Quote:
Originally Posted by MetroMPG
Nobody should be accidentally shifting into reverse in an automatic car!
The shifter is designed to prevent it in every car I've driven: you don't need to press the button to move between drive and neutral. You just push the selector forward.
But you do need to press it to get to reverse from N (or out of P). So... you shouldn't be pressing the button when the car's moving.
Even the old column mounted shifters were designed to permit going to neutral safely: by pushing the lever away from you and upward (rather than pulling - the normal column motion), the neutral detent will stop it.
One partial exception I know of: VW used to require you to press the button to get out of N back into drive; not sure if they've changed that. And some other vehicles may not have a detent at D when coming out of N; they may slip past it to D3 or below.
You need to know how your car works before trying this stuff on the road!
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My thoughts exactly, you beat me to it. Mine you gotta push the button to get in and out of park, and in and out of reverse. And to go into 2 and 1, but not out. The Celeb has a floor shift, which makes things easier. The column shift in the van and wagon are a bit awkward but can be done.
I've shifted into reverse once accidentally when I was learning the stick with our old 85 Cherokee, 4 cyl, 4 speed, absolute cheapest model they made that year. It was going downhill on a gravel road, didn't hurt anything, the back wheels just started skidding for a few seconds till I realized what was going on.