What would happen if the gear accidentally puts in reverse on the forward motion?

[leon16]

I try to save on some gas.
As you see, the gas price here in S. Korea is like US$7 per gallon!

When I'm on considerable downhill or long traffic stop, I put the gear in neutral.
Sometimes, I worry I would push the lever too hard and accidentally put it in reverse instead of N.
If that happens what would be harms on the car?

Also, the Explorer maintains cruising RPM when it's cruising downhill with gear N.
My other cars drop to near the ideal RPM.

 

[NEWPORTNJ]

Bye bye transmission..!

 

[blwnsmoke]

Not only bye bye transmission, but you actually use MORE gas with it idling then if it was in gear going down hill with your foot off the gas pedal. When you are coasting downhill, the transmission is what is keeping the engine going, not the gas.

 

[peterk9]

Not sure about new vehicles but in my 1964 Caddy the engine would shut off. It happened once, inadvertently, when I was reaching for something and my arm threw the gear selector into reverse. There was no damage at all.

Peter

 

[Odrapnew]

Mythbusters did a test a few years back(can’t remember the vehicle, small sedan of some sort), but the car just shut off and no damage. My buddy did the same thing to his late 80’s Nissan 300zx and it also just shut off. I’m sure with these new(er) electronically controlled transmissions, there some sort of “fail safe” for that situation.

Also, someone verify as I do not have my vehicle yet, but do you need to press the release lever to get it to shift from neutral to reverse? My old 80’s Camaro wouldn’t shift into reverse(going from park or from neutral) without pressing the button on the shifter. You could pop it from drive to neutral(and vice versa) without pressing the button, but it had a hard stop if you tried to push it into reverse without pressing the button.

Also(also), as others have said, keeping it in drive is likely better on gas mileage. The computer will actually shut of fuel to the engine under long, closed throttle situations with the transmission in drive. If you put it in neutral, the engine needs to use fuel to keep running. I have verified this on my wife’s CX-9(not Explorer, but same concept). On our way home from the in-laws, there’s about a 3 mile downhill section that the engine shuts off the fuel almost all the way down with it in drive. This is verified by the “instant fuel mileage” readout reading 99.9mpg, although if it was 100mpg, it would still read 99.9, but again assumed that the fuel is shut off.

 

[peterk9]

Mythbusters did a test a few years back(can’t remember the vehicle, small sedan of some sort), but the car just shut off and no damage. My buddy did the same thing to his late 80’s Nissan 300zx and it also just shut off. I’m sure with these new(er) electronically controlled transmissions, there some sort of “fail safe” for that situation.

Also, someone verify as I do not have my vehicle yet, but do you need to press the release lever to get it to shift from neutral to reverse? My old 80’s Camaro wouldn’t shift into reverse(going from park or from neutral) without pressing the button on the shifter. You could pop it from drive to neutral(and vice versa) without pressing the button, but it had a hard stop if you tried to push it into reverse without pressing the button.

Also(also), as others have said, keeping it in drive is likely better on gas mileage. The computer will actually shut of fuel to the engine under long, closed throttle situations with the transmission in drive. If you put it in neutral, the engine needs to use fuel to keep running. I have verified this on my wife’s CX-9(not Explorer, but same concept). On our way home from the in-laws, there’s about a 3 mile downhill section that the engine shuts off the fuel almost all the way down with it in drive. This is verified by the “instant fuel mileage” readout reading 99.9mpg, although if it was 100mpg, it would still read 99.9, but again assumed that the fuel is shut off.

Yes, you need to press the button on the shifter to go from 'N' to 'R'.
The other feature that shuts off the gas supply is referred to as the Aggressive Deceleration Fuel Shut-Off (ADFSO)
Here is a copy of a post I submitted in another thread some time ago on a couple of features in the new Explorer;

1. Aggressive Deceleration Fuel Shut-Off (ADFSO) to maximize fuel efficiency.
Temporarily interrupts fuel delivery and consumption when slowing down while maintaining normal engine operation. The system uses the transmission to keep the engine running at a more efficient level when possible. Normal delivery resumes when vehicle reaches low speed or upon acceleration.
2. Smart Charging Alternator.
A regenerative electrical charging system that charges the battery in place of the alternator anytime the engine is running. It increases alternator output under braking or deceleration by converting the kinetic energy into electrical energy.
__________________
Peter

 

[corpflyboy]

Engine quits, tranny stays in neutral. How do I know? I live in rental cars. Never give flyboys a new rental car, or any rental car for that matter. Never did it with my Sport, but we have in a limited model.

Btw I dont think putting a car in neutral on a steep grade is wise. My .02

You can save your .02 on my driving habits with rentals

Buzz

 

[1995E]

I've been putting my Explorer in neutral every time I go down a hill because I just hate how my speed decreases despite going down. Although, to your question about putting your car in reverse while moving forward. Since we have torque converters to compensate for the difference between the engine's speed to the speed of the transmission, I would assume the torque converter would help absorb all that and it would just probably stall the engine. I would think the damage would be much more significant with a manual transmission which Explorer's don't have. Either way, it's not good to throw a reverse in while you're moving forward at high speed.

 

[Bobmbx]

Leave it in Drive (D) and forget about it.

 

[pingbling23]

Engine quits, tranny stays in neutral. How do I know? I live in rental cars. Never give flyboys a new rental car, or any rental car for that matter. Never did it with my Sport, but we have in a limited model.

Btw I dont think putting a car in neutral on a steep grade is wise. My .02

You can save your .02 on my driving habits with rentals

Buzz

Ah, so youre the reason rental cars are so high these days.

 

[corpflyboy]

Ah, so youre the reason rental cars are so high these days.

These days?

Any day.

 

[corpflyboy]

Leave it in Drive (D) and forget about it.

+1

What Bob says.

 

[GroundPilot]

While an old thread I figured I would assist anyone looking again in the future to calm there nerves in case they do this....like I did this week.

"The safest bet is to just not do it," said Craig Renneker, Ford's Chief Engineer for transmission programs. As a way of protecting us from ourselves, automakers design a function called Reverse Inhibit into transmissions to prevent inadvertent selection of reverse. "Putting it into reverse [in modern cars] when going forward has no action at all, the car just ignores the request until you get down to a proper speed," said Renneker, using Ford's six-speed automatics as an example; "It'll just say 'hey, I know you want reverse pal, but I'm just not going to give it to you until the appropriate time.'"

Link - http://autos.aol.com/article/reverse-transmission/

 

[1995E]

None of the Ford vehicles I have driven offer an easy push to neutral option with the shifter. Various vehicles I have driven from Volkswagons, Toyotas, and even Chevy's have this feature which I find very nice and very convenient, especially in a panic situation where your engine won't stop revving or something.

 

[alexk]

I've accidentally done it at a low speed before, car jerked made a noise and went back to business as usual (I'm talking about going like 5mph here) never had a problem with the trans after that.