If your car had the safety feature then nothing would have happened when you shifted into park.
Did something happen when you shifted through reverse and then into park?
Answer that question and you answer your own question.
Demo_beta it kinda went forward hard and then went back. Should a 2003 sunfire have this safety feature? Answer that question and then answer mine. You guys are the mechanics. Not me… 2003 sunfire, look up the safety feature that it comes with because i PERSONALLY don’t know what you are talking about. Then i have an answer.
The major harm potentials that I could see with something like this is:
A. Scrubbing some flat spots on a couple of tires.
B. Damaging the differential gears inside the transmission.
C. Damaging the parking pawl, output shaft, etc inside the transmission.
D. Cracking the transmission case around the parking pawl.
As to the noise, that could be coincidental. Otherwise, it’s difficult to say without hearing it, etc.
Slightly related topic I suppose, but many years ago I was with a friend who was driving his girlfriend’s '67 RS Camaro. For giggles he ran it up to 45 MPH and slammed it into PARK; twice.
No harm, no foul but there were some very substantial tire marks after the tire smoke blew away.
In a panic stop situation involving brake failure going for PARK is an acceptable alternative.
And I don’t condone this practice; even when my buddy did it. The risk of fracturing a transmission case (meaning it’s scrap metal then) is too great.
There is no safety feature in your transmission to prevent damage if shifting into park at speed. There may be internal damage, there may not. The only way to tell for sure will be to open it up and inspect.
The noise you describe hearing while braking in reverse sounds to me like a brake wear indicator, but it’s hard to tell without hearing it.
I am unable to determine from your description whether the speedometer is slow to react 45 to 55, or whether the car is slow to accelerate 45 to 55. Either one sounds like a transmission related problem though.
“Today i was driving and was going about 10-15mph,i didn’t feel like braking, i threw it in park.”
This is a stupid thing to do. I think stupidity should be expensive. Whether it is or not in this case remains to be seen.
“I hope you’re not a mechanic because you’re probably bad and rude to your customers.”
Well I am a mechanic but from what you’ve said I don’t think you’d ever be a customer here. I wouldn’t take in a car for service or repair that gets treated like yours. Sometimes you can fix the car but not fix the customer. I’d advise you that we’re not the right shop for you.
According to ok4450 he is stating it is unlikely there is damage as his friend did it at a way higher speed with an older car TWICE and it was still okay. I’m going to assume all the people saying i ruined my transmission are most likely saying this as only a slight possibility. I mean what happens when you get into an accident? You stop abruptly IN GEAR. Often times cars just need outer repairs after an accident and STILL not transmission.
I’m not really saying that damage is unlikely; only that it’s a possibility. The Camaro that my buddy pulled that stunt in was not damaged but whose to say that if he did it again the next day or some guy across town did it with his car that the transmission would not be wiped out.
That particular transmission was a TH350; a tough one.
As I said, the risk is too great and I’m not a gambling man at all other than a beer over a game of billiards… 
I do agree with asemaster’s comment about the 45 to 55 part of this problem. Just posing some food for thought, but maybe there was a subtle issue before this incident and the mind is focusing more on the transmission now so ergo, it’s now more than subtle and much more noticeable. ???
ok’s buddy did this twice and the transmission still worked afterward. Does that mean that there was no transmission damage? Not at all. Just that there was no damage outwardly evident at that time. What about 3 months later? I’ve smoked cigarettes for 30 years and there appears to be no damage from it. Does that mean that there isn’t any?
Getting into an accident and having the car stop while still in drive is nothing at all like purposely slamming it into park while driving. In my opinion you should just keep driving the car. The cost to repair, rebuild, or replace the transmission will likely exceed the value of the car.
The car is 3k (value)almost on the dot. Transmission would probably cost 1.5k right? maybe a bit more or less. Look my question is this and no one has really “answered” it yet. How LIKELY is it with this SPECIFIC car (2003 PONTIAC SUNFIRE) that my transmission is RUINED from putting it into park at 10-15mph.
Also someone said my transmission has no safety feature. How do you know my transmission on this specific car has NO safety feature at all?
Lastly, what should i do about the problem with the speedometer (or the one i’m percieving) because if i just “continue driving” i won’t know my speed. What COULD this be, or what could this POSSIBLY be that is not too expensive/ easy to fix that is causing a LAGGING speedometer.
I decided to take the car for another run (after this happened i wasn’t paying to how it drove, so i drove it today paying attention to how it drives.) here’s what i saw:
Car kinda makes a “rump” noise when i brake (it literally sounds like saying the word rump fast and in a deep voice). I checked to see if there was problems switching gears. It switched through every gear without any noises. I parked on a hill to see if the parking pawl(i believe its called that) was destroyed from this. I was told that can be destroyed easily from what i did…(correct?) and it is able to be put in park on a steep hill without crawling backwards.
