2005 Camry put in park while in motion

[Globeguy]

Hello,

I'm teaching my cousin how to drive and today my car was put in park while the car was in motion. I'm not sure how fast we were going but it was at a parking lot. I'm going to guess at the most 10mph. The car came to halt with clicking noise, what kind of damage could this have possibly caused? She tells me she had her foot on the brake so I'm not sure if the halt came about due to brakes for because the car was in P.

Any insight is appreciated.

[84Cressida]

Can do severe damage to the torque converter. Provided you don't do it again and it's running fine now, it might not have done any long term damage.

[Glenn8963]

first..the torque converter WILL NOT BE damaged...!!

the automatics have what is called a "parking pawl"...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parking_pawl

this is what is used when we park...

think of it as a type of "gear" with the gear teeth exposed...now when we put our transmission into park, a shaft (keeping it simple here), comes out and goes in-between one of those gear teeth, and this locks the transmission in park..

so the noise you would have heard was the "shaft" trying to get into the teeth, but it couldn't because the car was rolling.

when the car finally came to a stop, the "shaft" then went into the gear, and i'll bet you that the car "jerked back and forth" a tiny bit.

i do not believe any severe damage was done, but you certainly DO NOT want to make a habit of this...an automatic transmission car MUST BE FULLY STOPPED before you put it into park.

now, just for "further information", dozens of years ago, Ford had a severe parking pawl problem on their automatics...it was just NO GOOD. you would put your car in park...but the pawl would either break or just would NOT engage properly.....and the car would run off...in reverse, as that's the gear that is just after park..if the engine was running that is...other wise, the car would roll in either direction with the engine off...so Ford highly recommends, using the E-Brake at all times...hell i STILL use my E-Brake, even on my Camry...!!!

in fact, if we ALL USED our E-Brake every time we parked..?? we would be keeping the E-Brake cable free and clear of any rust, so that in an emergency..?? the E-Brake WILL WORK..!!! also, the E-Brake on many cars...?? helps keep the brakes in adjustment, especially rear drum brakes, that are still out there.

[workerant]

I hate the footbrake on the Camry but Toyota do this to all the cars now.

[arabianobsession]

^Unless you have a manual transmission!! FTW!!! That's the only time I use my e-brake (manual trans) unless I'm on a hill. IMO, people who engage the parking brake while on a flat surface are a major pet peeve of mine

Anyway, as long as it's not done again you should be fine. I acidentally did it on my last car that already had high miles on the engine and trans....drove another 10,000 miles on it before I sold it, she was running and shifting perfectly still.

[Glenn8963]

Originally Posted by arabianobsession

^Unless you have a manual transmission!! FTW!!! That's the only time I use my e-brake (manual trans) unless I'm on a hill. IMO, people who engage the parking brake while on a flat surface are a major pet peeve of mine

Anyway, as long as it's not done again you should be fine. I acidentally did it on my last car that already had high miles on the engine and trans....drove another 10,000 miles on it before I sold it, she was running and shifting perfectly still.

i use my E-brake ALL the time, ever since my first car, many years ago. the only time i DO NOT use it, is when i go to the dealership for service. that way, the mechanic doesn't drive it away, although there is some sort of "alarm" that sounds when the e-brake is on...

long ago, after replacing many rusted and frozen e-brake cables on customers cars, and explaining to them the USE the e-brake daily, they still didn't want to listen..but that was ok.....i got to replace the cable again, and charge them again.

it's a matter of preference i guess, whether to use it or not.

[TrueBooleanFalse]

Originally Posted by arabianobsession

^Unless you have a manual transmission!! FTW!!! That's the only time I use my e-brake (manual trans) unless I'm on a hill. IMO, people who engage the parking brake while on a flat surface are a major pet peeve of mine

I drive a manual and ALWAYS use my e-brake. I pop it in 1st or reverse depending on incline, but I still always use the e-brake. I prefer not putting strain on my transmission if I don't need to. My wife catches me when I drive her Sentra Automatic and the try to shift gears, but that is beside the point... I still put the e-brake up on her car, force of habit.

