How to properly shift from D to R in an automatic Mercedes?

[zipdip]

Well given the op has I suppose just past his test and has a auto car and a very nice one for a first car,he has asked about putting the car in reverse while it is still just moving forward,well it is not a very good idea to do this and if I was the op I would make sure the car was stopped before selecting reverse.

 

[ChrisHGTV]

That's one heck of a story I'm sure you'll be telling your grandchildren! Thanks for sharing. I was actually ready to pull the plug on this Mercedes forum and delete my account but seeing a few posts that aren't trying to belittle is nice. I'm going to be more mindful of my habits. Thanks for the advice and the story Robin.

I think with any forum you end up taking the rough with the smooth a bit, it just goes with the territory - just ignore any responses you don't like. It's the same on Alfaowner and the Ducati forum (and Guildford Town Past and Present for that matter!). But i would definitely recommend persevering with this one - there are some incredibly helpful people (the majority) and also some fun and interesting posts. Certainly for me it's been a fantastic resource before i bought my E250 and then subsequently sorting out various problems or improvements etc.

 

[merc estate]

Welcome, now if you told your mum she would say STOP IT and you would, so i need say no more. Have fun with it going forward. p.s, you can always shop online it may save you a gearbox, stay safe.

 

[BTB 500]

Not sure about modern Mercs but i was in Andorra once and my friend in his auto Mitsubishi Galant successfully went from Drive to Reverse by mistake as we were descending a pass (he was aiming for 2)- in that the gearbox did what it was told and destroyed itself in the process.

My grandfather once shifted a Jaguar courtesy car (XJ6?) into reverse at significant speed on the M1. There was a load bang and no reverse from that point on, but the forward gears still worked.

 

[Scooby_Doo]

When I had my first MB with the column shift I tried to indicate left whilst exiting a rounabout , previos VW had indicator stalk on the right, luckily nothing happened, so it won't go into reverse over a certain speed.

 

[John]

Most of the people replying think that I put the car into reverse while driving 60mph on a highway, not knowing what's behind me

I did this unintentionally when reversing into a bay at Tesco probably 3 times, id be breaking and when I'm at around 2-3 mph id shift into R to reverse into the bay. Did this a couple of times and thought it might have been a bad habit so I came here to ask around.

You mean to say you didn't enjoy some of the patronising stereo-typed responses which were based on pre-conceived ideas and assumptions?

I bet you have your stereo on full volume, run people over deliberately and wear a baseball cap on sideways or backwards don't you you irresponsible individual.

Lol.

Welcome to the world of forums.

I would also wait for the car to stop before changing into R.

As stated, it will probably affect things long-term rather than any immediate issues.

I do agree though - there are some situations when it is annoying.

Sometimes you might want to turn the car around quickly without holding up other people demonstrating some courtesy and the wait is a bit annoying.

 

[clk320x]

Shouldn’t cause any issues. I know what you mean.

 

[markjay]

The first time I drove an automatic car was many years ago... the car was a 1966 Opel Rekord B 1700 Coupe that a certain young lady friend got as a gift from her wealthy father.

It had three forward gears plus reverse, with the gear selector lever on the steering column.

I can tell you exactly what happens when you put the gear in reverse at 30mph - the car stops with a screech as if you slammed the brakes.

The gearbox survived the event, BTW. The young lady wasn't too pleased, though.

 

[ReeceWHirst]

Most of the people replying think that I put the car into reverse while driving 60mph on a highway, not knowing what's behind me

I did this unintentionally when reversing into a bay at Tesco probably 3 times, id be breaking and when I'm at around 2-3 mph id shift into R to reverse into the bay. Did this a couple of times and thought it might have been a bad habit so I came here to ask around.

I kind of did what your doing when I first got my Merc, when manoeuvring into a parking space I would shift from drive to reverse without letting the car come to a complete stop mainly because I was trying to prevent the stop/start function, soon got out the habit when I trained my little finger on my left hand to just swiftly turn off the stop/start, best thing about it is I've got active park assist

A bit of 60mph drive shift reverse parking would be awsome to see GET ON IT!!!

 

[kianok]

Has anyone ever put to the test claims like "The gearbox won't let you do things that will damage it", things like putting it in to R at 50 mph?

Yes. It won’t, or P.

not a Mercedes but a RR Discovery which is quite easy to do by mistake!

