Civic stuck in park - what's the deal with this problem?

you know you're supposed to have the brakes on when you try to release it from "park", right?

[the slot is there so the vehicle can be released and rolled or towed, even with a flat battery.]

Um....let's see.....over 20 years now, ever since 60 Minutes manufactured the Audi "problem" so they could sell advertising.

You never, ever noticed this before? You never read your owner's manual? You never wondered "gee, why do I have to put my foot on the brake just so I can pull it out of Park?" You never heard the "click" as you put your foot on the brake, the sound of the trans lock solenoid releasing?

Quote that for us, please.

It's MUCH more likely a problem with the brake pedal switch.

They didn't manufacture the problem. They reported it. And, I think, having the lock is a good idea.

I have never heard the click, myself, when I drive an automatic.

That's true. It can also be a problem with the solenoid, the wiring or operator error.

Jeff

No, they manufactured it.

Such has been demonstrated since, by experts in the field who don't have yellow journalism to deliver.

Your evidence, please.

Those clever little Nip spin-meisters ! They've had everyone fooled for the last 25 years--- selling all those rice burners that fall apart two weeks after the warranty ends and no one but you sees through them!

On that transmission release key slot, that was a specially installed feature on your car only. Ya' see when the salesman entered your order, he ticked the box for "Buyer is a whiney nitwit, " So the guys in the back dropped in a defective tranny with release slot....

On 2/2/2008 6:45 AM Jeff spake these words of knowledge:

I personally owned a 1979 Audi 5000S, and a little later a 1980 Audi

5000S. As a result, I got to know a fair number of other Audi owners and drivers. I never once had a problem, nor did I ever hear of anyone else who had a problem with 'unintended acceleration' outside of the news stories.

This is anecdotal, I understand. But it seemed clear to me that there wasn't any problem with the cars; the problem, if it existed, was with the drivers. It seemed to me.

RFT!!! Dave Kelsen

It may well have been the drivers - probably was. But that is scant consolation when you just crushed your kid to death.

Based on the frequency which this type of accident occurred with the

5000, something was wrong with it. Might have been 100% ergonomic but there was a problem and it wasn't unique to Audi. The shift interlock was a good solution. Cheap, effective and it in no way interferes with normal operation of the car (barring mechanical failure which can occur with any system in the vehicle). Note that unintended acceleration accidents have practically disappeared from the news. How many lives have been saved by the 60 Minutes expose, even if the actual cause was not strictly mechanical?

Some people just like to bitch and moan about how this is idiot-proofing, but as long as we are allowing idiots to drive cars... If this (idiot-proofing) is really such a problem, we should ban automatic transmissions altogether. If you are too stupid, incapacitated or uncoordinated to drive a manual transmission, take the bus.

Be glad you have a Honda with the slot. On a Nissan, you have to remove the entire trim piece around the shifter and then guess at what to prod with a screwdriver to get it to move.

The problem is a stuck shift lock. The cure will either be a simple adjustment of the switch on the brake pedal that releases it or maybe replacement of a part.

Should be quick and easy repair. Has nothing to do with the transmission itself and the warranty should cover it --- unless its "Pepsi Syndrome". You didn't perchance spill a drink in there to gum it up?

Did you ever notice how after the first time someone claimed to find a needle in a can of Pepsi, there were ALL SORTS of other reports about the same thing?

If you look hard enough, and if your journalist's notepad is yellow enough, you can find anything.

Let me go back to my Car and Driver collection and find that.

All this bull crap for a simple question. Check your brake switch as it is probably bad or intermittent.

What else do you expect on the internet???

On 2/2/2008 9:52 AM Gordon McGrew spake these words of knowledge:

I can't really argue with that, Gordon; I can't really see that it's hurt anything, after all. I do note that unintended acceleration accidents were not prevalent in the news for the 70 or so years of driving before the interlock either, except for the brief flurry of Audi stories and lawsuits.

RFT!!! Dave Kelsen

no it wasn't. the only way the engine can rev, outside of the throttle being pressed, is by a malfunction in the idle control system. and a shift interlock does damn-all to address this.

If there was a problem with the car itself, and if many people were having the problem, and if it wasn't solely an Audi problem, then the potential for the problem is still there.

That is, once the car is out of Park and into a gear, then the car could still accelerate unintendedly.

So they mandate that the car can't go out of Park unless the brake pedal is pressed--and the problem went away completely??

Which tells us that the problem wasn't the car at all, that there is no such thing as unintended acceleration. The problem is and always was idiots not operating the car correctly.

indeed.

unfortunately, this whole sorry episode is symptomatic of the way detroit "competes". when it does so, it's not by addressing product competence, it always does it politically. because it's cheaper. [while that buys time, ultimately, it will be the cancer that kills the us domestic vehicle manufacturing industry.]

red rear turn signals? amber ones cost a little more, so a few bucks invested in lobbying ensures the nhtsa shut up and freeway fatalities caused by signaling confusion are quietly forgotten. suv rollovers? simply lobby for financial relief using inflated costs of product redesign vs. the cost to gdp of killing the wage earners that typically drive them. [and blame a tire manufacturer who's not smart enough to grease palms.] want to nix a spectacular new product that would crush the highly profitable 4wd market [which the japanese were mostly not at that time interested in]? create a product scare about it and threaten recalls! easy.

audi created a sensation in europe with their 4wd quattro. it was a major threat to detroit if sold here. that threat had to be eliminated.

Did you notice how none of those needle-in-the-Pepsi reports involved needles being extracted from peoples' throats? The unintended acceleration reports invariably involve a car smashed into a garage or other unlikely object (and not a few deaths BTW.)

The journalist's job is to dig up dirt. A lot of them end up getting buried as a result. Journalists are as important to freedom and democracy as the military.

The only way for you to hit the windshield is to drive the car into something. Seat belts do damn-all to address this.