Greetings,

So I wanna know.. is my shifting on my Automatic 09 base model broken? or is it supposed to do this? And what should I do about it?

What it does...

My car can apparently shift between D, N, & D3 without pushing the button on the shifter, while either stopped or driving.. I think this is a _bad_ thing... I should at _least_ have to squeeze the button on the shifter to get it to switch...

a few times, primarily at stops when I start to go again.. been unable to and suddenly realize I am in neutral for some reason... I finally tracked this down to something hitting the shifter and knocking it into N.. then I did a test and found out it could shift between N, D, & D3 without squeezing the trigger button.. while stopped or while moving!

I tried to look this up in the honda book and there is nothing that I found in there that gave me the impression it is _supposed_ to do this.

So, whats the story? Is something wrong with my fit? Is there a setting I need to change, or is this a "take it to the dealership" type thing?

 

What in the world is hitting your shift selector with enough force to move it to neutral? Do you have a great dane? Kids running around?

The function of the button is effective in keeping you from knocking it in reverse while traveling forward at speed which would destroy your transmission. The other positions you should be able to move to without depressing the button during normal driving. This allows you to select these without taking your eyes off the road.

If you had a manual, you could knock it out of gear too.

RTFM! Sorry, I'm not normally so obnoxious. Sometimes I'm worse.

 

Is this your first car?

 

The previous car I had that had an automatic shifter between the seats required me to push the button in order to shift it.

The previous cars that I had with steering wheel mounted shifters required me to pull the shifter towards me slightly before I moved it into a different gear, or at very least offered a significant amount of resistance before shifting into a different gear, and it would be obvious when you would shift.

None of them shifted so easily or would move for unknown reasons, if something slightly hit them.

Out of every other car that wasn't mine that I have driven -- NONE of them have behaved like the Fit does in this case.

In this case, on more than one occasion I have experienced:

Pull up to a stop light.
Stop.
Try to go.
Car doesn't move, but just revs when I step on the gas pedal.
Thought: "Uh, okay, what is wrong with my car?!"
Realization: "WTF, how did I get in neutral??"
Shift back to D and go..

This concerns me. In a few cases I had no idea how I got into neutral.
In one case I had a bottle of water simply knock the shifter and it went into neutral.

In all cases I can see this as potentially dangerous if this happens when I'm moving down a high speed highway, etc.

At VERY least, the shifter needs to be more resistant to accidental hits; maybe my car is just set wrong?

 

Many cars are like that. In fact I don't know any that aren't.


Edit:What car would that be?

 

It's not broken. That's how a Honda slushbox is supposed to work - trust me, we have an FD1 Civic 1.8 and it does the same. You need the lock button only for moving from N to R.

The "D3" position is there to act as the somewhat equivalent of "O/D OFF" on a Toyota automatic transmission.

Toyota slushboxes are similar but you need the lock button from D to 2 or 2 to L. But there's definitely no locking between D and N. Tested on my sister's ZZE121 Corolla.

 

The selector moves fairly easily (damn Japanese engineering). You need to secure loose items and make small children and dogs ride in the back.

As far as safety, being able to select between D, D3 without pressing the button is a safety feature. Same with Neutral, think about it: if you had to depress the button to move to neutral, what's to keep you from moving it to reverse unintentionally? It's really quite clever.

 

Exactly right.

 

If your AT base Fit is so easily popping into neutral w/o you even being aware that it's done so until the engine revs freely, I would definitely suggest that you have a problem. I have a 2010 AT base model, and when the PRNDL lever is in a slot, unless I delibertly move it with my hand, it stays there!

Something sounds wrong with your AT... You say a water bottle fell against it and it shifted to another position? Sheeesh, I would get that checked out, but fast! (And hopefully you're still under warranty?)