The 'P' button in the transmission SCARES me!

I recently discovered that the transmission's 'P' button can be pushed while the vehicle is moving, which immediately locks the wheels and brings the vehicle to a halt. The thing that worries me is that this happens even if the vehicle is moving. I find that scary as hell.

Consider playing with the stereo with one arm resting on the transmission stick (I often do this) -- it could literally kill you if you accidentally hit that 'P' button while doing that! Of course, you could never do that with a standard automatic transmission because it wouldn't let you get to the Park position while the vehicle is moving.

Could it be that there is no protection against hitting it while traveling at 60 miles an hour??

It will be fine... I pressed the P button last week at 30 km/hour, nothing happened. Once I realized that I did it, it pressed it very deliberately, nothing happened. No worries here.

Originally Posted by N8Power

It will be fine... I pressed the P button last week at 30 km/hour, nothing happened. Once I realized that I did it, it pressed it very deliberately, nothing happened. No worries here.

That's good news. I didn't have the guts to try it at those speeds for fear of killing myself and/or the transmission... They should seriously indicate this in the manual -- how slow you need to go in order for the P button to work.

Originally Posted by ldoogy

That's good news. I didn't have the guts to try it at those speeds for fear of killing myself and/or the transmission... They should seriously indicate this in the manual -- how slow you need to go in order for the P button to work.

They maybe do
I believe there is a whole thread for this...
use the search option to find it...

I get a message stating that the vehicle needs to be stationary first.

I believe you have to be going very slow , so slow that the computers believe your intention is to stop the vehicle. I have tried placing the car in drive and opening the drivers door and getting out of the vehicle in a hurry and sure enough, the car goes into park automatically. This is described in the manual, and it works in real life too.

Originally Posted by bmw_enthusiasm

They maybe do
I believe there is a whole thread for this...
use the search option to find it...

The manual doesn't say anything about that, I checked.

This horse has been beaten before.

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=560627

The steering wheel scares me, also I was driving 80 mph and pressed the reverse by accident and snapped everyone's neck

Originally Posted by N8Power

I believe you have to be going very slow , so slow that the computers believe your intention is to stop the vehicle. I have tried placing the car in drive and opening the drivers door and getting out of the vehicle in a hurry and sure enough, the car goes into park automatically. This is described in the manual, and it works in real life too.

You are describing a documented safety feature. Not the same thing as the OP's concern about engaging Park at driving speeds.

Originally Posted by grizzles

The steering wheel scares me, also I was driving 80 mph and pressed the reverse by accident and snapped everyone's neck

Interesting. I accidently did that a couple of weeks ago and all the car did was go into neutral, pulled back into drive and everything was ok.

i did it at around 3 to 5 mph. the car threw itself in P . just like hard braking. as for anything else above it. a warning msg showed.

I don't think P will work at high speed, but I did kind of hurt myself opening the door at a very slow speed. Very abrupt stop.