The only time I ever did this was in an old Buick I had not too long ago. I accidently put it in R (don't remember why or how) but nothing happened! It is my understanding of the old style, ala GM and Ford, auto trans that, above a certain speed, the reverse gear won't engage. Now, get to a low enough speed and then lots of fun things can happen.

Did your reverse gear actually engage? Did you get weird sounds or smoking tires? If not, I wouldn't worry about it.

But, I would train myself to leave the shift lever alone during panic situations.

Gary

 

nothing happened when i did it. the moment i knew i was in reverse, i put it back to drive right away. i guess you guys are right, no damage is done.

 

Keep the selector in drive in panic stops--NO reason to shift to N----that way it wont happen again.

 

There is NO reason to be putting the car in neutral when braking. I hope no one else does this. If you have enough time to fiddle around with the gears, then you probably have enough time to simply press the brake and let the ABS do its magic.

For the good news: your car is fine. The gears did not engage or else you would have noticed it. Next time, PLEASE keep away from the invisible button shifter.

 

I have a pretty panic braking recently... and for the first time, I felt the "brake assist" also...

an old couple driving an old cadillac decided to just slow down but do not watch nor stop at a stop sign.... just come straight out...
I was driving around 35 mph.... that old man did not even look.... just go its merry way with his 15 mph left turn ignoring the stop sign....

I freaked and slammed on the brake.... when I suddenly slam on it hard, I felt that the brake pedal kind of helped itself in slamming it down.... and ABD engaged briefly...

I managed to stop with some space before reaching that old couple's car... and when they are in the middle of the road, they then saw me.... paniced.... and stopped in the middle of my lane.... (so if I were not able to stop in time... I would have hit the old man right on.... God forbids...)

then the old man mumbles something like I'm the crazy driver.... after like 20 sec of mumbling... then he slowly continues on his turn and move on....

I just left there speechless.....
(even if I go crazy and get off the car and yelled at him...
I don't think he would understand anyways....
also, I don't want to yell at him and he suddenly have a heart attack...
then I'll be in trouble.... anyways... I consider its my bad luck day,
and yet luckily nothing bad happened.... just let it go....)

after this "trail-run"... I do think that brake assist is useful....
I guess when the car sense that you're slamming on the brake hard...
it will help give you a full slam making the braking more effective....

also.... I keep a reminder for myself...
when I'm old enough that I'm getting slow....
I should give up my license and should not be driving....

sorry for the long post....

 

You probably did no damage to the transmission, but even if your car seems to be running well, you might have your rotors and tires looked at when you do your next service. I rather doubt that at the low speeds involved you hurt anything, but a panic stop from 60 or 70 might warp rotors and flat-spot tires.

Shifting your automatic will make no appreciable difference to your braking distance, but the split second required to make that decision and move the shifter could be very expensive.

• First, in a panic stop your brakes are deep into anti-lock territory anyway, THEY will provide a max effort stop, but you have to get on them without delay. Engine torque is really meaningless in a panic stop.
  
  
• Second, your Brake Assist will take over and provide all-out stopping power at all four wheels VERY quickly, but it makes the decision to throw out the anchor based on your sudden lift off the throttle and initial hard brake application - then the Brake Assist takes over and cinches down hard, faster and more positively than humanly possible.
  
  
• Third - your VSC will work with the anti-locks to keep you traveling in the direction your front wheels are pointed, stopping a lurid broadslide and possible rollover - again, shortening your stopping distance.
  
  
• Fourth - The RAF once taught its fighter pilots, "If you know you are going to have a shunt (crash), try to pick something soft and cheap to crash into." If you can't avoid a crash, keep the car pointed at the target. A spin into another car producing a side impact will produce a LOT more injuries than taking one on the front end where you have all those airbags and crumple zones working for you. Your car is toast anyway, it can be replaced. Your little pink body is more delicate and expensive to repair.

 

The RX's transmission is pretty smart, Its not going to let you go into reverse doing 60MPH.

 

Gosh, I hope that those who instinctively do extra things (shift into neutral, for instance) during a panic stop make an effort to stop that stuff. It doesn't help anything, adds to your reaction time, distracts you when you need all your attention on the emergency and creates risk of mechanical damage. Even on a manual transmission, it's not the end of the world if you don't depress the clutch -- you just kill the engine. Better that than kill yourself!

 

[*] Fourth - The RAF once taught its fighter pilots, "If you know you are going to have a shunt (crash), try to pick something soft and cheap to crash into." If you can't avoid a crash, keep the car pointed at the target. A spin into another car producing a side impact will produce a LOT more injuries than taking one on the front end where you have all those airbags and crumple zones working for you. Your car is toast anyway, it can be replaced. Your little pink body is more delicate and expensive to repair.[/LIST][/QUOTE]

This makes sense! Really does. Thanks.

 

On one of the episodes of Myth Busters they tested this very thing. Going 50, or 60 MPH they forced the car into reverse and even park. Nothing happened to to the tranny. The car just keept on rolling. Anyway, it seems like alll modern cars have some sort of safety to prevent this. But, I personally have never tried it myself.

 

bngu1,
You need to take a driver training course for what to do in panic situations. This is not to belittle you, just fact. You should never even think of shifting in to another gear in the situation you described. Both hands on the wheel, mind completely on crash avoidance.

And another thing, when you were driving a stick, you should never have been keeping your hand on the shifter except when actually changing gears, and not have shifted into neutral then, either, in a panic stop. Just push in the clutch, again keeping both hands on the wheel and your mind on crash avoidance. I hope you have learned from some of the comments to your thread.

 

i do not need any driver's course, i've been in many panic situations and had always got out of it. everyone has a different driving habit. i never have my have both my hands on the steering wheel when driving, that's just my driving habit. just because i do certain things in situations like that doesn't mean i'm doing it wrong. i'm sure you all do certain thing that help you in situations like that and that's fine, cause it is your driving habit.

 

The good news is you did no damage. You'd first have to overcome 2 items to cause damage - the first being the electronics that protect the car from going into reverse unless the speed is low enough to do it safely, the second being the actually process of getting the gears (not the shifter ****) into reverse. There is a great example of this done on a TV show called Myth Busters where the forced a car into reverse at high speed to see how quickly it stopped - even using a car over 10 years old the system protected the transmission. Even on a manual car you will find it very hard (next to impossible even at a slower speed) to get the car into reverse (though you will grind trying to do it).

You're safe, but you should get out of the habit of going into N when panic stopping. You need the engines braking power, as well as the engine being available if you suddenly need to accelerate.

James Fabin