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Park While Driving Under 5mph

by roomatmoose, June 10, 2009



Hey everyone,

I have a 2007 Corolla LE. Yesterday I was driving out of a downhill driveway and something was in the way of my brake pedal so I wasn't able to press it at all. Freaking out that I wouldn't be able to stop the car, I threw it into park to stop it (it's an automatic). Not only did that not stop it, but it started making a really bad clicking noise. Finally a few seconds later I realize to pull the e-brake and the car comes to a stop. The car was in park no more than 5 seconds and at that point probably was going at 5mph. After the car stopped there was a pretty bad gas/rubber smell, I'm wondering if the noise the whole way down means something is broken? I've driven the car for the past day and everything seems fine with the transmission and I tried parking on a hill without the e-brake and the parking pawl still works fine. Did the computer system stop the parking pawl from being fully engaged cause I was moving too fast? Do you think I broke something or should have it looked at? Thanks for helping me out, I really appreciate it.

Hey everyone,

I have a 2007 Corolla LE. Yesterday I was driving out of a downhill driveway and something was in the way of my brake pedal so I wasn't able to press it at all. Freaking out that I wouldn't be able to stop the car, I threw it into park to stop it (it's an automatic). Not only did that not stop it, but it started making a really bad clicking noise. Finally a few seconds later I realize to pull the e-brake and the car comes to a stop. The car was in park no more than 5 seconds and at that point probably was going at 5mph. After the car stopped there was a pretty bad gas/rubber smell, I'm wondering if the noise the whole way down means something is broken? I've driven the car for the past day and everything seems fine with the transmission and I tried parking on a hill without the e-brake and the parking pawl still works fine. Did the computer system stop the parking pawl from being fully engaged cause I was moving too fast? Do you think I broke something or should have it looked at? Thanks for helping me out, I really appreciate it.

The smell was from the friction of the parking brake. That clicking is a safety feature that prevents the trans from engaging park or reverse while in motion. No damage done but just make sure to keep the brake pedal clear of obstructions so that doesnt happen again.

On the TV show "Mythbusters" (The Discovery Channel) they did an episode when one of the "myths" was that an automobile with an automatic transmission can be trashed by placing the gear selector in Park while the car is moving. They used a fairly late-model Ford Crown Victoria for the test, and at various speeds, they shifted into Park. The transmission didn't go into park, and the car kept moving. I believe the test speeds went up to 40 MPH.

I will not be trying this on my Corolla, even though I already know what will happen.

I had a mid eighties Oldsmobile station wagon, I did a similar goof. It was my first car and I had bought it used. It was a real POS, the freeze plugs blew out one and had to be replaced, even so it overheated all the time... I eventually pulled the thermostat and it still overheated at times... The water pump had been "Replaced" right before I bought it, or so the mechanic said...

However, One day I was slowing down to a stop to come up to my mailbox when I put it into park.. I was going about 5 mph or so… I heard lots of nasty clicking sounds lust like the OP.

From that point on I no longer had park and the gear selector would not select any of the other 3,2,L gears… To get it into reverse I had to slam down the gear selector all the way into L real hard, and even that was hit or miss… I was glad when I traded that in…

Bikeman982

I believe most cars have a limitation preventing them from being put into "Park" unless it is below a low speed.

Normally putting a car into "Park" at a low speed will not cause any damage, although it is not recommended to do often.

Repeated actions will lead to transmission problems.

The clicking noise was the parking pawl clicking over the teeth that it would normally engage into under normal use. While this isn't a good thing to do, as long as your car still holds in park, you did no permanent damage.



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