Archives

I haven't been shifting to neutral while coasting and now I guess I know why.

Today I was on my home from work and coasting toward a stop light in Drive. I started to lose speed and shifted into neutral and actually gained speed as I approached the light. Instead of shifting back to drive as my mind said I should my arm shifted the transmission into Reverse (!@#$5^&). I immediately shifted back to Neutral and then to Drive as quickly as I could, but braced for what I was sure would be coming....a breakdown on the side of the road. That didn't happen....yet. (I hope it doesn't.)

I don't think I'll be shifting to neutral as a coasting technique again any time soon.

Tip: Don't press the shift button.

Modern cars have an interlock that only lets you shift from N to D and back. Pressing the shift button disengages the interlock. If you leave the button alone, you can simply bump the shifter to N and back without worry.

Thanks for the tip, but I am worried that this is going to catch up to me at some point down the road with a hefty repair bill.

Hi Brian:

___A little known "feature" of the FFH is there are a few additional and recoverable Wh's available by shifting to R below 6 mph. Do shift back to N at 0 mph however because if you let off the brake or press the gas, you will be going backwards... And remember your Reverse lights will power up when you go into R whether moving forward, backward or sitting still ;)

___Good Luck

___Wayne

I'm not sure about your vehicle but, the Prius won't allow reverse to engage at any significant forward speed. In some older Chrysler Corp. vehicles, reverse wouldn't engage if you were over 5 mph. I wouldn't make a habit of it but I doubt you did any damage. I would take warthog's advice about the button and continue coasting in neutral.

Like Wayne and Larry said, reverse would have gnashing of gears - maybe teeth.

Hi All:

___The FFH's MG2 immediately transitions to heavy regenerative braking in R when moving forward no matter the speed.

___Good Luck

___Wayne

Thanks for all the information. I feel a lot better now.

I normally drive manual transmission cars. I rented an automatic Yaris in New England this past July, and accidentally shifted it into reverse at least twice during the week I drove it. Nothing happened. No noise, no damage. Both times (actually, I think it was three times), I put it back into neutral and drive again. I continued on down the road each time.

I experimented extensively with this in a number of rental cars from various manufacturers.
In no cases would the computer actually command the transmission to shift to R from N or D at road speeds.
One GM vehicle, a compact sedan, was willing to to a D to R shift at 7 MPH. All other vehicles tested refused this shift above 3 MPH.
Still wanna' buy a used rental?

The "Myth Busters" did a segment on shifting to reverse with an auto trans for an emergency stop and even in the old clunkers they used the cars would not go into reverse at normal forward speeds.

That was one of the major things I noticed about the FFH-aka-Milan
at HF'09: the shifter gate/interlock is, well, nonexistent where
reverse is concerned. The vast majority of cars make you do
something different -- push a button, move sideways in some
fashion -- to get from neutral to reverse. Precisely to STOP
such overshoot errors from happening, and make the driver have
to genuinely want to shift to R. Why, I fruitlessly asked, does
the FFH just let you gaily sail over N and land in R unless
you're really careful about how far you move your arm? Which
is often difficult on a bumpy road...
.
This has to be one of the most braindead things about that car.
.
_H*

I may be overly senstive to the accidental shift to neutral due to an experience I had about 20 years ago driving my parents full size Chevy van.

It was dark and I was driving on unfamilar roads looking for a house I'd only been too once before in the daylight and never in the dark. I was 30 minutes late getting there and finally found the gravel road to turn onto. I shifted into reverse while still coming to a stop from about 40 mph. Several clunks and clinks later I had limited ability to drive forward or backward.

Mechanical diagnosis? Planetary gear damage. So I know from first hand experience that it is possible to do significant transmission damage in older vehicles by shifting into reverse at speeds in the neighborhood of 25-30 mph.

After 1/2 mile of walking in the dark and in the ditch, a pick up truck stopped to greet me. The passenger was pointing a 12 gauge pump at me and asked me why I was walking around in the dark at this time of night. You see...to get the vehicle off the road I parked it in an entrance to a cattle pasture. I walked up to the house, but it was an elderly couple and they did not answer the door. However, they did call their son and daughter in law who came to "greet me". It all worked out. They knew the people I was trying to find and took me to their house, but for about 30 seconds or so, my minor transmission problem got real exciting.

Hi Brian

By accident I've shifted my '05 and '09 FEH into reverse many times at 30 - 60mph and it seems just like neutral with no damage. I even shifted into Park once with no reaction with the parking paw. The computer or TCM will not let you go into reverse which is a state of MG2 turning in the opposite direction. My '09 requires me to press the release button to shift out of "D" to neutral but the '05 does not. Once I press the release button it's easy to go passed neutral to Park. There is no direct linkage between the gears and the shifter so relax. In fact, I shift so much my right hand stays on the shifter most of the time. Shifting between the gears has brought my lifetime mileage average above 50mpg when I finish this present record tank between 56 - 57mpg. Don't let shifting scare you like it did in that Chevy.

GaryG

Thanks Gary.

I assume it did not do any damage because the vehicle is still driving fine. I was just looking for some reassurance and several on the forum have provided it.

Thanks everyone.