Shifted Into Park At 30mph

[bugtumi]

Hi, while cruising along the highway, while moving my sports bag from the back to the front seat, I accidentally slammed the gear lever into PARK.

It came to a gradual stop as if I was using firm braking (but I didn;t use my brakes as I was dumbfounded).

No lock up or juddering.

The IS250 still drives, still PARKS, still accelerates normally, no strange noises or smells.

Should I be taking any maintenance action?

IS this a design feature from Toyota Corp ie the ability to have the Gearbox go into park at high speed with no damage....perhaps to act as a backup emergency brake...?

[Lexus300Stock]

Hi, while cruising along the highway, while moving my sports bag from the back to the front seat, I accidentally slammed the gear lever into PARK.

first time i ever heard this.. im sorry to say, but that was the stupidest thing to do ever! WTF..LOL :o :o

[eatingupblacktop]

Hi, while cruising along the highway, while moving my sports bag from the back to the front seat, I accidentally slammed the gear lever into PARK.

I didn't know you could do that. Unless there's a new tranny I haven't heard of, I'd be checking for filings in your fluid.

[jcrome04]

I've heard of someone doing that to a 90's Dodge Pickup on the highway at 60mph.

They never had any problems after that, It just came to a VERY abrupt stop :D haha

So I'd think if a Dodge truck was fine a Lexus would be more than ok.

Just don't make a habbit of doing it!

[Grumpa72]

It is my understanding that the transmission won't actually go into Park above a certain speed. This is to preclude someone from accidently grenading their transmission. I did this once in a Buick and all I got was a clicking sound until I pulled it out of P and back into D. If your transmission shifts smoothly and makes no other noise, I wouldn't worry about it. I might consider a transmission fluid flush if you want peace of mind.

[jcrome04]

True, also they did this on Mythbusters with a manual and automatic transmission. (Shoved it into "R" while driving)

The manual just physically would not go into reverse, and the Auto just rolled to a stop

[smooth1]

Well, the reason you didn't detonate your transmission is because the parking gear is not an instant lock gear. It has tapered edges on each side of the tooth. Otherwise if you put the car in park on a hill, the weight of the car would make it very difficult to put in or out of park.

This is a picture of a parking gear that is connected to the drive shaft:

And here is a picture of the housing that it spins in:

Notice the tapperd edges.

And here is the mechanism that engages and disengages the gear:

Notice the spring loaded lever? the notches on the parking gear have to line up with the parking tooth, in order for it actually lock park in. that's why sometimes the car moves a few inches after putting it in park, as the spring loaded lever creates pressure and lets the gear roll until the tooth hits home. the reason you were ok is that the spring loaded lever just put pressure on the tooth, which created pressure on the gear and the tooth couldn't reach the bottom so it slowed you down from that friction. Once the car got slow enouph, the tooth finally hit home and stopped the car.

It sounds like you got lucky and didn't snap that tooth off. Or damage the driveshaft or joints. You may consider taking it in and just having them inspect the drive train, but in all likely hood, you should be ok. If you ever loose park though, I think it meant you have have cracked the tooth, and while it is fine now, may later snap off. Make sure you use the parking brake on hills from now on, or until you have that verified that the tooth and parking gear are both ok.

[smooth1]

Oh and btw, I wouldn't do that again!!!

[jcrome04]

I always use my e-brake when I park on a hill... Or anywhere kind of sloped. I hate that "CHUNK" when you try to shift it out of Park. :(