danger caused by passenger BE AWARE

[duetto]

today my front pasenger had some shopping on her lap and accidently knocked the gear stick and it shot into neutral while I was driving the vechicle immediatly lost all power, I was in a quiet country lane and was able to flick back into drive. could have been very dangerous at faster speed in busy roads. I was only doing about 30mph in an empty road.

 

[jaapv]

Yes it has been discussed regularly. A well known quirk. On LHD vehicles it is the driver's knee.

 

[rkde]

You can do the same in both my past automatics and a passenger did put my last car into reverse while I was driving...

 

[MHS]

today my front pasenger had some shopping on her lap and accidently knocked the gear stick and it shot into neutral while I was driving the vechicle immediatly lost all power, I was in a quiet country lane and was able to flick back into drive. could have been very dangerous at faster speed in busy roads. I was only doing about 30mph in an empty road.

I'm not sure you should be driving the car if your front seat passenger has so much shopping on their lap, that they can't hold onto it. In an accident that same shopping could be what kills you.

 

[Regulo]

You can do the same in both my past automatics and a passenger did put my last car into reverse while I was driving...

How so? All my automatics had a detent to press to move from N to R. Unless your passenger was a small inquisitive person!

 

[jaapv]

Err... this is about shifting from D to N.
On the PHEV it is only possible to shift between D and R at very low speeds.

 

[rkde]

You can do the same in both my past automatics and a passenger did put my last car into reverse while I was driving...

How so? All my automatics had a detent to press to move from N to R. Unless your passenger was a small inquisitive person!

My last E90 BMW and MG ZTT only had a detent button to come out of park. So it is just a push to change and nothing else

 

[Regulo]

You can do the same in both my past automatics and a passenger did put my last car into reverse while I was driving...

Sorry, Jaapv, I was replying to rkde. Should have made that clear. Edit: Now seen rkde's reply. Always thought it was impossible. Now I know!!!!

 

[KillerBob]

I had this crap car when living in the US, a Chevy Nova, and in it I have (by accident) flipped it into R whilst going forward at street speeds. Luckily enough it was on pure ice (I was living in Alaska at the time), and no serious damage was inflicted on the gearbox. Sounded funny though for a few minutes

 

[greendwarf]

Why is putting the car into neutral at speed "dangerous" - surely you just coast (rather like lifting off in B0) Of course, if you're one of these strange people who drive everywhere in B5 then you might be alarmed by the deceleration :lol: but "dangerous" :?:

BTW I seem to remember from the manual that some "gear" changes are impossible - like Drive to Reverse, you just get one of those "annoying" beeps.

 

[anko]

If you notice that you keep slowing down but do not understand why, you may not be able to resolve the situation and end up going very slow or even stopped at a motorway. I would call that effect dangerous :shock:

Btw: does B5 still have effect, when the car is in Neutral?

 

[TerryB]

Surely, as a driver 'In Charge' of your vehicle, you are responsible for everything that happens in your vehicle therefore you must educate your passengers to keep away from buttons, levers and switches.

Simple as that really.

 

[MHS]

If you notice that you keep slowing down but do not understand why, you may not be able to resolve the situation and end up going very slow or even stopped at a motorway. I would call that effect dangerous :shock:

Btw: does B5 still have effect, when the car is in Neutral?

Yes, but no more dangerous than knocking any automatic car's box into neutral.

 

[anko]

Indeed. I don't think / didn't say the car is necessarily dangerous. I think it would be dangerous if the driver didn't know how to resolve the situation :mrgreen: