Dear Cartalk, I have a 2012 Infiniti G37 with 120K miles. He is a very nice car indeed and I love him. Recently I was on interstate doing about 65 and realized I had no acceleration. I quickly realized my little dog had knocked the shifter to neutral. In my haste to get car into drive, I put it in reverse, then quickly into drive while listening for transmission to fall out of car. When it didn’t, I figured, fine but I’ll start having problems now. So far, no problems. Is my car smart enough to know I didn’t mean to put it in reverse at 65 mph? Thanks!
Did you feel a big thump/bump/shaking/anything when you shifted to reverse? If not you’re probably fine.
+1 to Texases’ comment.
Many/most automatic transmissions will throw themselves into neutral if you attempt to shift to reverse at highway speeds. I don’t know for sure if that applies to the OP’s model, but if no noises/bumps/shaking were encountered, then there was probably no damage done.
Pretty much any electronically controlled automatic made in the last 25+ years will not allow Park or Reverse to engage if the vehicle is travelling at normal highway speeds (or speeds greater than say 25 MPH). You’re fine.
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It is most likely fine , you were protected by a smart transmission . It is all electronic now and not a physical shift cable to the transmission which in case that happened on a old transmission you would be watching it bounce down the road in your rear view mirror , LOL
Not necessarily!
As far back as the '60s, Chrysler’s Torqueflite transmissions would throw themselves into neutral if the driver shifted to reverse at highway speeds.
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Have 100% done this. Your car was super smart and knew better. Mine was not so… here’s what actually happens…
There is a smaller thump than you would think, the engine stalls, you think the whole car is going to be garbage and your parents are going to slowly strangle the life out of you. You pull over, say a small prayer, and maybe even an offering to the other side if necessary, and turn the car on. It runs fine but you know you are doomed and everything is going to go wrong soon, and you will be found out, and then slowly strangled. Car goes on to run another 120k miles before it is finally traded in. XD 'course that was on a Toyota.
Kyle , not everyone knows what ( XD ) stands for .
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Exactly how I felt! Except no parents to foot the bill.