What Parts of the Car Have I Damaged?

FashionParadise

FashionParadise

Dulcissima
O.G.
Aug 2, 2008
821
34
#1
I did something really horrible by accident. While I was driving, I saw that I hadn't release the parking brake yet, so I panicked and foolishly tried to correct that, but in my panic, I forget where the parking brake was and instead put the car in reverse while it was in drive and it made this really awful loud terrible gnarly sound.

Then my sister took the car and did something similar. She put the car in park before fully stopping the car and it was still slowing down, so it made the car jerk violently and did that weird sound again.

I think my poor car is hurt, but I'm not sure what part is. It still drives normally and everything is still the same, but I'm still worried maybe there is damage that I can't see. Does anyone know what part would be effected after it suffered those things? I want to go have a mechanic take a look but I heard they can charge a hefty price.Will need to though if necessary.

Has anyone done crazy things like this by mistake?
 
#2
Have I ever shifted an automatic car into park or reverse?? No.

First off, how did you not know the parking brake was engaged? As soon as you started to drive, didn't you notice your car was a bit sluggish? Did you notice the red light on the dash that reads "BRAKE"? These should be things you look for and pay attention to while driving. Yeah?
If for some reason you do this again, while it's not the best thing for your rear brakes (the parking brake is typically only on the rear brakes), you don't need to panic. Just stop, take a moment, and disengage the brake. Problem solved. Make sure you sit there for a minute to let your brakes cool down so they'll stop you next time you press them. By driving with your brake on, you maybe took a few thousand miles off the longevity.
As for your transmission..if it's driving fine now, you should be good. It probably took a few miles off its life. If you start having issues...well, there's nothing you can do. Take it in to be rebuilt. This is one of those things where you just have to keep your fingers crossed. As long as it's drivable, drive it.

If your car is a newer car, it might have an automatic reverse lockout so it wouldn't have hurt anything. However, the shifting into park would still have done damage.

Pay attention next time. Sure, you might laugh this off, but someone might get hurt next time you do something dumb like this.
 
#3
Charles said:
Have I ever shifted an automatic car into park or reverse?? No.

First off, how did you not know the parking brake was engaged? As soon as you started to drive, didn't you notice your car was a bit sluggish? Did you notice the red light on the dash that reads "BRAKE"? These should be things you look for and pay attention to while driving. Yeah?
If for some reason you do this again, while it's not the best thing for your rear brakes (the parking brake is typically only on the rear brakes), you don't need to panic. Just stop, take a moment, and disengage the brake. Problem solved. Make sure you sit there for a minute to let your brakes cool down so they'll stop you next time you press them. By driving with your brake on, you maybe took a few thousand miles off the longevity.
As for your transmission..if it's driving fine now, you should be good. It probably took a few miles off its life. If you start having issues...well, there's nothing you can do. Take it in to be rebuilt. This is one of those things where you just have to keep your fingers crossed. As long as it's drivable, drive it.

If your car is a newer car, it might have an automatic reverse lockout so it wouldn't have hurt anything. However, the shifting into park would still have done damage.

Pay attention next time. Sure, you might laugh this off, but someone might get hurt next time you do something dumb like this.
Click to expand...

Surprisingly and foolishly, I didn't notice at first because I got in and went off right away and didn't look at the board. At one point, yes, then I panicked and then it happened.

How do you know if it has an automatic reverse lockout...if there is a way to tell--for example, by opening the hood and taking a look or something?

Actually, I find no humor in it in at all. It was a distressing and horrible experience. One of those things that happen where I wonder if my frontal cortex is malfuntioning or even there. Good heavens. :Push:
 
#4
it's really not that silly to drive off with the handbreak on. i'm sure most people have done it.
my warning light isn't really that noticable if i was in a hurry, and for my car its probably the smell that would alert me rather than slowness when the handbreak is on.

driving a long way with it on is a bit unfortunate though!
 
#5
Aww, I've done the same thing in my old car a few times, it seems like something easy enough not to do but it happens. Though it freaked me out at the time, nothing ever resulted from it. I wouldn't bother taking it to a mechanic unless it actually starts giving you a problem.
 
