNxO5pME4

 

I was going probably 30-40mph. I only made it to reverse. Thankfully I was able to pull over to the side, get back into neutral and restart her. I was sweating bullets when it happened though. It was back in high school and I thought my dad was going to kill me.

 

why did he do that?

 

My 1964 Plymouth will not be damaged if you shift into R while driving at any speed. The transmission will not permit engagement of reverse until the vehicle speed is less than 5mph. This was a feature programmed into the hydraulic circuits.

Flipping the "Park" lever down might have done some minor damage, but it was not something you would likely do by accident. I had a near-total brake failure in a 1967 Dodge that I 'solved' by throwing it into park -- it was that or run into the girl in front of me. It just sort of made a "ping ping ping" noise as the parking pawl overrode the engagement gear and didn't do much to stop me...I stopped with inches to spare and the brake pedal on the floor with me standing on it.

 

interesting..

 

Well I have a story of my own, when i first bought the taco, i used to drive a stick car, so one time, i was i dont know around 30-50 km/h I accidentally put the truck in reverse, then the stick just started to make a noise, I didnt feel like the reverse engaged and I switched quickly back to D......

 

By accident when to trying to get something in the glove box.

 

Back in 1980, I was driving my moms Ford station wagon somewhere, and I got into the habbit of putting the trans in neutral wen going down hill to save gas. Hey, I was in HS and didn't have much $ for gas. Anyway, I accidently shifted it into reverse. It DID shift into reverse, causing the rear wheels to instantly stop rotating and bringing the car to a screaching hault from about 65 mph. It scared the living crap out of me. I thought I had dumped the trans right there on the road. After changing my diaper, I restarted the car, put it in drive, and drove it home. No damage at all. Never said anything about it to the parents. The was the last time I ever did the neutral shift thing.

 

I just watched it. Thanks for the video.