2014 Honda CR-V slipped out of park

My 2014 Honda CR-V is slipping out of park on 2 recent occasions. I was parked on an incline facing uphill, once on my driveway and once in a parking lot. After about 10 to 15 minutes, the car started rolling backwards as if it had switched into neutral. Both times I was standing just a few feet away when it happened. The dealership has insisted there is nothing wrong, and I need to get this addressed before my warranty runs out.

Two possibilities come to mind. First, the linkage may need to be adjusted, meaning the vehicle isn’t completely in Park. The second is that the parking pawl is worn or broken and not catching properly. The first is a relatively cheap fix, the second isn’t. You can minimize both the possibility of your vehicle rolling and of damage to the transmission by using the parking brake and making sure it’s adjusted properly. If you don’t use the parking brake on a regular basis any damage to the transmission will be self inflicted.

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Why aren’t you using your parking brake on an incline? That’s negligent, to be honest.

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Possibility, but then I am negligent also as I do not use a parking brake with an auto trans car, 50 years no problem. I realize I probably should just to keep it operational, but I don’t. Probably in the majority.

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You might be in the majority, but that doesn’t necessarily equate to being correct.
:wink:

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The only time that I don’t use the parking brake is when my car is parked in my perfectly-level garage.
At all other times, I use the parking brake.

After seeing the effect of the park pawl failure on my aunt’s '70s era Ford, I have been very careful to use the parking brake.

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IIRC, you live in Wisconsin. That’s a pretty flat state. There’s only about 500 feet difference between the lowest and highest point.

We don’t know yet whether the OP uses the parking brake or not, but he certainly should. There were a couple accidents at my old employer. The cars rolled away and ended up on someone else’s bumper. The lot was flat and had just enough slope to remove water. Had those people used their parking brake, the cars would not have rolled.

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We know the OP’s vehicle rolled while in Park. This at least implies the parking brake wasn’t being used. It’s possible the parking brake isn’t working but that would be a secondary problem.

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No it doesn’t. At least on of the regulars here said he never uses the parking brake when he puts the transmission in park.

I have no idea why the dealership would say there is nothing wrong. This is very dangerous. Either the transmission linkage is out of whack or the parking pawl and/or output shaft inside the transmission is damaged. Hopefully not the latter as that would be $$$$ to fix.

Regarding parking brakes, I think it’s safe to say that a number of them only halfaxx work with a smaller number being near totally inoperative.

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The OP said his vehicle rolled while in Park. If a properly functioning parking brake had been in use the vehicle would be less likely to roll. My driveway is sloped and my Corolla won’t roll in Neutral with the parking brake set.

The vehicle rolled away twice and no damage? I would like to know how far the vehicle moved.

As far as poorly functioning parking brakes, when I get this complaint I set the parking brake while traveling 5 MPH in the parking lot, if the rear wheels lock with the pedal/lever in the normal operating range, no problem found. 98% of the time the driver sets the brake with insufficient force.

Yeah I think try another dealer to make sure the linkage is adjusted and the pawl is not damaged.

That just reminded me though, when I was a kid we had a neighbor, maybe 75+ at the time, but always followed all laws to the T. Kinda Mr. perfect. He came over one afternoon to talk to my mom just distraught and very upset. He had been downtown and gotten a 50 cent parking ticket. He just couldn’t live with himself for the shameful violation. My mom gave him coffee and cookies and reassured him that it could happen to anyone. I’m sure there are special rooms in heaven for those that read and follow all instructions.

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I do have an idea. The OP only thought/imagined they put it in “park”. So when the dealer tried to duplicate the problem “park” it worked fine. If the parking pawl was broken it would not magically repair itself for the dealer, would it? And yes, if a functioning “parking brake” would have been applied, we wouldn’t even be talking about this.

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Some may remember about 20 or more years ago when some Fords (Crown Vics???) had a problem with the parking pawl. Sometimes cars were left idling, no working park brake applied, and the trans would dro into reverse and off it would go.

I seem to remember several of them made the news videos by circling backwards until they hit something.

It continues…

Yup!
My late aunt had one of them, and after her Crown Vic took a jaunt in reverse, she learned to always use the parking brake.

The GM Hydramatic back in the 1940s through the mid 1950s did not have a “Park” position, just “Neutral”, “Drive”, “Low”, and “Reverse”. When parked, the driver was to leave the car in “Reverse”. Somehow, this kept the car from rolling. However, it was best to use the parking brake.
With manual transmission cars, we always put the transmission in “Reverse” , as it had the highest ratio of any gear in the transmission. In freezing weather, the parking brake could cause the shoes to freeze to the drums except on Chrysler products. On these cars, the parking brake was on the driveshaft. My 1950 Chevrolet one ton pickup had this type of parking brake.

Even nowadays . . . some of the Allison heavy duty automatic transmissions don’t have a “park” position

If I remember right the 1955 pontiac was like you said the then the 1956 was as we know it today with P R N D L.

I also have an idea. Years ago we had a used transmission installed in a Pontiac Sunbird. When I tried to put the car back in Park it wouldn’t go, the linkage wasn’t adjusted correctly. I returned to the shop and told the owner about the problem. He got in the car and rammed it into Park with a lot more force than I would ever use and said, “Seems fine to me.” Then he showed me how to adjust the linkage and told me to do it myself if I wasn’t happy, which I did. The dealership’s service guy may have used a similar approach.