 

[GLCdriver]

I kind of did what your doing when I first got my Merc, when manoeuvring into a parking space I would shift from drive to reverse without letting the car come to a complete stop mainly because I was trying to prevent the stop/start function, soon got out the habit when I trained my little finger on my left hand to just swiftly turn off the stop/start, best thing about it is I've got active park assist

A bit of 60mph drive shift reverse parking would be awsome to see GET ON IT!!!

I used this car to learn on and I remember that on my third drive I did accidentally change into reserve while doing a full lock turn and the car shot backwards LOL, I didn't drive for a week I was so terrified... I've done around 3500 miles since then but I can still remember that ONE incident - it was terrifying

 

[ivan1983]

Doing it at speed is called a neutral drop according to this guy

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I believe that the manual tells you to come to a stop before switching from d to r.

I imagine not doing so will cause excessive wear to the fiction discs over time.

Basically they are doing the work that your brakes are meant to be doing

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Hi guys, just got my first car in September and licence in October, so I've never actually driven before and I don't have any experience or knowledge about selecting gears the proper way other then what I've learned in these few months. So I drive A 2017 GLC with the gear selector being on the right side of the steering wheel. I have noticed myself developing this habit when I'm in hurry that I'd change into R just before the car stops moving, here's the scenario - I'm breaking and I'm probably at 3mph (so not completely stopped yet) and I change into R. Is this something that could do damage or are these newer cars designed this way? If I do change into R while slightly moving the car seems to break on its own and then change, it isn't sudden or erratic the way it changes into R so I was just wondering, how do you change gears yourself and what do you think is the safest, most long lasting way to do it? Thanks, Tom

Your intuition is right, it’s not good for the long term health or the transmission if you do it every time, however a handful of times over the life of the transmission won’t harm it excessively.

Like many “bad” habits, the sooner you try to stop, the easier it will be, and the more likely you are to stay “stopped”

 

[MD5]

I used this car to learn on and I remember that on my third drive I did accidentally change into reserve while doing a full lock turn and the car shot backwards LOL, I didn't drive for a week I was so terrified... I've done around 3500 miles since then but I can still remember that ONE incident - it was terrifying

One analogy would be would you get out of the car at 2 mph, or wait 'til it stopped? Your car may enable your gearbox to cope with that flying start scenario and modern technology, but others may not, so it's all about getting into good habits and looking after the car sympathetically. Congrats on your test and car. Happy motoring!

 

[ReeceWHirst]

I used this car to learn on and I remember that on my third drive I did accidentally change into reserve while doing a full lock turn and the car shot backwards LOL, I didn't drive for a week I was so terrified... I've done around 3500 miles since then but I can still remember that ONE incident - it was terrifying

Oh no, it's easily done, year's ago I forgot to pull the handbrake on in my Seat Leon luckily I got talking to a friend in the carpark and sure enough the car slowly started to pass us my friend said " watch yourself this f+*king idiots going to drive into us if their not careful"
The horror on my face when I realised it my car slowly rolling it's way into a main and road and the pending destruction that was in the form of blue Jaguar XJ, I still had the keys in my hand so jumped ripped the handbrake on and saved the world the humiliation didn't stop there later that night I went to the pub for a pint one of the locals asked if I was outside the co-op earlier in the day I replied yes then he said "did you see that dozy pillock in that black car nearly back out in front of me, if you hadn't stopped them I could of been in hospital now" with that he went to bar and got me a pint of beer, still to this day he doesn't know it was my black car, and now everytime I get out a car/van I check the handbrake get out the vehicle then back in to check again. OCD

 

[Deleted member 149005]

manoeuvre, signal, mirror

no

signal, mirror, manoeuvre

no,

mirror, manoeuvre, signal

no

manoeuvre.



that's right isn't it?

 

[GeeJayW]

Most of the people replying think that I put the car into reverse while driving 60mph on a highway, not knowing what's behind me

I did this unintentionally when reversing into a bay at Tesco probably 3 times, id be breaking and when I'm at around 2-3 mph id shift into R to reverse into the bay. Did this a couple of times and thought it might have been a bad habit so I came here to ask around.

It is a bad habit as it puts unnecessary additional load on the gearbox components, especially with a heavy car like the GLC. Much better to stop the car before going from D-R or R-D. To change gear manually, use the flappy paddles behind the steering wheel.