[Shashank.A]

I tried it...you cannot get into Reverse gear while moving forward...

[eclectix 1st]

Originally Posted by sabret00the

So it turns out that the answer to this question is pretty anticlimatic. If you were to actually try engaging reverse while rolling down the road, the gear that has to slide into place is going to be trying to engage two spinning gears, and one of those gears is rotating rapidly in the wrong direction. What you will hear (and feel in the shift) is a very obnoxious buzzing sound as the teeth gnash against one another.

That very obnoxious buzzing is enough to scare the HELL out of you for a lifetime.

Happened to me once in an Indigo. I thought the engine would blow up or something. scary stuff.

[Rotorhead]

I dont think you will be able to slot it to reverse while in other forward gears, you will hear a horrible grinding sound which will make it doubly sure that you dont go ahead with destroying the transmission setup of ur car.

[abhinav.gupta88]

Wont it like oppose the motion of the car and tend to stop it without heading for the reverse direction.

[linuxtechie]

You have to mighty Hunk (the green one) to do that.

~LT

[adityamunshi]

Nearly happened to me, i accidently shifted to R instead of fourth and the buzzing stopped me from releasing the clutch.

[csentil]

Wonder how it works on an Auto tranny. Thankfully I have P-R-N-D-S, so chances of pushing it to R by mistake is not that easy. But the nutcase inside me what to try it out !!! I think it would create the same problem as the manuals.

[greenhorn]

was coasting to a stop in full clutch for parking, decided to engage reverse in advance.Even though clutch was depressed fully, i heard a gnashing noise.

I cant do it by accident since 5->R is blocked , and it takes a few tries to engage reverse successfully in an indica anyway ( after reading this I think it might be a feature )

[JayD]

Originally Posted by linuxtechie

You have to mighty Hunk (the green one) to do that.

~LT

I think he's called the 'HULK' and not Hunk!!!

[watashi75]

This link explains pictorially the manual transmission system and also why the reverse gear won't engage if the car is moving forward.

Howstuffworks - A Real Transmission

[GTO]

Originally Posted by Shashank.A

I tried it...you cannot get into Reverse gear while moving forward...

I am really curious to know why you tried something like this.

[silver_shadow]

and i have practical experience folks :o

i was tired driving my ikon one day and accidentally while downshifting from 5th to 4th attempted to push it into R! yes you hear the gears shouting back at you and stubbornly WON'T engage!

[sreenivass]

Originally Posted by aah78

don't you just love this website - howstuffworks.com!

i haven't tried shifting a manual-transmission car into reverse while driving forward, as i'm scared of ending up with the gear-lever in my hand and the engine flying out of the engine-bay.
an automatic-transmission car, however, will not go into reverse while moving forward above a certain speed (>5mph). there is some sort of inter-lock installed to prevent people from doing the un-thinkable. i've tried it on a variety of automatic cars and its the same in each.

ad

My friend had this habit of shifting from R to D and the opposite while getting in/out of parking in Camry and Mazda Protege with AT albeit below 15 MPH probably.

[blue2ki]

why would anyone want to shift to reverse while driving at high speed??
its some obsession.

[gd1418]

Exactly, my query too is the same. What kind of scenario is one expecting to require to shift to R at 60 kmph while moving forward. BTW, while reversing at some speed (that some morons do and why) you cannot engage forward moving gears..!!

Originally Posted by blue2ki

why would anyone want to shift to reverse while driving at high speed??
its some obsession.