The only thing i noticed (which might’ve been there before) is steering is slightly stiff. Not too bad but it is there and a bit noticeable. Could this have been caused from what i did?(put it in park going 10-15mph)I’m GUESSING most likely steering is different from any issues that i did could’ve caused from this incident( steering is not controlled by transmission which is the main thing this could’ve affected)
Next time…use your emergency/parking brake.
bump
You would expect that the ability to compensate for such moves coincides with the incidents of texting. After all, many would do “dumb things” when their attention was taken away from their driving. Therefore, since texting was not as big an issue in 2003, your mechanism was not as fool proof. You can’t expect manufacturers to think of everything…like intentionally trying to destroy your transmission. Next time, just find a soft tree or brush if you don’t " feel like " using your brakes. Sorry for not being more understanding but most of us were born in a different era.
The other thought that comes to mind is, possibly the poor schools you might have attended that did not insist students develop reading comprehension that would allow them to understand the owners manual. So, I would blame public schools !
Chances are that PARK will soon fail to operate correctly. The park sprag and pawl can withstand a great deal of pressure once the pawl is fully engaged but throwing the pawl into a rotating sprag can result in damage to several components. There is a good chance that PARK might fail to hold the car, allowing the car to roll away on an incline. There is also the chance that the pawl is damaged and at some point could drop into the sprag while driving. In fact, the suspicious noises are likely caused by misalignment of the pawl or even pieces of the pawl mechanism dragging against the output.
Mistakes can be costly.
While I am a bit skeptical about the legitimacy of the OP’s question, my suggestion is to take the car to an independent transmission shop for evaluation. From afar, all that anybody can do is to guess…about both the condition of the car and about the OP’s thought process.
Even if we reassure the OP that no harm will befall his car from this stunt, if we are wrong, then he stands a significant chance of being stranded–at an inconvenient time, in an inconvenient place. It would be far better to spend some money on an evaluation of the transmission and to have the fluid changed while it is in the shop because if the fluid has not been changed in the past 3 yrs/30k miles, it is already overdue for that service.
Just be sure that you do NOT go to AAMCO, Lee Myles, Cottman, Mr. Transmission, or any other chain operation because they will tell you that you need a transmission overhaul–whether you really do or not.
Today i was driving and was going about 10-15mph,i didn't feel like braking, i threw it in park.Why "park" just use the next vehicle or object that is in front of you. "Like yo dude sorry I totaled your ride but I just didn't feel like using my brakes I'm like saving them for an emergency or something ya know." Maybe that would get idiots like you off the road for a while.
develop reading comprehension that would allow them to understand the owners manual.You have to actually read the manual to comprehend it, and if the OP even has one I really doubt he ever even considered reading it.
Good morning. I can’t help but notice how sharp the comments have gotten in here. @gabemarshall, welcome to the forum. There are some wonderfully generous, knowledgeable people here who have tried to help you with your question. Sometimes it’s difficult to hear news we don’t want to hear, especially if it could cost us big money and resulted from our own actions. That said, it wasn’t necessary to respond with insults, which were uncharacteristically returned. Let’s try to keep an eye on the problem, so you can best address any damage that occurs, OK? You’ll get good help here if you want it.
I’m sorry but if someone blatantly says
Today i was driving and was going about 10-15mph,i didn't feel like braking, i threw it in park.they deserve whatever they get both from us and the repair shop.
@PvtPublic, I agree with you - I’m not in any way saying you should have sugarcoated the consequences. You all gave him the facts, and I’m sure gabe will have to reckon with the consequences eventually. I only said something because of the name-calling, which I’d be remiss not to address.
If by chance your transmission did engage park while driving and bring the vehicle to a stop without incurring immediate damage then there was a tremendous strain on many other parts of the car, parts not usually involved in suddenly stopping a moving car. Engine and transmission mounts and drive axles are a few. There’s no way anybody here can determine if any wear or damage happened. I suggest you either take your car to a transmission shop and pay the $100 or so for an inspection or just keep driving the car.
Your car must be a cherry one-owner low-miles cream puff to be worth $3000. I doubt the blue book value is above $2000.
While I agree with you, Carolyn, I still suspect that this could be an exercise in trolling.
Normally, when people do something as wrong-headed as throwing the transmission into “Park” while moving, they will attribute it to a mistake made while otherwise occupied in thought, or will somehow criticize themselves for such an obvious error in judgment .
To throw out a statement such as “I didn’t feel like braking” makes me wonder if this is just an attempt to incite people and to troll for negative comments.
Just a thought to ponder…