Every so often as I’m driving along the highway, and I toggle between HV Mode and EV mode, I realize that I am afraid that I might accidentally press the P instead. Is this a warranted concern, or is there some sort of safety mechanism that I am just not aware of.
Hmmm - never tried that one... I am sure the transmission selector has intelligence to not halt the vehicle in forward motion. Thinking that engineers designed this model, the car would most likely refuse to shift to P while in motion without brakes being applied..... In my Land Rover, I have the rotary electronic transmission control and it will not go into an unauthorized gear even if one were to try to and shift to it......
Yeah, that’s my assumption too. I’m sure there’s some sort of a safety mechanism. For obvious reasons I don’t intend to be the guinea pig. Just wondering if there is some sort of documentation on this or if someone accidentally happened to have done this. Haha
According to Page 387 in the Owner's Manual, if the vehicle is moving, you cannot select P. Doing so will change the gear to N.
Blast from the past...... The same thing could and did happen to some folks in the gen1 Volt where Sport mode was very close to the PWR button. GM did a redesign for Gen2. As David pointed out in the manual, the transmission is electronic (think fly-by-wire) and safety lock outs won't let you select P or R when conditions aren't right to do so. Fun Fact #1: At a stop, unbuckle driver's seat belt while in D and car will automatically engage E-brake. Fun Fact #2: At a stop, open driver's door while in D and the car will automatically shift to P. Fun Fact #3: At a stop, while in D and push PWR button to OFF, car will automatically shift to P.
Here is another fun fact: While driving through a curve, it won't let you shift from Standard mode to Sport mode. Make sense, especially on slippery roads.
I "heard" pushing the reverse button while driving will not damage the car. Also heard you will get a message that you are dumb azz if you try it.
It's OK, Ken. Part of my reason for purchasing was because it is intelligent. With ACC & LSF, I can now eat breakfast, peacefully, as the car keeps up with stop-and-go traffic for me. All I have to do is press RES every so often. Life is good.
I've accidentally pressed P instead of HV while driving ~25mph (to turn off HV in traffic). Can confirm - the "transmission" will just "shift" to neutral. No damage. Mild panic.
Same thing happened to me ... only I was doing 65 mph! “Transmission” shifted to neutral and engine began racing (I was in HV mode). Can also confirm the feeling of mild alarm. I selected Drive and everything was normal. I’ve also selected Reverse while traveling at highway speed (it was dark and I was attempting to change modes by feel) and got a warning that shifting to R required the vehicle and be stopped. I now give a brief look before pressing the button. I’d like to have the mode switch on the steering wheel or a place away from the rest of the transmission shifters. Sent from my iPhone using Inside EVs
Even if the car allowed the mode change, I cant see how it would do any damage though...no transmission, so there are no gears. Ever throw your ceiling fan in reverse while running? It coasts to a stop and then starts spoiling up in reverse. In Clarity It’s just a bigger electric motor. You’re reversing current thru electric coils and no parts touch each other.
Good catch on my ‘transmission’ (I just added the quotes!)... Fortunately, the Clarity engineers diidn’t allow the electric fan experience!
It does have a mechanical pawl that engages to lock the drive train when in park. I never manually put the car in park. I just turn it off and get out. It drives my wife crazy. Especially when I hop out to grab the mail without putting it in park or turning it off. Years of driving an EV have made it so now I get yelled at by my F150 (on the rare occasion I drive it) for trying to get out while it’s still in drive.
Yeah, same thing in the Prius Plug-in. Still, it's disconcerting when it happens while you're on the freeway…
On my 2015 Volt if you accidently pushed the power button while driving, the car would shut off and you would have to coast to the side of the road (if you could) and restart. The power button and mode select button were next to each other vertically. There were many posts about that on the Volt forums. As someone mentioned above, Chevy changed the orientation in later models. But it was a, shall we say, exciting moment when your Volt shut off on the freeway.