#6
SpoilMeRotten said:
Aww, I've done the same thing in my old car a few times, it seems like something easy enough not to do but it happens. Though it freaked me out at the time, nothing ever resulted from it. I wouldn't bother taking it to a mechanic unless it actually starts giving you a problem.
Click to expand...

see it's not dumb at all. well maybe a little :P, but nothing to worry about if the car is working fine.
 
#7
I really wouldn't bother taking it to a mechanic either. Obviously it is good to keep doing that with your car, but if it is still driving ok and not making any crazy noises then you should be ok.

Things that could be wrong if you notice issues are; the transmission or the linkage. Like I said before though don't waste your time or money bringing it to a garage. It will be fine just don't do it anymore. LOL
 
#9
I had a really drunk/high/whatever passenger pull my car out of drive on the highway. I kept presseing the accelerator wondering wtf was wrong and then finally realized I was in neutral. That didn't hurt the car though I wanted to hurt the passenger. I'm no mechanic, but I'd say if you can still drive your car and put it in reverse you're okay, though you may have shortened the life of your transmission.
 
#10
There's no way to say just by the description you gave online. If it made an "awful noise" you surely did at least some damage to something. If you're really worried take it to the shop and have it checked out.

I'm surprised your car didn't beep at you for driving with the parking break on.
 
#11
When using a car you need to pay attention... that means right from the start.I dont know how you would have drove with the BRAKE light on, never mind the car would be sluggish as someone else said. And not to remember where the emerg brake is .... I think you need to start paying more attention to what you're doing while driving.
 
#12
What were you trying to do when you put the park in Reverse? Put it in Park? Because...you would have to have gone from Drive, to Neutral and then to Reverse?

I just don't get it....
 
#13
I honestly can say I have driven with my park brake on several times, when I do realize it I just wait for a stop sign or red light to remove the park brake. I am the worlds worst driver, not something I am proud of just the plain truth. I have the "Im a dumb broad" moment at least once every time I drive. I have also thrown my car into neutral/reverse/park without fully stopping before and never had any major transmission probblems, Im sure I did some damage because it made the same wierd noise and like a jerking move but nouthing major enough that it effected the overall drive of my car. I have always been able to drive the car fine after such an incident. I always drive second hand cars so I dont worry about it much, if I had a new car and did that I would probly **** bricks though. Sorry this happened to you all I an say is move on and try not to do it again.

Funny story: When I was first learning to drive at 22 My husband took me to an empty school parking lot and had me drive around real slow and I guess I did not turn right and was headed toward a fence he souted "stop the car" I did not know what he ment so I tried to throw the car into park and ended up running into a chainlink fence. Not one of my smartest moves. I then told hubbie "Next time you want me to stop a moving car, you need to tell me how, say hit the breaks, duh".
 
#14
By indicating that her sister made the same (or very similar) maneuver shortly after, sounds like they're just young inexperienced drivers. We all probably did something foolish at some point, while learning. Luckily; no one was hurt.
 
#15
lil purseaddict said:
I honestly can say I have driven with my park brake on several times, when I do realize it I just wait for a stop sign or red light to remove the park brake. I am the worlds worst driver, not something I am proud of just the plain truth. I have the "Im a dumb broad" moment at least once every time I drive. I have also thrown my car into neutral/reverse/park without fully stopping before and never had any major transmission probblems, Im sure I did some damage because it made the same wierd noise and like a jerking move but nouthing major enough that it effected the overall drive of my car. I have always been able to drive the car fine after such an incident. I always drive second hand cars so I dont worry about it much, if I had a new car and did that I would probly **** bricks though. Sorry this happened to you all I an say is move on and try not to do it again.

Funny story: When I was first learning to drive at 22 My husband took me to an empty school parking lot and had me drive around real slow and I guess I did not turn right and was headed toward a fence he souted "stop the car" I did not know what he ment so I tried to throw the car into park and ended up running into a chainlink fence. Not one of my smartest moves. I then told hubbie "Next time you want me to stop a moving car, you need to tell me how, say hit the breaks, duh".
Click to expand...

Don't mean to sound like a pest....but isn't hitting the breaks the logical thing to do when someone says "stop the car"???
 
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