Posted on 5/30/2025
Modern vehicles are designed with safety in mind, especially when it comes to the transmission. One question that often comes up is whether it’s possible to accidentally shift into reverse while driving forward. It’s a valid concern. After all, shifting into the wrong gear at the wrong time could cause serious damage or even a dangerous loss of control. The good news is that in nearly all automatic and most manual vehicles, built-in safety mechanisms make it extremely difficult, or nearly impossible for this to happen by accident. Still, understanding how your vehicle handles gear selection can give you confidence and help prevent potential issues. What Happens If You Try to Shift Into Reverse While Moving Forward In an automatic transmission, there are safeguards that prevent you from shifting into reverse at high speeds. If you try to move the gear selector into reverse while the car is in motion, the transmission control system will either ignore the ... read more