It is possible while braking abruptly from around 50mph for a medium sized woman's leather hand bag (half the size of a briefcaase weighing around 8 lbs) placed between the passenger seats toward the rear, to quickly slide forward along the top surface of the console and impact the transmission gear shift lever with sufficient force as to instantly push the shift lever from the drive position all the way into park position. If this seems implausable, try giving the shift lever a slap with you hand (do not try this while moving or with the engine running) and see what happens. The good news is no one was injured. Lesson learned, do not place anything unsecured aft of the shift lever while driving, pets included. Design suggestion...shift should have a button lockout going into reverse.

 

hmmm. The shift has a slotted shift point to go from N to R and then P. Not sure how a pocket book did that then but I guess anything is possible these days.

 

It's slotted, but if the shift is struck slightly from an angle, it will cause the lever to travel along a diagonal path and not get hung up into the slot. I was amazed to say the least.

 

oo dangerous....

 

when i was little i hit the auto stick from d to n on the park way scared the **** out of my mom

 

Things were nuts for a while in this case also. I'm not sure when the push button lockout into reverse etc. was phased out for AT's , but it sure would have helped in this situation. The spring tension on the shift seems way to light.

 

Yea Inoticed this too. I dont understand why theydont force you to hold the brake in order to go into reverse. I know most automatics let you go into neutral w/o pressing the brake but dont most of them require you to be holding the brake to go from drive to reverse? In my Rx8 I can put the car back into park w/o even pressing the brake!

 

Well that would make sense...in this case, we were cut off in traffic by a 4x4 and had to brake hard, however the softsided hand bag came crashing into the shift lever wrapping itself around it and had enough velocity to push the shift forward into park. The speed at that time was about 20 mph. The car went into what appeared to be neutral, engine running etc. but no power, then it was noticed that it was in fact in park, having cleared neutral and reverse along the way. There was a gravel in the bell housing sound. Stopped the car, restarted it and no sounds or problem since. The dealership drained the AT fluid, checked the screen filter, magnetic drain plug, no metal parts or gear fragments. So far so good, but who knows. All this happend in the fast lane of turnpike. I still feel that there is an accident in the making here. It's inconceivable that it can be put into reverse/ park without either some type of lock out button or the brake depressed. Anyrate...I'm treating the shift area with trepedation.

 

Just a thougt..in this case because I was braking hard, it might have be a possibly that this allowed the shift to travel. Not certain, but it still seems odd that it can slip through the gears so easily.

 

There is a shift lock mechanism that only allows you to move out (or into) P with the brake pedal depressed. As you had the brake pedal depressed, the shift lock was disengaged and your remote shifting mechanism (handbag) shifted your AT into P for you. There is no risk of the transmission going into reverse, because unless the vehicle speed is less than a few mph reverse is inhibited.

You didn't risk mechanical damage, but having things that can fly around your vehicle sitting in between the seats is not a good idea. Imagine if that bag flew onto the floor and prevented you from depressing the brake pedal? Scary....

Hope this explained things for you.

 

Thanks Mr M for the feedback and info. Yes...it could have been much worse for sure! In all my years of driving, I was AMAZED at the force in which the handbag flew forward. This is a definate wakeup call for me as far as anything loose in the vehicle...grocerys, etc. Probably a blessing in discuise. I am really hoping that I did no damage to the transmission etc. and probably will never know what the gravel in the bell housing sound was until I shut the car off/restarted, but the dealer checked it out and said all seemed ok. Thanks again.

 

Funny thread...... all items in your vehicle, whether it be a manual or auto, should be securely stowed away anyway whilst the vehicle is in motion.

 

No problem.

There is a park pawl in your transmission, that locks into a gear on one of the transmission shafts. When you stop the gear rotating with the pawl, you stop the shaft rotating, which locks your transmission in P.

The pawl is shaped like a claw, and it slots in between the teeth of the gear when you move the shift lever to P, thus locking it. If the shaft is rotating too fast when you use your automatic shift mechanism (handbag) to shift to P, the pawl cannot engage in between the teeth of the gear, because the spinning gear keeps flicking it out again. This is your noise.

Safe driving...

 

As long as the car kept rolling, there'd be no way it could cause an accident - but I guess some people flip their SUVs when they get a flat tire, so anything is possible.

 

LoL

 

Thats it. I mean a AT is no more dangerous then the MT

 

Yeah that's why they make those doggie car seats... I never understood why people bring their pets with them for car rides. Especially the pickup owners who have the fido in the bed area. Fido is not cargo... he should be considered a passenger and strapped in accordingly. Just cause he has four legs doesn't mean he can stop his own forward momentum any better than someone with only two legs. A cat on the other hand... they're okay to have free range of the passenger cabins... they always land on their feet and besides... they have 9 lives. (just kidding for those who love their feline friends)

 

MrM...that is good news/relief...thanks for the reply...makes complete sense re: the pawl sound. This will never happen again that's for certain.