Paladin62 Posted June 10, 2008 Report Share Posted June 10, 2008 I have called the dealership and Dodge but no one can tell me if it is designed this way. I can be driving down the road and bump the shifter and it will go right into reverse or park. What is stupid is that I can't bump it into the auto-shift or whatever its called. I have to move the shifter over to get it to go into the area I can manually control the gears. Bumping it into that auto-shift range will do NO harm but it could drop your tranny if you are doing over 10 MPH and slam it into park or reverse. I assume it is only my vehicle that does this right? BTW: I have the 6 cyl. AWD with 6 speed tranny. Does your Journey allow you to just push the gear shift straight into park without any hesitation even when you are stopped or do you have to stop and move the shifter over to continue? Mine literally has no hesitation going from drive to park. And it DOES do it while moving. That's how I found out. 5 mph and it got knocked into reverse! Screeching halt! I just need to know if they all do this or is it just mine. The dealers have no clue since they don't have any on the lot to test. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
druadan Posted June 11, 2008 Report Share Posted June 11, 2008 I have called the dealership and Dodge but no one can tell me if it is designed this way. I can be driving down the road and bump the shifter and it will go right into reverse or park. What is stupid is that I can't bump it into the auto-shift or whatever its called. I have to move the shifter over to get it to go into the area I can manually control the gears.Bumping it into that auto-shift range will do NO harm but it could drop your tranny if you are doing over 10 MPH and slam it into park or reverse. I assume it is only my vehicle that does this right? BTW: I have the 6 cyl. AWD with 6 speed tranny. Does your Journey allow you to just push the gear shift straight into park without any hesitation even when you are stopped or do you have to stop and move the shifter over to continue? Mine literally has no hesitation going from drive to park. And it DOES do it while moving. That's how I found out. 5 mph and it got nocked into reverse! Screeching halt! I just need to know if they all do this or is it just mine. The dealers have no clue since they don't have any on the lot to test. mine is same Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaymista Posted June 15, 2008 Report Share Posted June 15, 2008 So far I think I preferred the gear shift on the steering wheel instead of the floor. I had a 4 speed auto transmission in my last three vehicles and this new Journey is the first one I have had with the floor shift. It sure takes up a lot of space I always had available in the past. Is there some advantage to having it located on the floor? Is it the only way you could have an auto-shift feature on an automatic trans? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paladin62 Posted June 15, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 15, 2008 So far I think I preferred the gear shift on the steering wheel instead of the floor. I had a 4 speed auto transmission in my last three vehicles and this new Journey is the first one I have had with the floor shift. It sure takes up a lot of space I always had available in the past. Is there some advantage to having it located on the floor? Is it the only way you could have an auto-shift feature on an automatic trans? It could have easily been mounted on the column. There are cars out there that have "paddle shift" that is basically the same as the auto-stick and is mounted on the steering wheel. I don't really have an issue with the floor mount, only that the design is insane. You have to move the lever over to get into the auto-stick mode but not to go into park or reverse. I see nothing but trouble with this insane design and possibly numerous deaths before it is recalled and fixed. It slips very easily into reverse and a dog, cat or child will easily do so and send the vehicle into a screeching halt. Heck, all it will take is someone leaning over to kiss the passenger or driver and bang, there goes your transmission and possibly an accident. It is sheer insanity to not have a reverse/park detent/lockout like every other vehicle does. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snow_Runner Posted June 16, 2008 Report Share Posted June 16, 2008 With regard to shifting into 'R' or 'P' while driving, I recall an episode of "Myth Busters" where they tried to shift an auto transmission into 'R' and 'P' while driving at 55 MPH. I believe the vehicle was a late model Crown Victoria, and from what I remember, there is a safety feature that does not allow the tranny to engage 'R' or 'P' while at certain speed. Seeing as the Journey has an electronically controlled transmission, I don't think that it would engage. Of course who is crazy to try it with their own vehicle!! Rick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paladin62 Posted June 16, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2008 With regard to shifting into 'R' or 'P' while driving, I recall an episode of "Myth Busters" where they tried to shift an auto transmission into 'R' and 'P' while driving at 55 MPH. I believe the vehicle was a late model Crown Victoria, and from what I remember, there is a safety feature that does not allow the tranny to engage 'R' or 'P' while at certain speed.Seeing as the Journey has an electronically controlled transmission, I don't think that it would engage. Of course who is crazy to try it with their own vehicle!! Rick. It DID engage at 10 mph. SCREECHING halt. It got accidentally bumped into reverse. It is an INSANE design even if it has a 5 mph electronic lockout. It should NOT be that easy to shift it into reverse/park. I know of no other vehicle that allows this to happen. ALL of them have a detent/lockout. If you can push it from drive to park without having to move the lever over, yours will do it also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NiceTrip Posted June 17, 2008 Report Share Posted June 17, 2008 Can someone supply a good picture of the shifter? From the photos I've seen, it looks like you would have to move the shifter to the right in order to shift from neutral into reverse. Based on that, I wonder if yours is somehow mis-adjusted allowing it to go from neutral to reverse too easily. SnowRunner, You are right that there is a lockout that won't engage reverse if you are going over a certain speed, but it WILL engage reverse at a non-zero forward speed. So that does constitute an unsafe condition in my opinion. I will definitely check this when I recieve mine (hopefully by week's end), and will post an update. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paladin62 Posted June 17, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 17, 2008 Can someone supply a good picture of the shifter? From the photos I've seen, it looks like you would have to move the shifter to the right in order to shift from neutral into reverse. Based on that, I wonder if yours is somehow mis-adjusted allowing it to go from neutral to reverse too easily. SnowRunner, You are right that there is a lockout that won't engage reverse if you are going over a certain speed, but it WILL engage reverse at a non-zero forward speed. So that does constitute an unsafe condition in my opinion. I will definitely check this when I recieve mine (hopefully by week's end), and will post an update. I'm new here so I don't know if the attachment worked right or not but if it did, you will see that the shifter does have a right kickout but it is rounded so it easily moves straight from drive to park with no hesitation. If you look at the auto-stick section, there is nothing there but there is a mechanism somewhere that forces you to move the lever to the right to engage that section. You can pull back all you want but unless you move to the right, it won't go in. This SHOULD be the same way for the reverse park section but it is not. you can push forward and to the LEFT and it will still go all the way to park with no hesitation. Truly insane. To put a detent on the autostick section is completely useless because it will ONLY go into the current gear but going the other way will drop your transmission. If anything it should be the other way around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NiceTrip Posted June 26, 2008 Report Share Posted June 26, 2008 Finally got my Journey, and I can confirm that mine works exactly as you've described. Really makes no sense. From looking at it you might think there is a blockout, but as you've said, it is angled so it goes into reverse or park with practically no resistance. I wonder if there will eventually be a recall for a design change. Definitely something to be careful with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canada_Jay Posted August 19, 2008 Report Share Posted August 19, 2008 I made a left turn and my elbow slipped of the arm rest and I bumped it into reverse...travelling at about 40 kph. made weird sound and I pulled it back into drive. I was surprised that it moved into reverse...I would have expected it to go to Neutral only. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paladin62 Posted August 19, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 19, 2008 I made a left turn and my elbow slipped of the arm rest and I bumped it into reverse...travelling at about 40 kph. made weird sound and I pulled it back into drive.I was surprised that it moved into reverse...I would have expected it to go to Neutral only. That weird sound was the tranny grinding. Luckily yours didn't lock and just ground a bit. I hit mine at about 10 MPH and it locked up and screeched to a halt. Great design huh? So much for it having an electronic lockout. I'll wait for the recall on this issue to happen VERY soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2016 Dodge owner Posted January 16, 2018 Report Share Posted January 16, 2018 (edited) I just bought a 2016 Dodge Journey and my son and I were driving on the freeway , approx 70mph. My purse fell from the arm rest onto the gear shift, my son and I both grabbed my purse and the gear shift went into reverse. I heard a funny sound and immediately threw it back into drive. It occurred to me that there is no button or safety mechanism to move the gear shift into different gears. I decided to try to see if it moves and goes into reverse while driving and I only got up to 10mph on a street and well yes. it went from drive to reverse without me putting on the brake, I was just driving. I am afraid to try it going any faster as I don't want to die and I also don't want to mess up my transmission. Does anyone know if there is a safety electronic mechanism to keep the car from going into reverse or park when at a certain speed? If not, man they need a safety button or something to keep the gear from just moving with a push up. I am almost so scared that I want to get rid of the car. I called a local Dodge dealership and spoke to some guy who just kept telling me that there is not safety to keep the gear from moving, he could not answer if it would be thrown into a different gear while driving. Any answers here? Can a Dodge Journey accidently be thrown into reverse or drive while driving the car at high speeds such as on freeway? I know it does at 10mph or less. Thanks Edited January 16, 2018 by 2016 Dodge owner Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmoore1436 Posted January 16, 2018 Report Share Posted January 16, 2018 3 hours ago, 2016 Dodge owner said: I just bought a 2016 Dodge Journey and my son and I were driving on the freeway , approx 70mph. My purse fell from the arm rest onto the gear shift, my son and I both grabbed my purse and the gear shift went into reverse. I heard a funny sound and immediately threw it back into drive. It occurred to me that there is no button or safety mechanism to move the gear shift into different gears. I decided to try to see if it moves and goes into reverse while driving and I only got up to 10mph on a street and well yes. it went from drive to reverse without me putting on the brake, I was just driving. I am afraid to try it going any faster as I don't want to die and I also don't want to mess up my transmission. Does anyone know if there is a safety electronic mechanism to keep the car from going into reverse or park when at a certain speed? If not, man they need a safety button or something to keep the gear from just moving with a push up. I am almost so scared that I want to get rid of the car. I called a local Dodge dealership and spoke to some guy who just kept telling me that there is not safety to keep the gear from moving, he could not answer if it would be thrown into a different gear while driving. Any answers here? Can a Dodge Journey accidently be thrown into reverse or drive while driving the car at high speeds such as on freeway? I know it does at 10mph or less. Thanks I may be mistaken but electronically controlled transmissions won't actually engage reverse when driving over a certain speed to protect itself. What you may have heard was the sensor, if it did go into reverse I think you would have definitely noticed at the speed you were going. Also, why would you try that again? I'd be upset if I had transmission issues because I accidentally hit the shifter, but I'd be even more upset if I did it on purpose. jkeaton, OhareFred and larryl 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2late4u Posted January 18, 2018 Report Share Posted January 18, 2018 have had 2 journeys from 2011 till now never had such a problem and i sure dont plan to test it to see what would happen 7yrs without a problem myself.... larryl and jkeaton 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jkeaton Posted January 18, 2018 Report Share Posted January 18, 2018 Store your purse somewhere else besides the. arm rest larryl and OhareFred 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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