[FireLikeIYA]

Originally Posted by arabianobsession

^Unless you have a manual transmission!! FTW!!! That's the only time I use my e-brake (manual trans) unless I'm on a hill. IMO, people who engage the parking brake while on a flat surface are a major pet peeve of mine .

On Toyota's the rear brakes are not self adjusting (i.e. from backing up like on Fords). The E-brake is what keeps your rear brakes adjusted.

[FireLikeIYA]

Originally Posted by Globeguy

Hello,

I'm teaching my cousin how to drive and today my car was put in park while the car was in motion. I'm not sure how fast we were going but it was at a parking lot. I'm going to guess at the most 10mph. The car came to halt with clicking noise, what kind of damage could this have possibly caused? She tells me she had her foot on the brake so I'm not sure if the halt came about due to brakes for because the car was in P.

Any insight is appreciated.

I accidently did this once will going a few MPH in my Camry. I got use to driving one of my cars that has a manual transmission and wasn't even thinking when I did it. You might want to check your dog bone engine mount to see if it tore the rubber because it probably jerked the engine/tranny back real harrd. If you are not having any other issues I wouldn't worry about it.

[arabianobsession]

I think some of you are misunderstanding me. I use it every day in the Camry BECAUSE it's a manual. If I'm driving an automatic I will generally only use it when I park on an incline, which is enough to keep it from getting rusty and stuck. I don't see the point in using it when it's a flat level surface.

My other pet peeve....when people drive my car and yank the e-brake until it's pointing sky high. My car had 1000 miles on it when someone did that and already prematurely stretched the cable. Not happy.

The Mustang I will leave in gear....cause the e-brake doesn't work

[tengiday]

I always use my parking brake whenever I park a car. It doesn't matter if a car is a stick or an auto. It is my habit since I got my license. I think many already forgot the lesson we were taught. You said that you don't set your e-brake on a flat surface, how do you know that it is perfectly flat? What if someone hits your car when your transmission is holding your car (not the e-brake). There is NO harm to have the habit setting the brake. Doing this habit is easier than thinking/looking whether a surface is flat so that I can apply the brake.

Good habit, less work; why not doing that?

[Glenn8963]

yes, after a while, it becomes second nature to use the e-brake. it IS a habit we can all get used to.

i look at it this way..suppose my car got slammed into, the transmission may very well be destroyed by the impact, allowing the car to roll..with the added holding power of the e-brake, it will still move, but it would be mostly a "slide" rather than roll, and will not go very far.


it does appear that many here DO USE the e-brake, manual transmissions and automatics....GOOD...!!!

[arabianobsession]

Originally Posted by tengiday

I always use my parking brake whenever I park a car. It doesn't matter if a car is a stick or an auto. It is my habit since I got my license. I think many already forgot the lesson we were taught. You said that you don't set your e-brake on a flat surface, how do you know that it is perfectly flat? What if someone hits your car when your transmission is holding your car (not the e-brake). There is NO harm to have the habit setting the brake. Doing this habit is easier than thinking/looking whether a surface is flat so that I can apply the brake.

Good habit, less work; why not doing that?

Well, for starters, it doesn't matter for me anyway. Every car I own has a manual transmission. Before, when I used to have an automatic, I was either parked in the garage, parked against a wall or some other barrier. If they slammed into me, well, there's the wall. Either way if someone runs into me there's going to be damage that's going to have to be fixed....and foot pedals are a major PITA. I never remember that I set them and it just ticks me off every time I forget. So I don't bother. At least with a hand brake it's easy-it's in your face.

I'm not really worried about it, it's not a big deal to me.

[workerant]

^ ya, just don't use the foot brake like that idiot on the news. His brake was out so he sticking out his foot trying to stop the car.

[arabianobsession]

I don't get how some people got their driver's licenses?